As an atheist, I must say in this case, I don't think they do.

Anything to distract them from f*ckin' family members is good by me.

Winning: I don't know, it looks like something that should be investigated. They are still giving out money to support it.

The grant is offered without prejudice as to the religious or secular cause for the festival. And other events which request the funding apparently do receive it too. As such it would more likely be a violation of the establishment clause to deny the funding simply on the grounds of the religious cause.

/Its not a "thing" like a meme, it's a common turn of phrase that was used in this case to be clear about my position on religion and motives for my opinion on this case, to nip in the bud any suppositions of a pro-government-sponsored-religion bias on my part.
//You'll get over it.

Someone calling the ACLU a communist organization because THEY HATE JEEBUS in 3..2..1..

theorellior: I_Am_Weasel: Jesus Fest is funded by gambling.

Mohammed Fest is funded by Women In The Workplace.

MosesFest -- brought to you by Pork: the Other White Meat™!

Blackfest brought to you by, Cotton; The fabric of our lives

Vodka Zombie: It's just strange that they would support something that excludes and disrespects the beliefs of many of their citizens.

I think you'd struggle to find any community event that doesn't conceivably exclude or disrespect the beliefs of at least some citizens.

If they are contributing funds to other festivals, as they say they are, then I don't see a conflict.

Although, the "devil money" comment doesn't exactly help the commissioner's argument.

The 1st amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

This is all that the Constitution or Bill of Rights has to say about religion and government.

The state of of West Virginia is not Congress. That should pretty much be the end of the argument.

Vodka Zombie: But, then again, Christians do love to spit on people who believe differently, don't they?

Not all of them, no.

Would the local government have any issue providing $2000 annually to promote Islam-o-fest? Government money is government money, regardless of the source and promoting a singular religion over another is an unconstitutional act. One of the primary points of the "Jesus Fest" is to proselytize and governments should not be involved in that activity.

Man there is a lot of Christian persecution complex going on in the comments under the original article.

/typical

"It comes from what I call devil's money which is gambling money from video lottery and table games"

Yikes.

a more important question is how does an event organizer get anyone (even hardcore christians) to attend 'Jesus Fest' in the first place? It sounds like the sort of place you would end up in if when you were a kid your weird aunt was tasked with babysitting you for a day.

I mean I bet most of the christians who do attend are just counting the hours until they can go home, have a beer, and watch a sports game.

I thought it was a Mexican festival.

Giltric: theorellior: I_Am_Weasel: Jesus Fest is funded by gambling.

Mohammed Fest is funded by Women In The Workplace.

MosesFest -- brought to you by Pork: the Other White Meat™!

Blackfest brought to you by, Cotton; The fabric of our lives

Sausagefest brought to you by Paxil

Jesus Christ, Superstar, cruising down the street on a Yamaha.

Thorndyke Barnhard: Winning: I don't know, it looks like something that should be investigated. They are still giving out money to support it.

The grant is offered without prejudice as to the religious or secular cause for the festival. And other events which request the funding apparently do receive it too. As such it would more likely be a violation of the establishment clause to deny the funding simply on the grounds of the religious cause.

Yup. I even polished up my pitchfork and everything...shame.

kibitz_thingy: The 1st amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

This is all that the Constitution or Bill of Rights has to say about religion and government.

The state of of West Virginia is not Congress. That should pretty much be the end of the argument.

Only if you're 12 and read the Constitution for the first time this morning.

dr_blasto: Would the local government have any issue providing $2000 annually to promote Islam-o-fest? Government money is government money, regardless of the source and promoting a singular religion over another is an unconstitutional act. One of the primary points of the "Jesus Fest" is to proselytize and governments should not be involved in that activity.

Would the ACLU have an issue with it?

Its usually not until an atheist complains, and usually atheists only take on the" turn the other cheek" religions and not the" you mother farker I'm putting on my bomb vest and coming to your house" type religions.

Thorndyke Barnhard: As an atheist, I must say in this case, I don't think they do.

As someone who thinks that the ACLU often takes these cases too far, I must say in this case, I think they're spot on.

Sometimes I disagree with the ACLU, but sometimes I agree.

/still can't find it in my heart to hate them for the times I disagree with them.

What if it was Satan Fest. Or Mohammed Fest.

Vodka Zombie: Insofar as I think that the money collected from gambling and being used for this stupidity could be better spent on something the whole community could enjoy, I don't think the ACLU has much of a leg to stand on. The city is well within their rights supporting everything their community does.

It's just strange that they would support something that excludes and disrespects the beliefs of many of their citizens. But, then again, Christians do love to spit on people who believe differently, don't they?

Was the irony deliberate?

ACLU, your positions are meaningless ever since you put up your tortured defense of kiddy porn. You are also not making it a secret that you target Christian groups since they are "easy kills". No one is taking you seriously. Clean house and come back when you are ready to properly defend our rights.

Oh, and if you guys manage to find more than one mouth-breathing agnostic in West Virginia to help protest, I might take back the "no one takes you seriously" bit.

kibitz_thingy: The 1st amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

This is all that the Constitution or Bill of Rights has to say about religion and government.

The state of of West Virginia is not Congress. That should pretty much be the end of the argument.

The state of West Virginia is not Congress, but they do receive federal funding and are therefore not constitutionally allowed to promote religion.

FTFA: Watson also clarified some misconceptions about the monies being used. Rather than coming from taxpayer dollars, Jesus Fest is funded from video lottery and table game revenue. This money comes from the state and is, thus, distributed to the county

So farking what? The source of the funds is 100% entirely irrelevant to the point; that the government has no place encouraging or funding one particular religion or faith over any other, period.


From the description linked in the article, from Jesus Fest itself; "The event focuses on evangelism and outreach to the unsaved". In other words, it exists to proselytize the Christian religion. Funding this is precisely like having the state employ Muslims to go door-to-door trying to convert people to Islam, or setting up a stall in the mall to warn everyone to convert to Asatru before Ragnarok comes and they get eaten by frost giants for being ignorant unbelieving rubes.

Thorndyke Barnhard: As an atheist, I must say in this case, I don't think they do.

FTFA: The event focuses on evangelism and outreach to the unsaved by means of family oriented activities and events in an atmosphere of interdenominational praise and worship and the preaching of the gospel.

As an American, I must say in this case, I think they do.

But it's open to everybody - both Interdenominational Christians, and the Unsaved. All are welcome!

"The event is a family oriented festival with a focus on creating unity in the Body of Christ, which is accomplished through an interdenominational approach utilizing ecumenical leadership and the involvement of local area churches. The event focuses on evangelism and outreach to the unsaved..."

The "unsaved".

treecologist: Sometimes I disagree with the ACLU, but sometimes I agree.

/still can't find it in my heart to hate them for the times I disagree with them.

I certainly don't hate them but I've become frustrated with them of late because they've become more partisan than they used to be, particularly with their backsliding on fighting for free political speech.

If it's getting funding from the sources that any other fair or festival would have to apply and get funding from, the ACLU would have to make some case for bias in favor of Jesus Fest at the expense of another event. Hard to get worked up about government just routinely answering correctly filled out paperwork.

Someone needs to promote a Mohammed-Fest in a very, very public manner. Make a big hoopla and solicit state funds from the same source, then sit back and wait for the lulz.

Guidette Frankentits: Thorndyke Barnhard: As an atheist, I must say in this case, I don't think they do.

FTFA: The event focuses on evangelism and outreach to the unsaved by means of family oriented activities and events in an atmosphere of interdenominational praise and worship and the preaching of the gospel.

As an American, I must say in this case, I think they do.

Do you think it's a 1st Amendment violation for taxpayer dollars to pay for the salaries of chaplains in the armed services?

kibitz_thingy: The state of of West Virginia is not Congress. That should pretty much be the end of the argument.

That argument may have worked about 60-70 years ago. Not so much anymore.

If Jesus had his way, money the state collects from gambling would be used to help people addicted to gambling. Instead you have this dick-measuring contest.

Giltric: Its usually not until an atheist complains, and usually atheists only take on the" turn the other cheek" religions and not the" you mother farker I'm putting on my bomb vest and coming to your house" type religions.

Most of us are equally as annoyed by their antics but they don't make up a significant portion of the population like Christianity does and don't have any real power compared to the christian lobby. I mean if they were petitioning school districts to teach their dogma as science and had a large organized effort to take control of women's bodies away from them to the point of having elected officials solely on the basis of that single issue etc etc etc we might be more vocal against their particular brand of derp.

Giltric: Its usually not until an atheist complains, and usually atheists only take on the" turn the other cheek" religions and not the" you mother farker I'm putting on my bomb vest and coming to your house" type religions

You say that like there haven't been Christian terrorists and organized Christian terrorist organizations that set bombs to kill innocent people.

Seriously, Christianity's followers are exactly as psychotic and bomb-happy as Islam's. The vast majority of both are just regular folks for whom religion is basically irrelevant to their lives.

Will there be corn dogs?

Helios1182: Someone needs to promote a Mohammed-Fest in a very, very public manner. Make a big hoopla and solicit state funds from the same source, then sit back and wait for the lulz.

They could always print up life size posters and cutouts of Muhammed to promote the event. That would certainly get a reaction.

I like that organizations that don't pay taxes and ask us to fund their shiat through my taxes feel they are persecuted.