The blog against theocracy blogswarm.Easter Weekend 2007

Tengrain of Mock, Paper, Scissors designed this amazing logo.

Tengrain is among the best. So is Neural Gourmet, who has turned this wee idea into a huge, huge movement.

And Liz (brand new to me, but wow.) at I Speak of Dreams has also done an amazing job with logos here. Use whichever you want. You can link back to this post or to Neural's here.

I love you guys. Love. You.

There are no real guidelines to this. Here are some tips that might help, but really, I'm not into herding cats so this is your own thang.

The idea is to post at least once from Friday to Sunday Easter Weekend, April 6-8.

The post will be against theocracy, in favor of our Constitutional guarantee of separation of church and state. But there are a LOT of issues tied to this, as is pointed out in the First Freedom First website:

No religious discrimination.
PRO End-of-Life Care (no more Terri Schiavo travesties)
Reproductive health decisions made by individuals, not religious "majorities"
Democracy not Theocracy
Academic Integrity (like, a rock is as old as it is, not as old as the Bible says)
Sound Science (good bye so-called "intelligent" design)
Respect for ALL families (based on love, not sexual orientation. Hellooooo.)
And finally,
The right to worship, OR NOT.

So take your pick and write your post(s). Really, the wider variety of topics makes it all the more interesting. I can't wait to read what Pharyngula has to say about sound science, or what some of you will have to say about reproductive choice as it relates to church/state separation, or how a religionist blogger feels about their own freedom to worship and how that is compromised by state sponsored religion. (That's my topic, fwiw.)

I want to make it clear that First Freedom First is NOT a "sponsor" of this blogswarm, I'm not on their payroll, etc. They've just been incredibly helpful and on the right side of all the issues above and I give them as much support as I can.

I also think of them as, while not a sponsor, as the central clearinghouse of information on Separation of Church and State issues. If you go to their website and click on "resources" you'll find articles, book recommendations, etc. So if you don't know what to blog about that weekend, you won't be stuck after a visit there.

There is an interesting back and forth in Neural's comment thread involving yours truly...someone commented that it was hard for him "to imagine that religionists can separate church and state. Religion, no matter which flavor, is at the root of their belief system and subsequently their reality and expectations of the world around them."

Part of my reply:

Lots of agnostics and atheists are surprised to learn that a great many financial contributors to Americans United for the Separation of Church and State are regular churchgoers. I am. Among the big supporters of that group are Christian Scientists and Seventh Day Adventists (I would imagine Quakers too, Dave?) who know for a fact that as outsider Christian groups, they are first up against the wall if the Dobsons and Falwells get their way.

...As a self-professed Christian, and that's really all I can lay claim to, my own sins keep me busy 24/7/365. I'm either doing 'em or repenting 'em, and hopefully the good outweighs the bad.

A significant number of religionists actually GET IT that the freedom to practice their religion comes from the glorious gift of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. And actually, separation of church and state goes back farther than that. There was this old timey Jewish preacher who said something once about render unto Caesar...

I'm so excited and supportive of this blogswarm, I can't tell you. And what is most exciting is the participation of atheist and science bloggers, who are smart and thoughtful and well, I'm just honored to be doing something with them.

I really hope this blogswarm does more than just let the world know how we feel about the separation of Church and State. I hope it improves and awakens how we feel about each other. I may be a "believer" whatever the hell that means, but I can't have too many smart, funny, and fascinating, atheists, scientists, agnostics, GLBT bloggers, etc. etc. around here. Who the fuck did JESUS hang out with, anyway? I don't think if he were here today, Jesus would have a beer with some hypocritical preacherman, even if the preacherman was buying. MY God is Love, and Mind, and Truth. And this blogswarm is all about those. Thanks for participating.

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One detail we're still working out is whether and if to have a linkfest someplace. I thought about asking the FFF people to do that, but that then gets into sponsorship, which we really don't want. I'd be happy to start a new blog full of links or a post with links here. Anybody see a problem or a solution? Leave a comment.