Is this insulting?

[tavarish]

Take a chisel, change the word "God" to "Thor", and you're golden.

[Thor]

Take a chisel, change the word "God" to "Thor", and you're golden.

Sounds good to me!

[Minimalist]

And what does "God" have to do with law enforcement in a secular society anyway?

Thomas Jefferson said it best....as he so often did.

In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.

[Thor]

My question is who funded it? Is it funded privately or through public friends?

Good point. And I don't know. I'll have to see if the monument has a marker somewhere that tells who put it up. If it was privately funded I would have less of a reason to squawk about it (although it IS on public property). However, it is STILL rather insulting. It's like they're saying my service doesn't count as much because I don't "serve" a god.

If it is through Government means, it shouldn't say that. But honestly I doubt you'd get much traction because in the grand scheme of violations of separation of church and state, it's pretty minor

Agreed. It is minor. But minor transgressions can set a precedent for larger ones if they're ignored.

and public opinion would demonize you, which is a shame.

You're probably right about this. If I wrote letters and protested the inclusion of "God" on this monument I would no doubt be villified. I'm sure that many people (all believers, of course) would tell me to "get a life" or some such thing. However, I'm sure there would be an outcry if I wanted to construct a monument to veterans with the words "FOR ALL THOSE WHO SERVED BOTH APOLLO AND COUNTRY".

I hope that we can, through efforts of fighting church state separation issues, and showing atheism to be a positive thing, we will eventually wear down the extreme Christian lean of the country so we can be the secular country we're intended to be and insertions of God will be stripped away from money, the pledge, and things of this nature.

+1

[fr0d0]

It was just accepted at the time. Sensibilities have changed. Some people burned books. Art follows the Zeitgeist.

[The_Flying_Skeptic]

pictures or it didn't happen.

[Dotard]

Take a chisel, change the word "God" to "Thor", and you're golden.

YES! This. But just get some stickers that say "Allah" and go place them over the word 'God'.

Then start calling the local talk radio shows, write some letters to the editor etc.
State "WTF is with these signs saying "served Allah and country"?! I don't frickin' serve Allah! Rant rant ramble ramble gripe gripe gripe".

Shit will hit the fan for a bit. It will come out and you will be told someone "vandalized" the signs and it says 'God'.

Then say, "Oh..........." "I don't serve any "God" at all!! Gripe gripe rant rant grumble ramble ramble....."

It will be fun! AND maybe, just maybe the message may take root in some minds.

[leo-rcc]

It will be fun! AND maybe, just maybe the message may take root in some minds.

You know, that plan is so crazy it might just work, if only for a few people.

[tackattack]

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And what does "God" have to do with law enforcement in a secular society anyway?

'They'* don't know we are a secular society.

*The 'they' in "that's what they say".

I have to agree. "They" want to put their religious propaganda in public places and then look down their noses at atheists while claiming that "freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom FROM religion".

Uh... yes, it does. I shouldn't have to be subjected to your religious crap when I'm in a courthouse, police station or other government building.

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Is it the wording you're opposed to or that you feel excluded? What if it said "God or Country" or "God and/or Country"? It shouldn't be "freedom of religion" or "freedom from religion", it should be "freedom from persecution based off religious preferences". Unfortunately the closed-minded are everwhere nowadays. I believe in seperation of Church and state, and nothing related to govt. or recieving sponsorship should have religious implications. That does include tax benefis for Churches , etc. All expression should be allowed everwhere or the lines need to be drawn precisely as to what and where.

In reference ot your last sentence.. similar logic ws used recently to enforce a smoking ban in Virginia recently, only i applied everywhere indoors. It doesn't work. Now I stand outside a restraunt and instead of giving the owners a choice to clearly deliniate a smoking and non smoking section, everyone who comes into the restraunt or leaves gets a healthy does of second hand smoke from me, babies included. I would never intentionally subject people to second hand smoke, but I've had my rights limited because someone felt their rights were infringed. In reality it's a private buisness and you have the choice to eat there or not, and whether to sit in a smoking section or not. /rant Why not just wear an atheist badge around and subject them to your religious beliefs? It's just a symbol and it should hold no meaning to you unless you give it meaning. Same with the word God. If you don't believe in Godwhy would you feel slighted, unless it's just that you feel excluded?

[leo-rcc]

Is it the wording you're opposed to or that you feel excluded? What if it said "God or Country" or "God and/or Country"?

What's wrong with just "DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY."? There is no reason to shoehorn the word God in there, the message conveyed works just as well without it.

That is why I feel the comparison to smoking fails, the message without the God reference would exclude no-one, but the non-smoking rule does exclude smokers. And even as a non-smoker I think the anti-smoke lobby sucks, but that is a separate issue.