Atheists Clean Up After Christians… Literally

Sounds like another group of people with too much time on their hands

Um, if it’s a year later, they aren’t “literally” cleaning up after them.

Engaging in a symbolic ritual, tongue-in-cheek though it may be, only perpetuates the belief that symbolic rituals have power.  As an atheist, my motto is pretty much “I don’t have time for this bullshit”, so I see this as a monumental waste of time and energy.

 Until you go to the page and read the comments.  Then it becomes more of a grimace. 

 I’m on the line about that.  However, when a religious group tries to speak for everyone in an area then I think that other groups have an obligation to speak out against messages of misinformation, bigotry and hate. 

 So Gods angels are Highway patrol officers? And I thought their god was the boss, not them, since when do they get to order their boogie man around?

wait….oil on the ground…on a road cars will be traveling? seems like a bad idea right from the start to me. was the idea that, if you were driving and your car hit the oil slick and you spun out of control and slammed into the guard rail then flipped over and rolled AND survived….that meant god loved you? damn, this god they speak of does drive a hard bargin.

“asking God to have angels inspect every vehicle that travels into or out of this county”

Um, do these angles have a warrant?

I would rather they have done an actual highway cleanup – cleaning trash from the sides of the road.  Something that would have made an actual difference, as opposed to empty symbolism.  I think that would look better to everyone, and actually have accomplished something.

“road-anointings”

Really? Come on! Really?

That’s it, I’m opening up a chain of “Heaven Realtor” shops selling luxury condos in prime cloud locations of Heaven. Any profits I get will be reinvested into the education system, clearly the government has been saving money in this space for far too long.

Yes, but that would require effort and commitment…without the notoriety.

I like what they’re trying to accomplish, but the physical act seems sketchy. Washing away the oil as a gesture that all those entering the county are welcome whether or not they follow a deity sounded great… until I got to the part about the oil being placed there over a year ago. So all they’re really doing is mopping pavement purely for publicity and symbolism? Sounds boring.

 For that matter, isn’t profiling illegal?

L

FLORIDA ATHEISTS WELCOME ALL INTO POLK COUNTY

This Saturday, atheists are gathering on the Polk County line. The atheists will perform a counter-ritual in opposition to a ritual performed previously by the Polk Under Prayer campaign. In early 2010, Polk Under Prayer (also called “PUP”) – a group of Christian religious and political leaders in Polk County – ritually anointed all roads entering Polk County with a strip of oil.

According to Pastor Frank Smith of Frank Smith Ministries in Winter Haven, the oil ritual was intended to bring those in Polk County to a “full knowledge of Jesus Christ” and to ask “God to have angels inspect every vehicle that travels into or out of this county” and “if they will not submit to God’s way of living, then the prayer is to have them incarcerated or removed from the county.”

Atheist and Mark Palmer, Executive Director of the Humanists of Florida Association, said, “To spread oil on the roads of Polk County and pray for the incarceration of all non-Christians is dangerous, bigoted, and un-American.” Secular leaders from the Humanists of Florida Association, the Atheists of Florida, the Tallahassee Atheists, the Freethinkers FSU, and more will gather at State Road 35 on the north border of Polk County. There they will anoint the road with pure water, because as Palmer said wryly, “oil and water don’t mix.” Palmer called the ritual a “symbolic gesture with two goals. The first is to welcome all people, regardless of their beliefs, to travel in and through Polk County, as is their legal right. And the second is to make Floridians aware of what religiously motivated political machines are doing in some rural counties. PUP is not just some fringe group of religious zealots, but is the major political force in Polk County.”

On March 1, 2011, PUP held an event at which Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields, Polk County Schools Superintendant Sherrie Nickell, and Polk County Sherriff Grady Judd were the guests of honor. PUP Organizer, Richard Geringswald declared that these three “are coming on board with enthusiasm. Each representative touches three major factors in our county: Government, Education and Law Enforcement.” Below is pictured a billboard whereon these leaders endorse PUP with their names and their government offices.

Two days after this March 1st event, Sherriff Grady Judd arranged for the arrest and incarceration of EllenBeth Wachs, an atheist activist, after she made public records requests investigating Judd’s allegedly illegal transfers of county property to local churches. (Wachs now serves as President of the Humanists of Florida Association.)

This Saturday, Florida’s secular leaders intend to “condemn the bigoted actions of PUP and call on the good citizens of Polk County and its government leaders to remember that they are elected to support and represent all citizens of Polk county, not just the Christians.” Palmer continued, “We are Americans. We are Floridians. We must oppose religious favoritism and remember that we stand for liberty and justice for all.”

See this blog post (written by atheist activists) for details, screenshots, photographs and timelines of the past events described above:

http://free2think.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1458

See the original Facebook event for the March 1, 2011 PUP meeting, indicating the support of Polk county political leaders:

http://www.facebook.com/events/189267334422899/

See the Frank Smith Ministries Blog for details of the original oil ritual:

http://franksmithministries.blogspot.com/2010/02/winter-haven-ministry-event-2212010.html

These people are in official county positions just in case you forgot. On their PUP billboard they put their name and title and the Sheriff was in his outfit even.

You’d maybe do something if this was in your backyard! Well this is in my backyard and we are doing something about it! We kept it legal, civil and we had fun.

We just found out about this a couple weeks ago and we went after it ASAP because these people are still in office!!! This needed to be done. It got us a lot of free news coverage and we got to show our local officials that everybody legally should be welcomed.

Last thing! If you have never done anything helpful for Atheism then please don’t waste my time with being the devil’s advocate.

I was there as well, and I have photographic evidence.

Stranger crosses into a town the cops arrest him and he goes nuts. Do these people learn nothing from the lessons of our past?

This is exactly the kind of thing that led to Rambo first blood. They should go check all their mines and make sure there are not secret exits out the back that could save us all from a lot of sequels.

Pouring oil on the roads is stupid. Why aren’t they charged with driver endangerment? Why not pour the oil on the grass next to the road? Anoint the Welcome to wherever signs? Why pour oil across the roads? I don’t think the atheist group presented their side well by mopping up the oil for reasons of hurt feelings and alienation. Do the clean up for the betterment of the county, not because you want to poke them back.  (I have no idea if olive oil is dangerous to drive over but I’d not be willing to risk it for even the slightest chance)

 Uh… wow.  Is there perhaps a fund set up for your legal assistance?

 Congratulations on your escape.

Yes, and if the small, dead fish are simply ignored, then the big, live fish that are deemed by some to be worthy of speaking out against, only grow bigger and more powerful. Any actions against circumstances such as this are useful in my opinion. No matter how small or how off the time frame may be, speaking out against unconstitutional and/or bigoted actions seems to me to always be important enough, regardless of the scale.
He who is silent is understood to consent.

How much of what you choose to do or don’t do is dictated by theist opinions?

 Perhaps you’re missing my point. The billboards are missing the mark by referring to a specific deity by name as if he/she/it is real. If the billboard stated, for example: “Good without a god”, I’d see that as more concise and accurate communication.

“You’ll never be happy with anything anybody does…”
That’s simply not true.
“Your snarky comment is great notoriety for being a condescending do-nothing.”
Yes, I get your point. Anyway, you couldn’t be more wrong. I actually was and am actively involved in counter-fundamentalist activity, but of a different nature. This goes back over 20 years, btw.
My earlier off the cuff comment about effort and commitment was shitty and unwarranted. For that I offer an apology. I don’t know anyone involved in the project and therefore should not have made the statement without knowing or understanding motivations, etc. Mea culpa (my bad).

I’m not getting your question’s connection to my comment.

 Well then, another case of a post missing relevant and much needed information. Annoying in the extreme.

Jay, that’s hilarious!  Annoying oil! I thought of the danger of oil slicked on the highway, too.  Now I see how it was especially dangerous for motorcyclists.

To everyone who participated in this, thank you for helping keep our country clean!

I felt it needed to be said. Regardless of what one thinks of the symbolism of the act of cleaning a road, picking up litter is always something I deeply appreciate.

Isn’t there an angel exterminator we can call for this infestations? I hear they’re worse than bedbugs.

It be much easier just sap them .

This reminds me of that goofball who smeared magic oil around the door that newly elected President Obama was to walk through to be inaugurated. Remember that bit of oily mumbo jumbo?  Then there was some kook who was putting a small smear of magic oil on every seat where Congressmen were going to sit in some kind of conference.  They got their angelic blessings right up their asses. I wonder how much business the local dry cleaners did that week.

Where the heck do you get magic oil, anyway? I’ve read that originally anointing oil was made from myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and olive oil, but that’s just a greasy, smelly stuff.  How do you get the magic into it? Can you do it yourself at home, or do you have to take it to an Official Anointing Oil Charging Station, or can you just buy it pre-endowed in a store, or on the internet? Does the magic have a shelf life? “Best used before: Nov. 2013 Refrigerate after opening.”

Magic or not, the evil godless ones found ways to get past the angel road blocks:

 If that were really all, then boring would be right.

However, there is much more: Not only making sure all are welcomed (religious or not, Hindu or Christian, Muslim or Humanist, atheist or apatheist), but also raising awareness of the dangerous entanglement between sectarian religion and local government. Also, we picked up some trash discovered along the side of the road. OK, maybe that part was boring. Also a social good. How does that balance out?

Well, it did have the power to draw local and national media attention. Does that count at all?

Raising awareness is not a waste of time and energy for those who have connections to the people living under the unpleasant conditions of everyday prejudice, Those include repercussions that range from the bullying of children and other family members to harassment, up to and including arrest, by some hyper-Christian law enforcement. That’s the real bullshit going on, too often unseen by many.

A little help here, please! Taking pictures means you don’t have to pick up the rubbish, is that it?

I think Polk County is the one where law enforcement persecuted atheist Ellenbeth Wachs.

Edit: reading comments below I see that my memory served me correctly.

hey click on my pic and friend me on FB. I would like to learn about all of your activism in the last 20 years! 🙂

 okay, publicity, symbolism, *raising awareness*, and a little trash clean up. I guess the problem I have with it is the oil isn’t there. Mopping away something that isn’t there feels pointless and unsatisfying. You could get the same point across by just making a public statement.