Arguments regarding the truth value of religious claims have entered the controversy surrounding the “Atheists.” bus ad (see comments here) and some atheists in the comments section of the linked Times-Tribune article have taken the bait from some religious commenters who have levied personal attacks against atheists or otherwise have argued that there is good reason to believe that the Christian god exists. While I relish debates/discussions regarding the truth-value of religious claims [and have participated in a live recorded formal “Does the Christian god exist?” debate myself], view these discussions as very important, and encourage others to participate in said discussions, let us not be distracted from what the real issue is here surrounding COLTS: freedom of speech.
Atheists should have the same rights as Christians to present their ideas – within reason – in pluralistic societies. Messages should simply not be censored because those in a position of privilege and power happen to disagree, have negative impressions of atheists, or whatever reason. […] [C]ensorship and exclusion is often the ‘order of the day.’ Silencing your‘opposition,’ though, is the coward’s way out.
Unfortunately, COLTS doesn’t seem to understand that some people might hold beliefs that others might disagree with and, living in a pluralistic society, most of us have come to the very reasonable conclusion that persons simply have to ‘deal with it’ (and perhaps just ‘grow up’ and realize that this world is full of people who disagree) and government entities may not discriminate simply because they happen not to like a message (or content-free message).