It's interesting (at least I find it interesting) that my first RDBotW is a woman and black. To any black women out there: no offense and please know this is not the norm. I just want to make it clear that the reason I'm picking this as my first RDBotW is quite simply because it's pretty recent news.
In any case, for those who aren't in the know, Monique Davis is a now well known Democratic member of the House of Representatives for the state of Illinois. On April 2, 2008, atheist activist Rob Sherman gave testimony before the House State Government Administration Committee in Springfield. Davis interrupted and criticized Sherman during his speech. To quote from Davis' quite emotionally empowered rant:
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... I'm trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois... This is the land of Lincoln where people believe in God... What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous... It's dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists... Get out of that seat! 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.
What was Sherman giving testimony to? That the state governor's plan to donate 1 million tax dollars to the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago was unconstitutional. He did not mention even a hint of anything that had to do with schools, prayer, children, or guns! He was simply (and correctly) stating that the state giving money to a religious organization was wrong. I don't really know enough about Sherman as an activist to know what his stance on prayer in school is, but if he's like most atheist activists, I sincerely doubt he has anything against prayer in school, just with required moments of silence for prayer.
I sincerely doubt that Davis even bothered to listen to the first word out of Sherman's mouth. In her head, the mathematical process that led to her wrath probably went a little something like this:
Atheist + No Free Money for Christians = DEVIL!
(You should see what happens when you subtract "coffee")
Davis did issue a personal apology on April 10, but it's hard to swallow that she would actually mean it. It's hard to believe an apology from a person that sincerely believes that you are evil, and that your view of the world is poisonous. I honestly don't have a real problem if this is what Davis actually believes (since I personally hold that view about fanatical Christians, Muslims, Scientologists, Hindus, etcetera) but this not the mentality of a person I would want representing my state or the country for that matter, not when she is more than willing to act on that impulse. Any concept of neutrality is forever gone with her as a political figure.
If Davis had ranted to a person of differing religion (as opposed to no religion) then she probably would have been out of a job. However, being that Sherman is an atheist (hence not religious), it was viewed more like "no harm, no foul."
Links:
- Rob Sherman's Homepage - http://www.robsherman.com/
- Chicago Tribune's Article - http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/04/rep-monique-dav.html
