Illinois State legislator says Atheism is dangerous

See here.

This is the kind of wrong-headed ignorance that made me feel that the creation of this blog was necessary. Here, we have a woman...a state congresswoman, no less, saying things like this:
        
        “What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous...It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists!”

I find it absolutely appalling that an elected official should purport herself in such a manner. Especially a moment later, when she tells the atheist target of her vitriol to “get out of that seat” because he didn’t “belong” there. “There” being amongst righteous Christians, I would assume. Not “there” meaning being amongst the House State Government Administration Committee, surely.

The purpose of the hearing, by the way, was some very shady dealings in giving $1M in state funds to a Baptist church, via a private school. More here.

I think it’s about time that we held our legislators, at every level, to respect atheists as much as theists. No legislator would dare say that Jewish beliefs were dangerous. Even Muslim beliefs, as wrongly vilified as they are in this post-9/11 environment of fear, would never be called dangerous by a public official. Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist...none are treated the way the lack of any religion is treated. In this regard, our country has only moved backwards.

Our third President, and author of the Declaration of Independence once said “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God.”
Conversely, our 41st President and Father of our current President had this to say on the subject: “No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.”

By an interesting coincidence, Mr. Bush said that to Robert Sherman, the very same man to whom Illinois State Rep. Monique Davis spewed the vitriol that caused this post.