I’ve said it before, but one of the reasons atheism as a religion (and that’s what it is) just doesn’t catch on is that its adherents are just such jerks about it. Case in point: A woman and her unborn child were killed in a car crash on the edge of an atheist’s property last month. The usual roadside shrine was put up by mourners, including a cross, stuffed animals, porcelain angels, and so on.
Now, the owner of the property, a self-described atheist, has removed the cross and some baby booties from the memorial and buried them in his yard. Bill Brodmerkle said he did it because he “didn’t want any Catholic symbols on his property.” If he’s an atheist, why would he specify “Catholic” and not “Christian”? Why would he dispose of the cross and not the angels? And why bury the cross and not just toss it in the trash if it holds no meaning to him? He also claims that he didn’t mean to bury the booties but that the weather was bad and he didn’t notice them. So why was he burying them in bad weather? Something seems fishy about Brodmerkle’s story.
What’s really slimy is that he tampered with the memorial without trying to contact anyone connected to the family, which wouldn’t take that much work. Yes, roadside memorials can’t last forever, but they should still be treated with respect for the people how died there and their loved ones who mourn.
Technorati Tags: anti-Christian, atheism
Watching the late night Channel 7 news yesterday, it seemed that the local authorities claimed that the impromptu memorial was, in fact, on town land, not on the atheist’s land.
Typical of far too many ‘atheists’ I have met. They proclaim a level of superiority above religious folk, but my experience is they react with anger and destruction (mostly verbal).
Not very enlightening or intelligent…
I must agree with this man’s action. Why didn’t the family ask permission for this? Was he in the house and want no reminder of the gruesome tragedy?
I dislike this desire to memorialize where accidents occur. I think, while it may be cathartic, it is also tacky.
To clarify, I don’t like his reasons, but I support his removal of the impromptu memorial.
As I said, if he didn’t like the memorial, the respectful thing would have been to contact the family (through the police or fire dept. or the news media perhaps) and ask them to come and get it. Not trash it. Plus it wasn’t the whole memorial, just the cross, and now some people are saying that the memorial wasn’t on his own property.
Also let’s not forget that roadside shrines and memorials have a long tradition going back to Europe.
In case you missed the comment above, there is a dispute over whether it’s his property. The accident occurred on the side of road, and at least in Massachusetts, the city owns a certain feet of land on either side of the road.
Regardless, basic human decency should be operative here. He didn’t show any and let his hatred for Catholicism override compassion.
I also saw the local news coverage of this story and they claim the memorial was on town land. I believe it was across the street from this man’s property. He just couldn’t stand looking at the religious symbols. They were crosses not crucifixes, so I’m not sure why he said Catholic and not Christian.
This was a heartless act. If I lived near this guy, I personally would have gone to his house and punched him in the mouth…not very charitable, I know, but I’m working on it
Ah yes, it appears this blog entry has been linked by some atheist mailing list or blog and now the atheists are showing up to trash the Christians. How about some more old canards about “Only religious people start wars, not atheists”?
The adherence of atheists to their beliefs and the evangelistic zeal to spread their beliefs is as much a religion as any. You would think an atheist would care nothing for how other people live their lives, but how often do we see stories about atheists filing lawsuits to force the removal of religious symbols from everywhere in society?
Yes, the poor oppressed “tolerant” atheist minority. Pardon me, but my violin is in the shop.
Personally, I haven’t started any wars because of my religious beliefs and I’m pretty sure no one else here has.
Don’t even try it. You obviously don’t understand Christian morality. She and the baby’s father were trying to do the right thing by having the baby and not aborting it and by planning to marry. It is not the repentant sinner who deserves our ire, since we’re all sinners, but the unrepentant who, on the contrary, believes himself righteous and justified.
Mr. Herrick et. al. miss the point: the man said that the reason that he did this jerk-like and insensitive thing was BECAUSE he was an atheist and couldn’t stand seeing Catholic symbols on his property. (Now it seems that it was not even his property after all!)
Tell me: why is it ‘unchristian’ to criticize the man’s stated motivation for a jerk-like and insensitive action?
And how is his behavior predicated on a posting on this site that came substantially later?
Even further, how can you tell what ‘unchristian’ behavior is like, since you clearly don’t understand Christianity?