{"id":95,"date":"2011-06-22T10:10:43","date_gmt":"2011-06-22T14:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godscomic\/?p=95"},"modified":"2011-06-22T10:10:43","modified_gmt":"2011-06-22T14:10:43","slug":"seven-in-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2011\/06\/seven-in-heaven.html","title":{"rendered":"Seven in Heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Poor atheists! What a burden it must be to be smarter, wiser and more important than the rest of America! Recently a town in Brooklyn renamed a street Seven in Heaven in memory of seven firemen from engine 202 and ladder 101 that died in the 911 attacks.<br \/>\nThe community honored these heroes with the street sign as a constant reminder of the price of freedom. Well, shockingly, the local atheist group, (I call it a group though there usually isn\u2019t more than five and a half. The half being the agnostic that hasn\u2019t completely become convinced that we are alone in the universe but comes for the free scones) complained that this is clearly a violation of the 1st amendment.<br \/>\nSeems to me if you are going to go against the cultural grain in your no God stance you should be extra careful in not looking ignorant while doing so. Yet one of their statements was as follows \u201c It is improper for the city to endorse the view that heaven exists..it links Christianity with heroism\u201d. OOPS, CHRISTIANITY?? You let the cat out of the bag atheists. What causes you to be so Theo-phobic that you would jump to the conclusion that this is a Christian affirmation? Can you possibly be that close-minded and intolerant?<br \/>\nMany religions believe in heaven so why attack Christianity? Did you ever consider the signs reference to heaven as an all-encompassing attempt to cover all our bases? Heaven could mean the dwelling place of the Christian\u2019s soul that has passed on but another synonym for heaven is \u201cthe sky, firmament or expanse of space surrounding the earth.\u201d OR, \u201cA place or state of supreme happiness.\u201d<br \/>\nThis should work for the atheist because the \u201cspace surrounding the earth\u201d definition is consistent with the atheist\u2019s belief that all we are is a sum of our parts. They think we die and our molecules dissipate overtime and float away into the atmosphere or \u201cheavens\u201d to join their molecular brethren in eternal nothingness, so rejoice atheists as yes, Seven in Heaven could celebrate the atheist perspective that these men died for nothing (since nihilism is the only rational way to live if you are a logically consistent atheist) ended up in eternal unconsciousness, (since they were nothing but material) and now only we cognizant beings can recognize and acknowledge their \u201cexistence\u201d but shortly we too will be dead and generations from now won\u2019t know we were here or give a crap.<br \/>\nSo the sign is for all of us so what are you complaining about? Sure there are plenty of ignorant idiots out there that will \u201cinterpret\u201d the sign to refer to a beautiful, eternal abode with the God that made us and longs to be with us but you can simply pass by and snicker with the knowledge that only you know the truth.<br \/>\nThere is no God, life is meaningless and courageous acts are molecules way to trick us into survival mode so we will run home and procreate trying to keep our species lineage alive long enough to realize that to be alive is no better than being dead\u2026SEE! Wow we need to consult more atheists when we want a tribute to those who died defending life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.<br \/>\nAnother statement they made was this \u201c The problem with the sign is that you are assuming that you know what they felt deep down..you are assuming they even believed in Heaven\u201d. Well they did go to the city to approve of this sign so the families had plenty of time to protest this insulting tribute. But they didn\u2019t. The family encouraged and approved of the sign. None of them spoke out as to affirm this was referencing Christian heaven, my atheist warrior,  so again they might see it as the alternate definition to heaven being a \u201cplace or state of supreme happiness\u201d. In other words perhaps these brave men are content being in place that keeps them away from you?<br \/>\nLastly don\u2019t forget that these men died in 9-11 so they were trying to save people that were victims of Muslim terrorists. Muslims believe in heaven too my atheist friends. Maybe you could do us all a favor? Next time you want to protest a God concept, why not attack the people that attacked us? Blame this on the Muslims. See they are not duty bound like us Christians are to \u201clove our enemies and pray for those that despitefully use us\u201d. Go ahead and insult the Muslims, they will make sure you find out once and for all if heaven is real. Think of it as a science experiment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Poor atheists! What a burden it must be to be smarter, wiser and more important than the rest of America! Recently a town in Brooklyn renamed a street Seven in Heaven in memory of seven firemen from engine 202 and ladder 101 that died in the 911 attacks. The community honored these heroes with the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedy","tag-seven-in-heaven-street-sign-brooklyn-atheists-first-amendment"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Seven in Heaven - God&#039;s Comic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2011\/06\/seven-in-heaven.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seven in Heaven - God&#039;s Comic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Poor atheists! What a burden it must be to be smarter, wiser and more important than the rest of America! Recently a town in Brooklyn renamed a street Seven in Heaven in memory of seven firemen from engine 202 and ladder 101 that died in the 911 attacks. 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What a burden it must be to be smarter, wiser and more important than the rest of America! Recently a town in Brooklyn renamed a street Seven in Heaven in memory of seven firemen from engine 202 and ladder 101 that died in the 911 attacks. The community honored these heroes with the&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2011\/06\/seven-in-heaven.html","og_site_name":"God&#039;s Comic","article_published_time":"2011-06-22T14:10:43+00:00","author":"Brad Stine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2011\/06\/seven-in-heaven.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2011\/06\/seven-in-heaven.html","name":"Seven in Heaven - God&#039;s Comic","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-06-22T14:10:43+00:00","dateModified":"2011-06-22T14:10:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/#\/schema\/person\/243d86fd9261f0ca95264b80e71e80e9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2011\/06\/seven-in-heaven.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2011\/06\/seven-in-heaven.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2011\/06\/seven-in-heaven.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Seven in Heaven"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/","name":"God&#039;s Comic","description":"God&#039;s Comic - Brad Stine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/#\/schema\/person\/243d86fd9261f0ca95264b80e71e80e9","name":"Brad Stine","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/870\/870f4e7ff5414a60daaefcce61009a6cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/870\/870f4e7ff5414a60daaefcce61009a6cx96.jpg","caption":"Brad Stine"},"description":"\"Brad Stine is on a mission \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a mission to free us all from the chains of political correctness and prevent our eventual \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwussification.' From his Nashville stronghold, Stine is mounting his crusade against these hypocrisies, all of which are explored in his highly anticipated 4th album\/DVD, aptly titled \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWUSSIFICATION!' \"You know what offends me?... Offended people,\" says Stine. A staunch supporter of first amendment rights and foe of political correctness, Stine asserts that rights should be universally applied. \"In a country with guaranteed rights to freedom of religion, its citizens are constantly trying to make faith in public spheres illegal, I am offended by that contradiction and want to talk about it as a comic.\" The strength of his conviction about our freedoms can be found in many places on WUSSIFICATION \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from \"Merry Christmas Too!\" (the right to celebrate religion) to \"At Least We're Not France!\" (the responsibility to take action as a country) to \"Spank\" (the ability to discipline our children the way we see fit). What would cause the wussification of Brad Stine? \"I hope that nothing ever wussifies me to deny my own personal beliefs,\" he says. \"Brainwashed wussies have been taught that standing up for yourself and defending your personal point of view makes you a close-minded hate monger.\" Stine stops short of defending his point of view as the ONLY one, adding \"...one must also be respectful of dissenting belief while supporting their own.\" He is, after all, an inclusive figure who trains his comedy to attack ideas, not the people who embrace them. Stine's faith forces him to acknowledge the respect and dignity of all\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 even the wussies with whom he disagrees! Stine models his approach to comedy after legendary practitioners that he has known and loved over the years. Despite George Carlin's disdain for theistic beliefs, he has been a big influence on Stine. \"I always enjoyed Carlin for turning the tables on culture. He is an excellent writer that has endured for decades.\" More current comedic touchstones are Brian Reagan, Paula Poundstone, Jim Gaffigan and Monty Python, among others. Fear not, true believers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with his brand new album, Brad Stine is here to save the world from WUSSIFICATION \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one politically-correct, offended person at a time!\"","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/author\/bstine"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/96"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}