See its things like this that make us look crazy, what they should have done was wait until someone died on that streach of road and sued said religious leaders under breach of contract for allowing omeone to die on the blessed roadway

That wouldnt have been view as cray by anyone

Wouldn't a real atheist just laugh at the original act as completely meaningless?

I don't really care that someone puts up a sign, a cross, etc. on private property. I even laughed when the touchdown Jesus was struck by lightning and burned down. I don't really even mind a cross in some obscure national park. I truly don't care about the crosses beside and in the medians, as long as they aren't paid for by the government.

Where I get upset is when the various local, state, and federal government's start making laws that are based on religious positions. I'm not arguing about Thou shall not kill. I'm arguing about things such as homosexuality, prostitution, and even minor things like Sunday Alcohol Sales.

But if you come back with "The Bible says" the next question should be: Do you observe meatless Fridays during Lent? Do you never eat pork or ham?

Here is an interesting discussion on it. www.askelm.com/doctrine/d040402.htm

Have you noticed that only crosses go up on the roadside where a fatality has occurred?

Apparently, Jews don't die in car crashes.

I don't really even mind a cross in some obscure national park.

As long as it isnt paid for by the government, is placed in an area already torn up for park facilities and every other faith/orginization gets to put one up, I'll agree with you there

Apparently, Jews don't die in car crashes

Naw, thay just dont have souls
And we mormons have horns

Yes, Joe, by unblessing the road, the atheists are inadvertently acknowledging the Supreme Being referred to by the people that originally blessed the road. A true atheist would not have given a sh*t about the road blessing, since it basically means nothing more to him than some ritualistic hocus-pocus.

In fact, the article discusses this problem in a similar manner.

If these characters weren't atheists and were part of another religion we'd call them holy rollers, or somesuch... essentially they can't stand that somebody would think any other way than them. They could have done many other things to get into the conversation, ESPECIALLY by cleaning up the side of that very same road, or the next stretch of road. To realize as part of a community you have to put up with people who don't believe quite the same as you.

And then, they might tell that community that it makes them uncomfortable to have someone "bless" a road, assuming they could come up with a reason why a person's belief in the flying spaghetti monster should keep them from hoping that everyone that passes on that road would not suffer harm.

In the piece, the atheists said it made them feel "unwelcome"

Do they feel unwelcome hiking in the Sangre de Christo mountains? Or the San Juans? Or anywhere else that has a religious placename? How about Saint Petersberg, Florida?

Can't imagine [and the story doesn't tell] WHY the area clergy decided to bless that stretch of road, but I'd be willing to bet some horrific crash or similar happened sometime, and so some local person asked for it, with the hope that it never happens again. I've seen that before, particularly in New Mexico.

This is just "offensesensitivity [from bloom county] people who are always looking for something to get worked up about.

"aaaachoooo!"
'bless you!'
"what do you mean by that, I don't believe in God!"
'OK, go to hell, then. Happy?'

looks legit Amy, pictures and everything, on the news site:
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2012/3/17/offended_by_religiou/

Looks like an indy network operation in central Fla. with a couple million customers.
"Bright House Networks also owns and operates two 24-hour local news operations; Central Florida News 13 (www.cfnews13.com) serving the Orlando area, and Bay News 9 (www.baynews9.com) serving the Tampa Bay area." Probably similar to the old WGN, TBS, or WOR systems when cable was younger...

I truly believe that life exists all over the universe. I would bet it is the rule rather than the exception.

It exists here on Earth where it couldn't, in our knowledge. Thousands of feet underwater where the temperature is boiling and the toxicity is like battery acid, they are having a party down there.

Why is our conversation about God and other forms of consciousness so silly and trivial?

"Why is our conversation about God and other forms of consciousness so silly and trivial?"

In my experience it's because the usual speaker has no concept of how reality works. It's sort of like arguing about the color of the frog inside you that digests your food.