Rep. Monique Davis to Atheists: "You Have No Right to be Here!"

And in reply, madam, I say, "Wrong answer, but thank you for proving my point, as well as giving me an unexpected dose of hope."

I believe I mentioned somewhere before that I left the church not because science made me an atheist, but because other Christians did. Rep. Monique Davis (D?!-Chicago) is a shining example of the kind of narrow-minded, venom-spewing hate monger masquerading under the costume of God-Fearing Christian who sent me fleeing for the peaceful hills of atheism.

Here is what she had to say to Rob Sherman, active atheist and concerned community member, who was testifying before the House State Government Administration Committee in Illinois:

Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy -- it’s tragic -- when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school.

I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?

I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous--

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure
that if this matter does go to court---

Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

And here is a complete list of the news organizations carrying the story as of 4:24am Pacific:

That's right. One (1) (Un, uno, ein). Six days later, we have precisely one (1) news source all over this story.

If she'd been hating on gays, Jews, Catholics, single moms, drug addicts, lepers, Rush Limbaugh, or just about anybody else, this would have been nonstop news. Of course it would have been: she's a Democrat (?!). A black Democrat, no less. Who attends Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church. Doesn't this just seem like a right-wing mouth-breather's dream? But she's hating on atheists, so it's all okay. Everybody hates atheists. QED.

As it turns out, she's wrong about that. And that's why I'm not sitting here cussing up a blue streak, outraged beyond belief, calling her a bigoted God-blind fuckwit with the IQ of a small piece of asparagus (apologies to asparagus). That's why, although I'm horrified by the idea that an elected official can tell a citizen of the United States of America that he has no right to be here without the media ripping her to shreds, I'm not calling her a dangerous fucking fanatic who is a disgrace to the Democratic Party and should be summarily removed from office. And it's why I'm not focusing this post on the fact that she's so fucking ignorant about Lincoln's religious beliefs that it would be funny if it wasn't so bloody pathetic.

Tirades like that against a person simply for being an atheist have absolutely no place in American government, State or otherwise. No American citizen should be subjected to such invective from an elected representative performing in his or her capacity. Americans would be pretty bloody stupid to cheer on this kind of foaming-at-the-mouth hate and spite and not realize what it means for their rights, too. Christians should be ashamed that another Christian - elected to represent the people - could say such things.

They should be. And they are.

I have, to paraphrase Michelle Obama, never been so damned proud of my fellow Americans in my life.

All of you. Atheists, Jews, Christians, agnostics, secular humanists, callow youth and venerable aged, one and all, you spoke out. For fuck's sake, even the Conservative blog I stumbled across reading up on this incident shocked me - it was rational, decent, thoughtful. What the fuck, you conservatives? No sneering attacks that of course she'd say shit like that because she's a black Democrat who attends Wright's church? (Okay, there were a couple, but not many.) You mean you weren't leaping to her defense because while she's an icky black Democrat who goes to Wright's church, you gotta admit she's right about them thar evil, dangerous atheists? You seriously fucking sat back and looked at this and said, "It's wrong for Americans, Christians and our Country?"

I didn't expect this. I clicked on that link on Google because I was certain that here, here, would definitely be the attitude I expected when I first read this story (tip o' the shot glass to PZ). Here would be the intolerance, the bigotry, the narrow-minded, gleeful "atheist got his comeuppance!" invective I'd been expecting all along. I hadn't found it in the comments thread to the original article. I hadn't found it on Yahoo! Answers (and that's a place I'd given up on as hopeless a long time ago). And I didn't find it at the Illinois Review.

Incredible.

I knew the atheists would get it: that what Rep. Davis did was utterly beyond the pale, had nothing to do with American values, and didn't belong in our government.

But Christians got it. Conservatives got it. Joe and Jane Q. Public got it. For the first time in a long time, people seemed to understand what this separation of Church and State thing was all about. And that gives me an unbelievable degree of hope.

I spend a lot of time in this blog screaming at the stupid fucking people who want to impose their authoritarian, batshit-insane fanatical Christianity on every citizen in this land. I rip and claw and tear at neocons and theocons, agents of intolerance who are trying to burn the Constitution, revise our history, and turn this country into a farce of democracy. I do hope the rest of you realize that it's aimed at a narrow segment. That segment turns out to be a lot narrower than I believed. And that is incredible good news.

There are true Christians left in this land. True conservatives have survived. Moderates are battered but not broken. And we liberals, we have room for the lot of you. Even the eeviiil atheists among us, we're willing to find common ground. It's starting to look as if there's some good rational territory left for us to meet on where we can laugh at the fanatics together. It's starting to look as though we can find things to build on together. Our differences can be accommodated. Sure as shit, we'll never agree on everything, but that was never the point, was it? We just need to make enough room for each other, keep the intolerant fuckheads at bay, is all.

Remember this moment, my darlings. Remember that when you were faced with an elected official telling a citizen that he had no right to be here because of his lack of belief, you stood up and said, "Excuse me, but no. That's not what Christianity is about. That's not what America is about."

Remember it the next time some complete bastard tries to persuade you that American government should do away with all that secular nonsense and open its arms wide to religion. Because if you don't, I'll be blogging about how some raving fundamentalist Christian was screaming at a Catholic, or a Lutheran, or a Methodist, "You have no right to be here!"

And I really don't want to have to do that.

As for Rep. Davis: I await your abject apology, Madam. And I suggest you mean it. You have not only your atheist constituents to atone to, you have an apology to make to your Christian, Jewish, Muslim, agnostic, et al ones as well.

Enormous shot glass of premium tequila raised high to Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune, who broke this story, and who has one of the most awesome comments sections evah.