Bishop Council Nedd, in all her radiant fierceness, prepares for a mad dash
to the fainting couch (photo: via The Freethinker and The Examiner)

[ updated: see below ]

According to Media Matters for America, Sean Hannity, one of Fox News’ primed and ready to blow Gas Bags in Residence, blew it out his behind screeching about the visit by a coalition of atheists, secularists and humanists to the White House late last week.

“Religious groups ‘have not received this treatment from the Obama White House,’” huffed and puffed a clearly well-rehearsed Hannity.

Media Matters set the Faux News entertainer straight: “Obama himself has met with numerous religious leaders, and the administration’s contacts with religious groups include two days of meetings between administration staffers and more than 60 religious leaders.”

Further:

On July 10, 2009, Obama met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Obama similarly hosted separate White House meeting with a group of more than 16 Jewish leaders, including two rabbis; Mormon leaders, including Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and the Dalai Lama.

The media watchdog provides a nifty roundup of right wing nonsense about the visit — contrasted with actual truth, but for pure amusification and outstanding achievement in fiction, you simply can’t beat Pat Robertson’s own Christian Broadcasting Network:

The United States may be a country founded on religious freedoms, but today members of the Obama administration met with a group who’d rather America be free from religion.

Up to 100,000 people visit the White House every month. Since last fall, a new online database of who’s coming and going has captured their names for all to see.

But Friday, behind closed doors, members of the Obama administration made history, showing its hallmark inclusiveness by meeting with dozens of activists promoting secularism in America.

Behind closed doors? And the inference should be … ?

The Secular Coalition for America — the big bad non-believers that paid a visit to the White House — had an agenda that seems to have scared the holy crap out of the radical religious right. CBN provides a little taste of their godless demands:

The advocacy group is an umbrella organization made up of atheists, agnostics, and humanists and usually spends its time lobbying members of Congress. But it scored a sit down with administration officials, hitting on the following three main themes:

First, to protect children from what they call “neglect and abuse” for parents who cite religious reasons to deny their children medical treatment.

Second, to end coercion of military men and women from being proselytized or forced into participating in religious events.

Third, to make sure that faith-based organizations that receive federal funds cannot hire on the basis of religion or proselytize to those receiving their services.

(emphasis: mine)

Scary stuff!

And, nice use of fear quotes on the words “neglect and abuse.” Is that supposed to imply that, while the reich considers abortion immoral, it’s cool for christianist parents to murder their kids by denying them medical treatment for cancer, leukemia, etc. when the parent’s chosen dogma dictates ignoring common sense and decency.

Here’s more of that terrifying atheist agenda. Visitors to the coalition’s website were invited to weigh in on the question: If I were in the room, I’d want to bring up . . .

• Military religious freedom: Ending religious discrimination, coercion, and proselytizing in the military
• Fixing faith-based initiatives: Making sure tax dollars are not going directly to houses of worship and that federal funds are not being used to proselytize
• “Faith-healing” exemptions: Closing loopholes in child medical neglect laws that allow for abuse by so-called “faith healing”
• Religious Refusal : Repealing “religious refusal” laws that keep people from receiving needed medical attention
• Child care standards: Removing safety and health exemptions for religiously-based child care centers
• Science-based sex-ed: Making sure sex education in public schools is based on science and fact, and free from dogma or any religious agenda
• Religious Tax Privileges: Reforming special privileges for religions in tax law
• Other

Watch Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice make shit up
(video: Christian Broadcasting Network News)

Watch as Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice makes shit up. As if bearing false witness about the number of non-believers in the United States — thereby making the religious right’s paranoia about the scale of the threat of the Secular Coalition far more ludicrous — wasn’t bad enough, CBN then hands off to the bat-shit-crazy Bishop Council Nedd (seen above) for the pièce de résistance:

The group In God We Trust blasted the meeting, calling into question the administration’s decision to sit down with what they call some of the most hate-filled anti-religious activists in America.

(emphasis: mine)

Hate-filled? Interesting charge coming from one whose own words taint him as one of the most hate-filled pro-religion activists in America. Read Bishop Nedd’s silliness in its entirety — bigger, longer and uncut as it were — in my post from Friday at the link.

+++++++

UPDATE (1 March 2010, 3:42 pm):

Just can’t pass up giving The Catholic League’s dumb-ass dude with a computer, Bill Donohue, all the uncensored space the big man needs to make his case for the irreversible irrelevancy of the Roman Catholic Church:

OBAMA AIDES HOST CATHOLIC BASHERS

February 26, 2010

Several officials from the Obama administration are scheduled to meet today with representatives of the Secular Coalition for America. Commenting on this meeting is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:

People of faith, especially Christians, have good reason to wonder exactly where their interests lie with the Obama administration. Now we have the definitive answer. In an unprecedented move, leaders of a presidential administration are hosting some of the biggest anti-religious zealots in the nation.

No one opposes men and women who are incidentally agnostic or atheist from expressing their concerns, even to the White House. The problem with today’s meeting is the profile of the coalition’s members and organizations. On the advisory board of the Secular Coalition for America are such activists as Robert Boston, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Susan Jacoby and Michael Newdow. Member organizations include American Atheists, the American Ethical Union and the Council for Secular Humanism. All of these persons and groups have a track record of open hostility to people of faith, and some have been downright bigoted in their assault on Christianity, especially Catholicism.

If President Obama does not want to go to church, that is his business. But it is the business of the American people, most all of whom are believers, to know where the president and his administration stand with regards to their concerns. It is not likely that this outreach to anti-religious activists—many of whom would crush Christianity if they could—will do anything to calm the fears of people of faith. Indeed, it will only alienate them even further.

It is important that the public learn of the contents of this meeting. We will do what we can to find out what happened.

“Incidentally agnostic or atheist?”

Suck it, Bill.