Ill. Rep. Davis: Atheism "Dangerous"

Some of you may have heard about this story out of the Illinois General Assembly last week. Outspoken atheist Rob Sherman was speaking before the chamber against a million dollar grant to a Baptist church when State Representative Monique Davis burst into a rant decrying Sherman's world view as "dangerous" to children and against the morals and founding of the entire state.

I think that last sentence bears repeating: a democratically elected official went on public record as stating that an American citizen's right to have and freely express his own religious beliefs is "dangerous" because they do not agree with her own. If the rolls were reversed and a lawmaker had told a Christian or Jew that their religious views were dangerous for children to know about and that they had no right to be speaking before their state assembly for that reason, the religious right in this country would be calling for that person's head as if they were John the Baptist.

Fortunately, Sherman is only an atheist and therefore doesn't deserve the same respect from his elected officials as someone who believes in magical water walkers and invisible sky gods. If only there was some kind of change made to the Constitution that protected his right as a citizen to believe whatever he wanted; an "amendment", if you will, that would guaranty some sort of "freedom" as far as "religion" is concerned.

Yesterday, Rep. Davis found herself in good company as Keith Olbermann nominated her for "Worst Person in the World":

[Update: Rep. Davis has apologized to Sherman, and he has accepted. Good. Apparently she was upset over yet another Chicago school shooting and said that she just took her frustrations out on him. It doesn't excuse her actions but at least she had enough class to take responsibility for them.]