Krangthebrain

Former President George H.W. Bush for saying "I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."

George Bush showing that a lack of charisma is a family trait- Krangthebrain


The following exchange took place at the Chicago airport between Robert I. Sherman of American Atheist Press and George H.W. Bush, on August 27 1987. Sherman is a fully accredited reporter, and was present by invitation as a member of the press corps. The Republican presidential nominee was there to announce federal disaster relief for Illinois. The discussion turned to the presidential primary:

RS:

"What will you do to win the votes of Americans who are atheists?"
GB:
"I guess I'm pretty weak in the atheist community. Faith in God is important to me."
RS:
"Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?"
GB:
"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."
RS:
"Do you support as a sound constitutional principle the separation of state and church?"
GB:
"Yes, I support the separation of church and state. I'm just not very high on atheists."
UPI reported on May 8, 1989, that various atheist organizations were still angry over the remarks.

The exchange appeared in the Boulder Daily Camera on Monday February 27, 1989. It can also be found in "Free Inquiry" magazine, Fall 1988 issue, Volume 8, Number 4, page 16.

On October 29, 1988, Mr. Sherman had a confrontation with Ed Murnane, co-chairman of the Bush-Quayle '88 Illinois campaign. This concerned a lawsuit Mr. Sherman had filed to stop the Community Consolidated School District 21 (Chicago, Illinois) from forcing his first-grade atheist son to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States as "one nation under God" (Bush's phrase). The following conversation took place:

RS:
"American Atheists filed the Pledge of Allegiance lawsuit yesterday. Does the Bush campaign have an official response to this filing?"
EM:
"It's bullshit."
RS:
"What is bullshit?"
EM:
"Everything that American Atheists does, Rob, is bullshit."
RS:
"Thank you for telling me what the official position of the Bush campaign is on this issue."
EM:
"You're welcome."
After Bush's election, American Atheists wrote to Bush asking him to retract his statement. On February 21st 1989, C. Boyden Gray, Counsel to the President, replied on White House stationery that Bush substantively stood by his original statement, and wrote:

"As you are aware, the President is a religious man who neither supports atheism nor believes that atheism should be unnecessarily encouraged or supported by the government."

http://www.evilbible.com./Retard.htm]Source[/url]

Ryanwb

Nice to have such an intolerable man as our president

__________________
RIP Tim

DbaxJ

SO FRIGGIN WHAT.. this was info from 1988?????????????

Assface

I guess I'm not a real citizen. Does this mean I don't have to pay taxes anymore?

Maybe we should just have athiest reservations, give us a little area of land to keep us out of the way of real people. Since we'll be a lawless bunch of heathens just think how fun our casinos will be (and brothels galore!) We can do that for all of the gays too, that will take care of the homo problem. Let's take that silly inscription off of tablet the statue of liberty is holding and start cleaning up America.

Yup, this is one nation under God, not Allah. So lets get rid of the muslims. We should ship the jews out of here also, they killed Jesus and as one nation under God that's as unamerican as you can get.

__________________
RIP King of Cards
Tim Minnick 9/12/1972-3/4/2007
You'll be missed.

Krangthebrain

That wasn't our current President, it was his father.

Krangthebrain

So what do you think about John Kerry being lambasted for what he said/did in 1971?

Krangthebrain

Great idea! Give us (Atheists, agnostics, and all other "infidels) California, Oregon, and Washington.

I'd be cool with that.

DbaxJ

Kerry's situation is different... he is running for office RIGHT NOW. GB is a "FORMER" president. What does what he had to say in 88 have to do with anything right now? Why are you bringing up the former presidents comments?

As for Kerry, it is what he stands for, so his comments have bearing on his current election hopes... HUGE difference!

Ryanwb

I know, he was the President of our country at one time....right?

or did I drop into an alternate universe like in Back to the Future and Biff is the president

__________________
RIP Tim

DbaxJ

McFly....

Cardinals.Ken

Screw you!

That's God's Country!

Take some east coast cess-pools...no one will notice...


EDIT: I clicked on your sourse link, and got this:

The page cannot be displayed
The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.


Perhaps you could provide us with a working link?

__________________
Dains plenfy of waten!

Krangthebrain

The American Atheists magazine.

Here's a slew of different websites talking about this dialogue:

http://www.google.com/custom?q=%22No...canatheist.org

Krangthebrain

But this is the father of our President. And someone who wasn't even as ideological as his son is. This is typical behavior of the Christian right idealogues...

That's like attacking me 30 years from now. What I say now, I doubt that I will say the same things, or have the same feelings about politics and the like. Kerry was around the same age as I am now when he made those comments.

DbaxJ

So should I judge you on what your father says? Or stands for? No I judge you for you and what you stand for/say.

As for Kerry, it is what he stands for,whether it was 30 years ago or today. It is information pertinant to his election... as a citizen I feel I have to right to base my opinion on his based on that information, thats why it is important NOW, since he is running for the highest office in our country, NOW.

justAndy

i was WAY more extreme as a teenager - 20 yrs have gone by, I've moderated a lot of my opinions. I bet I'm typical in that way. Ridiculous to say that what a man did and thought at 23 is the same as at 53. By that standard, Dubya is still a coke snorting, drunk driving, cheerleader...

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