I don’t think all religions harden the heart.

Most religions promote peace.

People are just misguided.

GOD is a personal quest.

There is NO god

Why is it that atheists giving voice to their beliefs makes them ‘against’ Christmas? Because just for once, someone bothered to say some things about religious belief - and it’s all religious belief? There’s nothing in the sign, or even in Barker’s quoted comments that says the atheists in Washington or elsewhere are ‘against Christmas.’ Fact is, a lot of atheists celebrate Christmas in some capacity. This whole ‘against Christmas’ thing is a meme invented by the O’Reillys of the world and we’d be better off not buying into it.

Ok, I’m a Pagan and celebrate the Solstice. On one hand, I’m thrilled that the Solstice was given a place of honor, but horrified that it was used as a jab at all religions. I find the wording of the sign in poor taste. By using a holiday celebrated and embraced by my religion, you have smeared MY beliefs as well. Solstice is a time of renewal, joy and hope. I am offended, since many of us have worked so hard at nurturing cooperation of different faiths during the holiday season. We are all entitled to our beliefs…..regardless of religion or the choice to not follow any religion. If you want to poke fun at religion and Christians, free speech allows this of course. …but in this case makes you no better than the rest of the hate mongers of the world. So you made your point, you caused a stir. But did you add anything of value to our natural world? Did you plant any seeds of love, cooperation, understanding? We need to work towards greater understanding, compassion and cooperation amongst all religions and belief systems. We need to all grow up and get along.

As an Atheist, I agree with what it says, but I think to display it with a nativity scene is simply rude. A simple ‘Peace on Earth to all who live.’ would have sufficed. The essence of our constitution implies respect towards others faiths or lack of them.
For myself, I wonder of the ‘truths’ that so many are willing to kill or die for within their respective faiths being Judaism, Christian and Muslim and the example all three have and continue to display in ‘The Holy Land’ and regions surrounding it. I wonder if a Jew, Christian and Muslim all died in a battle against each other, would they meet in heaven? What would they say to each other? “What are you doing here?” Would they feel regret for having wasted each others lives on Earth knowing now that it was not necessary? Now knowing, after their deaths, that they could have lived long, fulfilling lives with friends and family? Would they consider themselves as dupes or pawns of some divine comedy? Or tragedy? This is where the essence of their respective “truths” fail and one of the many reasons as to why we are Atheists.