Charlie Crist, Candidate for US Senate
The Atheists of Florida are accusing Governor Crist of ‘assaulting’ one of their members at a St. Petersburg Pizzeria this past Friday March 5th. Governor Crist was at the restaurant shaking hands with and talking to supporters. The Charlie Crist for US Senate Campaign refused to comment on this accusation.
The alleged incident involved a member of the Atheists of Florida, Mr. M__ who was at the Pizzeria that night. He waited his turn to speak to the governor and then asked him if he actually thought that sending a prayer letter to Jerusalem would help prevent hurricanes from hitting Florida. Back in August 2009, Governor Crist went on record as taking credit for preventing any major hurricanes from hitting Florida during his term because he apparently regularly sends prayer requests to the Western Wall asking God to spare Florida.
The exact nature of the confrontation that resulted from this question being asked is unconfirmed. According to the Atheists of Florida, Governor Crist responded to the question about his views on the ability of prayers to avert hurricanes by saying, “Who is more powerful then God?” Mr. M___ did not think this was a good answer and continued his line of questioning. During this exchange one of Crist’s campaign staffers put a Crist for Senate sticker on Mr. M___ . When Mr. M___ told Crist he was an atheist, he alleges that Crist got angry, tore off the Crist for Senate sticker and turned away while ‘screaming,’ “I feel sorry for you.”
While this incident does not appear to rise to the level of “assault’ as claimed by the Atheists of Florida, the incident if true and unprovoked still concerns the Atheist community. John Kieffer, president of the Atheists of Florida says that Crist ripping the sticker off of and turning his back on an atheist “is very symbolic of the intolerance and bigotry that we, as a constitutionally protected religious minority, are made to tolerate daily not only in politics, but on business and social fronts. There is no difference at all in his religious bigotry had the governor instead ripped the sticker off of a Jew or Moslem upon being informed of such.”
The Atheists of Florida have asked Governor Crist for an official apology for what they feel is his outrageous behavior directed at one of their members.
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Crist claims God listens to his prayers and directs hurricanes elsewhere
Comments
The Atheists need to grow up. Mr. "M' went there with the intention of being confrontational and instead of using the opportunity to ask Crist about something meaningful, he decided to belittle the man's religious beliefs. Stunts like that don't win supporters. They turn away people and make those who normally could care less about people like the Atheists of Florida actually dislike them. Then, to top is off, Mr. "M" makes a ridiculous allegation of "assault", in turn belittling the experiences of real assault victims. If you don't want to believe in God, then don't. But confronting and essentially attacking people for their beliefs is childish and ignorant.
I agree with Mark... and I live in Florida... Crist may not be the apple of my eye, but this stunt did more harm than good, imo.
No, Mark. Believing that putting a paper you wrote on in a wall can prevent hurricanes is childish and arrogant. But it's also something else. When adults exhibit these kind of behavior it's call delusional and exhibits a lack of intelligence and an ignorance that dates back to the bronze age. I'm glad atheists stand up against these potentially dangerous religious beliefs. No one else seems to think putting religious nuts in powerful places is a bad idea. I guess when the people that are now Americans left the European continent, they forgot all about the happy days of the inquisition, the persecution of non-believers, the torturing of dissenters, the middle ages. They also seem to have a horribly short memory on the effects of religion on tall buildings. By the way, how did those witch hunts go? Found any witches yet?
@Mark - Just to clarify - Mr. M - whose name I can now release, Mr. Middlebrooks, did not use the word "assult" when describing Gov. Crist's actions towards him. What he said was that Crist screamed at him after ripping the sticker off which occured right after he told Crist he was an Atheist. It is the Atheists of Florida who have describe this incident as an assault.
This wasn't confrontational. He asked a question regarding whether he believes he actually believes those letters prevent hurricanes. As a voter, it would be important to me to know that the person representing me is capable of appropriate action. Writing letters to God is not a solution to disasters.
You defenders keep telling yourself that it's all good and appropriate. I'm a "live and let live" kind of guy. You believe what you believe, I believe what I do. And that's all good, until one side starts attacking the other one. When I see behavior like this, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But if you don't care about alienating people who don't happen to share your point of view, knock yourself out.
Asking a politician whether they think writing prayer letters protects a state from hurricanes is a meaningful question for someone trying to make an informed decision about who to vote for. I think Ms Hancock should look up the legal definition of assault too. It doesn't even have to involve contact.
In response to Mark,
How relevant would it be if instead of writing his letters to God in Jerusalem he were writing to Santa Claus at the North Pole? Most atheist consider them to be equally real.
Of course the horror (& main) question is that Gov. thinks that prayer is useful against hurricanes... ¿tornados & eartquakes included?. This kind of politicians are truly dangerous to Peoples & Mankind.
@JC - assault is a term that has a specific legal definition. Assault can be just a threat of violence, but to legally qualify as assault that threat does require the victim to have a reasonable fear of injury. Mr. Middlebrook did not describe the interaction as an assault. He did not appear to be afraid that Crist would injure him and since Crist was turning away from Mr. Middlebrook to interact with other voters at the time he is reported to have screamed, it is clear that the interaction does not rise to the level of assault as it is legally defined.
Would you prefer our governor pander to a religious majority unopposed? Sending prayers to Jerusalem is superstitious nonsense and has no place in government. This guy is the leader of one of the more populated states in the nation. He needs to be held accountable.
You said: "if you don't care about alienating people who don't happen to share your point of view, knock yourself out."...This atheist alienated no one. It's the governor that insulted a percentage of his population greater than Jews and Muslims combined by saying he feels sorry for atheists.
haha sorry about the name mix up. I was addressing my post to Mark and accidentally replaced my name with his.
As much as I believe that Crist is a moron for thinking his letters did any good, it certainly doesn't help anybody when Mr. M or any other Atheist confronts a theist this way. Let's face it, you can't argue with theists, they have no ability to think using logic and common sense. It just makes us look like jerks when we try to get our point across this way. For Atheism to grow, we have to make sure to do it the same way theists do it and that is educate the young so that they can form their own opinions as they grow up and mature. Atheism is the fastest growing group in the country/world right now and there is good reason for that. The saying that "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" is said for a reason.
Yes, asking questions of your leaders to determine if they are capable of irrational and illogical thought is surely confrontational and has no place in today's society. How dare we belittle our politicians with such stunts. Stunts that, without which, these questions will never get asked nor answered. Allowing deluded people such as Crist to carry on merrily with their fantasies having real and measurable impacts on practical policies that potentially threaten your life and mine.
Awesome.
It's a funny thing about religion, so many people here are chastising Mr. M for bringing up Mr. Christ's religious views, and yet not a one of you sees fit to similarly chastise Mr. Christ for making those views not only public but a part of his campaign. In other words, the Christian can talk about religion anytime anywhere and it's perfectly alright, the atheist however must remain silent, otherwise he's being inappropriate and confrontational. It seem to me, looking through these comments, that the complaints of bigotry against atheists are quite valid.
I didn't realice Crist is superstitious... Well we must all pronounce the letter i in his name differently now , shal we?
I read these responses and see the venom, spite and contempt...if this represents atheism, I'll pass on it. And Jimmy, these actions like Mr. M's and the kind of disdain and intolerance shown in these responses DO alienate people. You can argue about the amount if you want, but I tend to think I'm not the only person on the planet that looks at Mr. M's actions and the kind of responses I see here and thinks "wow, this isn't something I'd want to associate with". I guess the saying about catching more flies with honey only applies to "theists".
For all of those people who think Crist was attacked for his religious beliefs and the atheist should be quiet, let's turn the tables. I cannot even imagine how Crist would be attacked relentlessly by Christians if he were an atheist. The reality of the matter is that there would be a vast silence from atheists if believers stopped trying to impose their particular brand of superstition on to the public. I am an atheist who could care less about what someone else's religious beliefs are as long as they don't try evangelize their belief into laws. If they are good for you than great, but I don't want your beliefs imposed on me any more than you want mine imposed on you. By the way taking religion out of government does not making it atheistic. It makes it neutral for all beliefs.
hi Jennifer, you just googled the definition of assault didn't you.
Well here is the thing, it is never wrong for "Christians" to get upset with us atheists, but "lord" help we atheists if we want to see fairness in ALL classrooms and government locations...
@ Mark, the concern troll. Venom and spite in these responses? Really? Projection much?
Hi Jennifer- the legal definition of the term battery is actually more appropriate. All it takes to constitute a battery is an unwanted touching, which occurred when Crist ripped the sticker off Mr. Middlebrooks.
Oh, now we stoop to ad hominem attacks NC? Yet another example of what I'm talking about. Thank you for helping prove my point. I hope Jennifer thanks you for your efforts to drive away a reader.
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