Fox News Anchor Thinks Atheists Should Leave the Country

Impact

Fox News never ceases to comically impress. Apparently, if atheists aren't happy with integrated practices of church and state, they should leave the country. Fox News host Dana Perino believes the opinions and legal pursuits of atheists shouldn't be taken into consideration.

This controversy was sparked by an anonymous atheist family in Boston after taking legal action with the Massachusetts Supreme Court to remove the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, citing that the inclusion of a religious phrase violates the Equal Rights Amendment of the state's constitution.

Watch the clip below:

The family's belief in maintaining separation between church and state is a fair argument. But the idea that citizens should flee the country because they possess differing opinions and decide to actively pursue change is not only typical of Fox News, but downright moronic. David Niose, former president of the American Humanist Association and the plaintiffs' lawyer, asserts that the repetition of this discriminatory phrase in the public school system is "indoctrinating and alienating to atheists."

Perino speculates why atheists should care given they don't even believe in a higher deity. She states, "If you don't believe then why do you care? It's just like some guy's name."

Well some would argue that God is not a guy, but more to the point, atheists still care because the Pledge of Allegiance is a hallmark of patriotic loyalty and respect in America. Just because atheists don't affiliate with a particular belief system, it doesn't strip them of their national citizenship. What happened to our constitutional rights, and the need to embrace diversity and promote equality through the U.S. court system?

According to Religion News Service, Niose stated, "Children every morning are pledging their national unity and loyalty in an indoctrinating format, in a way that that validates God belief as truly patriotic and actually invalidates atheism."

In six months, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will decide if the Pledge of Allegiance should include a religious connotation or not. Should they choose not to remove it, atheists can always move to any of these eight countries where atheism is valued and promoted.