We know atheists are probably the most intolerant group around. They are worse than the Taliban, insisting that everyone must follow their dictates. Now, not only have they offended the vast majority of citizens of one state but they have stuck those citizens with the tab for insulting them.
What has happened?
In Utah, the Highway Patrol and the State of Utah put crosses on the side of the road to memorialize State Troopers who have given their lives for the people of Utah.
Crosses are a culturally well-established sign of memorial. If you see a cross on the side of the road, you immediately know that someone died there.
Unfortunately for the citizens of the State of Utah, American Atheists decided they were offended that the State put up crosses to mark the spots where troopers made the ultimate sacrifice.
They sued.
The State of Utah and the Highway Patrol, to their credit, fought the lawsuit. At the trial court level, they won. Unfortunately the atheists appealed to the Tenth Circuit, which reversed the trial court decision and decided the memorial crosses on the side of the road constituted a state endorsement of religion.
Regrettably, the US Supreme Court declined to review the case.
Given the appellate court decision, Utah really had no choice. They settled the case. The plaintiffs got $1. The plaintiffs’ lawyer got $388,000 as attorney fees.
There are two outrages here. First is the lack of tolerance from the atheists. These people have one simple goal. They want to eradicate religion, period.
The more important outrage is the system that allows these legal fees.
I am a huge proponent of the Seventh Amendment. I think people should be allowed to seek justice in the court system. But there is a difference between keeping the doors to the courthouse open and subsidizing litigation.
Lawsuits like this one are brought under the civil rights statutes, which provide for attorney’s fees if the plaintiff prevails. Lawyers are not cheap to begin with and they are neither cheap nor efficient when someone else is paying the bill.
Civil rights litigation is the most abused litigation there is. Often lawsuits brought by liberal groups against cities and states are settled because of the attorney fee provisions. Even if the plaintiff is only awarded a dollar, legal fees can easily run into the hundreds of thousands of dollar or more.
We conservatives often complain about activist judges but the real problem is activist lawsuits. Judges do get to be activists when there is a suit in front of them.
The real solution for conservatives is to demand that the attorney fees section be removed from all of the civil rights statutes.
If people feel as if there is a real injury, let them sue like anyone else. In a personal injury lawsuit, the lawyer takes a cut of the recovery. In most of these activist lawsuits, the plaintiffs keep the damages demand under the $20 Constitutional threshold so that the defendants do not get a trial by jury. How many of these silly lawsuits would see the light of day if the liberal lawyer behind it were not counting on a payday from the taxpayer?
Not many I think.
Permalink Reply by Ronald L. Pugh on If the property (outside the right of way) is owned or leased to private citizens/corporations and the crosses in question are not destroyed but perhaps "auctioned" to private entities, the lawful reintroduction of the crosses is easy. No one is permitted to
deny a citizen's right to freely exercise their religious beliefs.
Permalink Reply by Barry Gabrielson on Once again, the only winners are the attorneys and the court. We disagree, they win.
Permalink Reply by Rich Knoch on Our local school district is facing a similar fate.
The ACLU decided that internet filters designed to keep students from being proselytized by LGBT (and goats) websites are limiting the students first amendments rights and parents and school administration have no rights.
Students have always had the right to access these type of websites, if research in deviant lifestyles were a class project, but this, of course, was not good enough for the ACLU. A large portion of its income is derived through bogus lawsuits against Americans.
Permalink Reply by W. Michael King, Ph.D. on Many "atheists" have actually formed their own religion, an intensely held belief: of non-belief in religion.
The following is an except from an OpEd I authored in 2009, in response to a request from my publicity agent at the time.
".........Does atheism have a “fatal” flaw? Yes! Atheists’ “fatalistic” flaw is, in its own right, a blind belief depriving them of a sense of purpose and hope beyond physical existence. Locking out any possibility but “consciousness termination” at death is emphatically a “religious-like” limitation. We are not little chemical organic blips that are powerless over our destinies. All of mankind can evolve and continue beyond blind beliefs, including the belief that consciousness must end at death. Through the power of the mind, everyone can reach for their eternal spirituality without a deity or blindly following religions. Despite court rulings, anyone can take “moments of silence” to open their minds, expunge blind beliefs, and evolve life with an ethical philosophy of freedom borne of logic and reason in everyday life, without devotion to blind beliefs or zealots, and thrive to eternal spirituality......."
While the above excerpt is the conclusion of the OpEd, I wrote it because my agent encountered two intensely vitrolic groups as she worked in my behalf: a) the religious zealots; and b) the atheists zealots; and yes I've been verbally attacked by both sides. Why? Because I wrote a book based on the experiences I had during my life and in two NDEs and the philosophy that was derived as a result, and the attacks came just because of the title of the book "Atheists Can Get To Heaven: Perspectives From The Journey Beyond The Tunnel of Light." The book, in my opinion, is one of the most spiritual pieces on the market - so the adage of not judging a book by it's cover applies.
Permalink Reply by Dave Koch on Athiest are no different than the Muslims. They want to destroy America and everything it stands for.They need to be removed from this Country along with the Muslims and Illegal's. And I don't care who I offend when it comes to these skanks. America was built on God and Country. If they don't like what America stands for then get the HELL OUT , and We The People need to rid this Nation of Judges and Lawyers who go against what America was built on. They go against Our Constitution , and it is time to remove them from America also.
Permalink Reply by Katie Kalpin on I know that there are many good Athiests out there, so now I beg the question..WHY ARE THE REST SO FRIGGEN SELFISH??!! I am assuming that the majority of the Athiests want to be hated. Well this is a good start. WE Are not going to become an Anti-Christ (Not meaning the Devil worshipers btw) just becasue some loser whiners can't handle people being happy and full of love. I AM SICK OF THIS B.S. Why don't the Atheists care about others? Why do they want others to suffer? IF you don't like it then don't look at it, think of it as an X like X marks the spot, YES there is GOLD under there..called a HUMAN BEING! Now if you are scared to believe in something TOO BAD! The rest of us are going to go on in this world believing in what WE WANT! NOW GO AWAY AND STAY AWAY! Friggen liberals LOVE The Atheists because they are as big of whiners as the liberals and they LOVE To take away FREEDOMS. You know growing up I always thought that the one thing that they would never even think of taking away from me or my nation IS GOD AND JESUS! OPPS MY BAD..I FORGOT HOW MANY BAD PEOPLE THEIR ARE!! YEah I am starting to believe that 2012 IS the end of the world and the Athiests are the Devils little children..the devil was just wating for the people to become weak...well here you go! ARRRGHH I Am REALLY starting to HATE Athiests..in a big way. Not all I do know that some are not happy with other Athiests right now and I have respect for them...like the ones on here. GOD bless America...YES GOD BLESS HER!!
Permalink Reply by sharon ostwinch on Disgraceful The athests are looking for coverage for their cause or lack there of. Seems what ever is wrong in Obamanation is OK. Wonder what atheists do when they die - just go away or what. The judges I think should always side on the side of God and let no one change that. So change laws whatever but do not take God out of the equation or the left will win.
Permalink Reply by ANDREW SCHRAG on 
Permalink Reply by Tony Denslow on The American Atheists brought the suit. Here are the principals of that organization:
American Atheists attorney Brian Barnard; David Silverman, president of the American Atheists; Kathleen Johnson, Vice President and Military Director; Neal Cary, Board Chairperson; board members Wayne Aiken, Chris Allen, Ellen Birch, Ed Buckner (former President), Mark Dunn, Monty Gaither, Conrad Goeringer, Kathleen Johnson, Edwin Kagin, Blair Scott, Noel Scott, Ann Zindler, Frank Zindler (former interim president), Indra Zuno. They should not be permitted to hide behind the organization's banner. I looked through countless news stories and not one named names outside the attorney. Recognize anyone?
Permalink Reply by Barry Gabrielson on You really think court rooms are set up to Administrate Justice? Then I have some swap land to sell you in Florida.
The purpose is to keep Lawyers employed, judges employed, staffs employed, the system employed. When a Judge makes a bad decision, you appeal. Appeals reward lawyers, Judges, staffs, the system. So why should a Judge follow the law? The entire system benefits when bad decisons are made. They win, society looses.
When they make immoral decisions, nothing happens to them. They stay employed. Judges (who were Attorneys) keep the gravy train rolling by forcing society to hire more lawyers for more added billings, a payoff to Attorneys. The more trials, the more billings. Thats the system, to keep Attorneys happy, more work for Judges, court reporters, sherrifs, staffs at the court house etc. When the Judge fails, everyone gets rewarded accept the plantiff and society who gets to waste more taxpayers to keep this inefficient system rolling. They profit from bad decisions and fighting, the rest of us get screwed.
Permalink Reply by Albert M. Bryson on This is how the ACLU operates. They get huge law fees from the cases they filed. This provision needs to be removed from the law. This would stop many of these kind of law suits.
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