Trial Of An Atheist

Sorry for the all caps but that's how it is on the page i'm linking

linky

Atheist of Florida President John Kieffer was arrested on charges related to his nonparticipation in a Christian prayer ritual conducted BEFORE a Polk County School Board meeting was called to order.

Instead of participating in the prayer ritual BEFORE the meeting had officially started, John, who was wearing a “ONE NATION INDIVISIBLE” Atheists of Florida tee-shirt, walked around, took photos documenting the Christian ritual and talked to AoF Vice-President EllenBeth Wachs in reference to the photo taking.

As of 4/17/2012, two of the three charges were "Nolle Prosequi" (State will not prosecute at this time); John faces up to 1 year in jail if convicted on the remaining charge.

So apparently this guy didn't participate in christian prayer cuz he's an atheist. And now he gets charged with resisting arrest.

For what? for not participating in the prayer.
The case looks silly but I'm sure everyone will chime in with their opinions.


Personally if you want to pray go do it in your church.
School board meetings should be about school business.

I don't buy it, i think there is probably much more to this story. I just think linking to some atheist board on the subject and using it as a source could be a bit biased.

reply to post by DavidWillts


There's 3 sides to any story.
But we can draw some insight from the link.
You can probably find some other links in Google that have more info.

I'm just posting to make everyone aware of what's going on.

I am also an atheist.

Why did he wear his shirt and take pictures of them praying?

Oh, I get it, he is an attention whore

What did he really expect?

I do not like religion, but i will not go around taking pictures of people praying

He knew this would happen. He wanted this to happen.

Thumbs down for this guy

Looks like this guy was there to start trouble.. and was arrested for it..

He got what he wanted, publicity, and now has to deal with the aftermath.

reply to post by liejunkie01


Yeah.

There are ways to combat religion's influence in government, walking around disrupting a prayer while wearing your atheist t-shirt just isn't one of them, seems to be an effective way to piss people off and get yourself arrested though.

I'm always amazed at how misguided many of my fellow atheists seem. Sure we need to keep government secular and fight religious influence but there are ways to go about that without being jerks about it.

Well, there isn't a lot of information on this case, but I have to agree, this was not the smartest thing for him to do. Does he deserve jail time? No.

I did find the following to be an interesting tidbit though. And if it's true, it really is a bit scary.

"Yes, this is Polk County, the one where many of the public officials are Christian theocrats, the one where a bunch of them – public officials! – poured “holy oil” on all the roads leading into the county and prayed for nonbelievers to be converted or jailed or expelled from the county. It’s a scary place".

Source

Originally posted by grey580
reply to post by DavidWillts

 

There's 3 sides to any story.

And here on ATS, two of them are buried in the desert.

Originally posted by grey580

Atheist of Florida President John Kieffer was arrested on charges related to his nonparticipation in a Christian prayer ritual conducted BEFORE a Polk County School Board meeting was called to order.

So, uh, what exactly were the "charges" he was arrested on? "Charges related to his nonparticipation in a Christian prayer ritual?" Such as?

Lol How was he trying to start trouble? He was there for a school board meeting and he was taking pictures to document them praying before the meeting started. They didnt like it so they called this police, by the way you can google this and read other articles not from an athiest site if you like....they all tell the same story.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

The Sheriff of Polk County FL, is one of the biggest asshats in the world. He was quoted in one article as saying that he more likely to reach for his Bible than a law book. I lived there for 6 years, this guy was elected while I lived there, and he is an evangelical dickweed.

I was on Xbox live and watching the matrix trilogy, there was a scene in the second movie where I think things got a little screwy while he was fighting these guys over a staircase there was a big " M" positioned above him and someone said " he bleeds like a man , he is not a god" after a sword hit him and he blocked it with his hand. When he had to present himself before the elders with gray hair one of them had a harmonica around his mouth attached to his head. There are many levels of symbolism in those movies the wachowzkski brothers said more than anyone will ever know. What always gets me is him being called kiddo by the oracle I mean he is 30 or 35 . Just thought the aetheists would like that in this thread, I am not an aetheist.

Originally posted by liejunkie01
I am also an atheist.

Why did he wear his shirt and take pictures of them praying?

Is it a public school? Sounds like it.

Why is there organized prayer?

Sounds to me like the Atheist is trying to expose what should be illegal.

reply to post by BladeRunner5050


Don't you mean Sophia Stewart? They ripped off her story "The Third Eye" when they made the Matrix. She got a pretty nice settlement out of it if I remember correctly.

No, I meant the live connection through the Internet changing things the government messes with me from time to time cause I am sorta a spy. I didn't know she won a lawsuit, I am on Xbox live now listening to new music by pod and Serj Tankian and just getting pissed off at music. This really happened with my Xbox I am not making this up , I just thought trials of an aetheist would be a good place to put this I didn't want to start my own thread.

Originally posted by CoolerAbdullah786
reply to post by BladeRunner5050

 

Don't you mean Sophia Stewart? They ripped off her story "The Third Eye" when they made the Matrix. She got a pretty nice settlement out of it if I remember correctly.

SNOPES says False

www.snopes.com...

There might be a connection here. Seems prayer in public school is an ongoing battle.

Gov. Scott signs school prayer law Opponents of the law say they will turn their attention to local school boards and warned that the policy will end up in court. By Tia Mitchell Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- The burden is now on school districts to decide whether to allow students to pray or deliver “inspirational messages” during public events. Gov. Rick Scott signed into law Friday a controversial proposal authorizing school prayer. Critics who had lobbied the governor to veto SB 98 immediately refocused their attention on school boards, warning that implementing the policy would guarantee a court battle. The law, effective July 1, allows school districts to create policies that authorize students to deliver “inspirational messages” at public events. Teachers and employees still cannot. “Legislators are clearly inviting Florida school boards to plunge into a legal swamp,” said Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separate of Church and State. “I hope school board members turn down the invitation. It’s wrong to subject students to coercive prayer and proselytizing.” All along Scott has said that he supports prayer, so his decision to sign the bill wasn’t surprising. However, the governor’s office said most of the calls and emails it received about the measure were in opposition. Read more here: www.miamiherald.com...=cpy

So Westboro Church can disrupt and protest funerals - - - - but in Florida it is illegal to disrupt any assembly for worship of God.

This particular organized prayer is help before the school board meeting - - - because they already got in trouble for separation of church and state.

So therefore - - - it is intentionally - - - not the official start of the public school board meeting.

This is almost like Entrapment.

I don't think they should be allowed to have the prayer in the same location as the school board meeting.

Something needs to be done about these people. Same group.

In Dec 2010, EllenBeth Wachs (Vice-President/Legal Affairs Coordinator for Atheists of Florida) challenged Sheriff Judd for his Christmas PR stunt transfer of taxpayer property (jail basketball goals) to area churches. In Jan/Feb 2011, she further discovered through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests that the sheriff department credit card, personnel and other resources were used for Judd's PR event. Before she could follow up on these newly discovered details, Ms. Wachs, a retired attorney, was arrested and jailed on (March 3, 2011) (and again in May) on clearly trumped up felony charges. free2think.org...

OMG, this county is the red necked mecca of the world. These evangelicals are out of control, and they truly believe if you don't go to church, you should leave their county. I fully believe most of the people mentioned in the above post have sheets and pointed hats in their closets.