Eugene Volokh: "And It’s Dangerous for Our Children to Even Know That Your Philosophy Exists!"

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Posted by Eugene Volokh:
"And It’s Dangerous for Our Children to Even Know That Your Philosophy Exists!"
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_04_06-2008_04_12.shtml#1207607140


   "Get out of that seat!" "You have no right to be here!" That's from
   [1]Illinois Assemblywoman Monique Davis berating a witness:

     Davis: ... What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous,
     itâs dangerous--

     [Witness]: Whatâs dangerous, maâam?

     Davis: Itâs dangerous to the progression of this state. And itâs
     dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy
     exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the
     opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if youâll go to
     [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed
     up! Get out of that seat!

     [Witness]: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and Iâm
     sure that if this matter does go to court---

     Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You
     believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state
     was built upon.

   What's the philosophy that is dangerous for Illinois children to even
   know about? Advocacy of child molestation? Of mass suicide?

   No, it's the belief that there's not really much evidence for the
   existence of God, and that we shouldn't believe things for which
   there's that little evidence. This belief (also known roughly as
   atheism), besides being an eminently serious challenge to theistic
   beliefs, is also a belief that has to be known about in order to
   understand vast chunks of history and philosophical thinking (just as
   Christianity or Islam must be known about in order to understand vast
   chunks of history and philosophical thinking). Yet Rep. Davis thinks
   her children (and apparently the people in the House State Government
   Administration Committee hearing) need to be shielded from this
   Dangerous Thinking.

   For more of the transcript, see [2]here; for the audio, see [3]here;
   for the story related to the specific object of the witness's
   testimony (which doesn't seem to be the target of Rep. Davis's
   tirade), see [4]here.

   The story was apparently broken Thursday by Eric Zorn, a Chicago
   Tribune metro columnist on his blog. The witness was atheist activist
   Rob Sherman, who continued with his testimony. I have found no
   mainstream media coverage of Rep. Davis's outburst other than in the
   Tribune on Sunday.

References

   1. http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/04/rep-monique-dav.html
   2. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-change_atheist_bd06apr06,1,4016432.story
   3. http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/files/DAVIS.mp3
   4. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-pilgrim-church-grant-03apr03,1,831514.story