Pittsburgh, Pa., Oct 18, 2005 / 22:00 pm
A new group founded to protect freedom of religion in the U.S. is staging an unusual campaign--one to get atheism recognized as a religion. Its symbol? Nothing.
The Pennsylvania-based group, Defending Freedom Of Religion, Inc. was founded in hopes of stopping acts like removing Ten Commandment Plaques from public places, returning prayer to public schools tackling other acts which they say infringe on the rights of the faithful.
The group says that one of its major objectives is getting "nothing" recognized as the official symbol of atheism.
Ken Whitaker, founder of DFOR, said that, "The separation of church and state is an impossible ideal. If you remove all religious symbols, and replace them all with Atheism's symbol [nothing], you are establishing Atheism as our official state religion."