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I would suggest that a lot of this has to do with people in the "bible belt" taking your attitude, and keeping quiet.

Here, a quick Google finds this study -- even if you include "religious unaffiliated" as a religion, that still leaves 10.3% of the population either explicitly atheist/agnostic, or without religion.

For comparison: Even in the Bible Belt, people are starting to accept homosexuality. They might not like it, and they might not like gay marriage, but they're willing to at least accept that it doesn't make a person inherently wrong.

And according to another quick Google, and another website that is clearly biased towards "traditional values", only 2.3% are homosexual.

You can run the numbers yourself, but either way, 10.3% is kind of a huge number. That's some 31 million people in this country.

I'm not saying that we should be mocking religion, but I do think it might be a good idea for atheists to "come out of the closet", so to speak. We're more hated than homosexuals, and we're a larger group. Really, the only reason the "bible belt" can remain so willfully ignorant is because they haven't been exposed to it.

Oh for crying out loud.
You said:

Whats even more disturbing is getting your entire world view from wikipedia.

in a response to *my* post. Go to your post, click on "parent" and you will get my post. This implies that you were telling *me* that I get my entire worldview from wikipedia, which I do not.

Next, you're correct, I did say "I find it interesting that rather than try to distance themselves from the groups on the SLPC's list, these folks just scream liberal-conspiracy and claim that the list targets innocent conservative groups. I've got news for you, the conservative movement really doesn't need these kinds of "conservatives"". This was in a direct response to this:

The Southern Poverty Law Center always has to pump up some new boogie man to justify its existence. If none is available at the moment, they look for the nearest Christian group and label it racist, bigoted or a hate group.

These liberal lawyers owe many of the people on its list of hate groups an apology because all that their organizations have done is resist the imposition of anti-Christian regulations and statutes on free people.

This quote was taken from the link in the post I was replying to, *not* wikipedia.

Perhaps if your claiming that is directly from "The Traditional Values Coalition" website, you could provide a link of something to the page with it on it.

No, I said it was a direct response to a quote taken from the other poster's link. If you were actually reading this thread, you'd have had no problem following that link.

As I said before, Your comment shows the lack of accurate information just as much as the parent.

My comment was my commentary on the page that the parent referenced on "The Traditional Values Coalition" website. Are you suggesting that "The Traditional Values Coalition" is not qualified to put forth it's own opinions?

You see, first of all, in order to distance themselves from the other hate groups, they would have to have a closer relationship with them before hand.

The "relationship" is that they have been grouped together by the SLPC. The article on their own website complains about liberals dumping them together, but mainly complains that the SLPC "owe many of the people on its list of hate groups an apology because all that their organizations have done is resist the imposition of anti-Christian regulations and statutes on free people", rather than saying something like, "Please don't lump us in with clansmen, we're not the same".

That doesn't seem to be the case but you worded your reply to indicate that there was a problem with them making remarks about a group the were currently close to by proximity of an attack on their character instead of saying we need to get further away from these groups that we aren't close to in the first place

I didn't say that they were actively working with any of the other groups. In the context of the thread, which again, you don't seem to have read very carefully, they have been grouped together and in their own response they did nothing to refute the notion that they're not a hate group, nor do they say anything to imply that they disapprove of the other groups that they're listed with.

Of course anyone who knows anything about both groups know that is a incorrect statement.

What on earth are you talking about? Reading "The Traditional Values Coalition" website does nothing to make me think that the SLPC assessment is incorrect. The SLPC however does have a great deal of experience in identifying and tracking various hate-groups.

I find it interesting that rather than try to distance themselves from the groups on the SLPC's list, these folks just scream liberal-conspiracy and claim that the list targets innocent conservative groups.

Oh, and the TVC does distance itself from groups like the Aryan Nation:

As Don Feder has observed: âoeWhat makes the Southern Poverty Law Center particularly odious is its habit of taking legitimate conservatives and jumbling them with genuine hate groups (the Klan, Aryan Nation, skinheads, etc.), to make it appear that thereâ(TM)s a logical relationship between say, opposing affirmative action and lynching, or demands for an end to government services for illegal aliens and attacks on dark-skinned immigrants.â

Now, this charming piece of work is by "The Traditional Values Coalition", which is catagorized by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.

And "The Southern Poverty Law Center" is categorized by The Traditional Values Coalition as poor on facts and substance. So what?

Homosexual Groups Back Off From "10 Percent" Myth A coalition of leading pro-homosexual activist groups has now admitted in a legal brief that only "2.8 percent of the male, and 1.4 percent of the female, population identify themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual."[1] http://www.rr-bb.com/showthread.php?t=69577 [rr-bb.com]

Wait, did you just seriously, and with a straight face use a link to "Rapture Ready" to support an argument? RR is NOT a trusted source of information for anyone other than those who are expecting that they are going to vanish from the earth to sit with Jesus while the rest of us fight a massive war, apparently for the entertainment of god and his new raptured buddies.

Oh, but it gets better. That page seems to just draw from a page at traditionalvalues.org, entitled Homosexual Urban Legends, The Series. Now, this charming piece of work is by "The Traditional Values Coalition", which is catagorized by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.

Might as well post links to Stormfront.org for "the real truth about blacks and jews".

True if we were talking ONE acorn employee. Maybe even 2 could happen in different states. 3 convictions in 3 states for voter fraud by the same organisation is starting to become less "it's just the employees". How many does ACORN have ?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003982533_acorn30m.html?syndication=rss one instance, 7 defendants, at least 3 guilty, All ACORN, Seattle
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/10/missouri-acorn-voter-fraud-scandal.html another, 16 defendants, all guilty, All ACORN, Kansas City
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=3433 Ohio, 600.000 fake votes

In the conviction (first article) these people state that ACORN management specifically asked them to do this. But don't worry. Obama is giving them "at least 10%" of the $700 billion bailout package. Surely that'll improve their behavior, right ? But it's possible that he just doesn't know, right ?

possible as in "it's possible you get hit by a meteor right now" that is.

http://traditionalvalues.org/urban/one.php

Read it and weep.

I have to say that I object to homosexual behavior because the Bible provides an instruction manual for a successful life, and clearly teaches that this behavior is inconsistent with God's definition of a successful life.

It is important to note that God's guidelines have a lot to say about what will make me successful - and they address many many more issues than sexual expression. See more info in this post.

By way of an analogy: If you suggested that hitting your thumb with a hammer was a great plan for happiness, should I support your right to do it? I suppose. I don't object to what adults choose to do with their thumbs and hammers - or in private with each other. That's their business.

In my opinion, since the Bible says that sexual expression outside of heterosexual marriage is a bad idea, I'm inclined to agree.

I *do* object to essentially providing educational curriculum that indicates that hitting one's thumb with a hammer is an equal choice to not doing the same, and then making it hate speech to indicate that hammering thumbs is a bad idea.

Think I'm being alarmist? That this is a red herring? I think not!
See what has already happened in Sweden

See what has already happened in Canada

Do what you want in your bedroom with other adults. That's your business, and you have the right to engage in activities that are not healthy if you choose. I won't stand in the way of that viewpoint. This is the classical essence of tolerance. I don't have to agree with you, but I do have to respect your right to your point of view.

In the "new tolerance" the only tolerable viewpoint is pro-individual rights. Anything else is intolerable and must be labeled with a pejorative which indicates a character flaw.

I won't let *activists* intolerance of opposing viewpoints interfere with my civil rights. Does that mean that someone should issue a personal atack against me because of my viewpoint? How tolerant is that?

Respectfully,
Anomaly

You can find Arnie's real enemies in the Religious Right, all of whom are members in good standing of the GOP.

Here's something from the Traditional Values Coalition:
"The recall election in California is heating up as TVC's Chairman Rev. Louis P. Sheldon takes on Arnold Schwarzenegger's moral values and fitness for public office."

Their problem is that they don't think Schwartzenegger's a Nazi, either.

On February 13, 2003, a former Wisconsin Boy Scout leader was convicted of 20 counts of child sexual abuse and sentenced to 65 years in jail.

The judge said he wanted Gary Radloff to die behind bars for his crimes against children. Judge Patrick Haughney told Radloff: "Absent a serial killer, this case doesn't get any more serious because what we have here is a serial child molester. Mr. Radloff is evil. Mr Raloff is vile. He is a child molester who ran a house of evil. I intend this to be a life sentence."

Radloff had been convicted of child molestation in Illinois in the 1980s as a Boy Scout leader, but served only two years. He moved to Wisconsin and was charged last year with molesting three boys in his Scout troop.

In Visalia, California, a police officer and two other men (one who is HIV positive) have been arrested for molesting a 16-year-old boy they met in an American Online chat room called "Fresno Male for Males." The boy became concerned about being infected with AIDS after learning that one of his molesters, Aaron Rodriguez was HIV positive. After telling his mother, she contacted the police. The investigation of Rodriguez led detectives to the arrest of police officer Bryan Pinto and Justin Helt.

These homosexual molesters face up to five years in prison if convicted.

In Long Grove, Illinois, a prominent businessman was sentenced to six years in jail and ordered to pay $15 million to two boys he molested between 1995 and 1998.

Homosexual child molester Walter Metcalf was senior vice president at the Cole Taylor Bank in Wheeling, Il., and owned a pet supply store in Long Grove.

A male Milwaukee public school teacher has been arrested for dressing like a woman and trying to sexually molest a 15-year-old boy. James Simmons was charged with one count of child enticement and one count of second-degree sexual assault of a child.

Simmons told the boy that he was a transsexual and offered to pay him money to have oral sex with him.

After he made bail, he returned to teach in his elementary school classroom at Keefe Avenue Elementary School. School officials refused to tell reporters if Simmons would be removed from his teaching position.

Simmons has a police record of prostitution-related loitering and prowling in Milwaukee.

Actually 99.5 percent aren't homosexual. The 'one in ten' is a skewed statistic, read about it here.

Hope that clear stuff up... by the way I'm not against gay people... but I think people should get their facts straight.