Probably the first thing we ought to do is define what exactly it is we mean when we use the word "discrimination".  The dictionary says that "discrimination" is: "Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice."  That seems pretty clear and easy to understand.

  If you treat an individual differently than another individual based on what group they belong to, rather than that person's individual merits, you are discriminating.  If you favor the person because of this, you are discriminating 'for' the person - partiality.  If you disfavor the person because of this, you are discriminating 'against' the person - prejudice.  However, it takes no stretch of the imagination to understand that if you discriminate 'for' individuals based on some group or category you favor that they belong to, you are simultaneously discriminating 'against' others in categories opposite that group.

  Is discrimination wrong?

  This seems to be the heavy question at the heart of discussions on discrimination, and one that is now being played out by the Boy Scouts of America, among other groups.  The BSA is particularly interesting though because of the structure surrounding the organization and the association with 'America' and our tax dollars.

  The argument goes like this:

  For discrimination: A private group (such as the BSA) has every right to pick and choose who it is willing to accept as members.  The Supreme Court has weighed in on this and favors this opinion regarding private groups.  Groups of people are also protected under the law to peaceably assemble, regardless of who they are or why they have banded together, as long as they break no laws.  That's why the KKK are still allowed to exist, march, demonstrate and so on.  Since they're a private organization, they can discriminate against blacks, Jews or anyone else they don't want in the group.  It may seem wrong, (and I believe, morally, it IS wrong) but it's totally legal.

  Against discrimination:  The United States is not allowed to discriminate against a person for their race, gender, age, religion or sexual preference.  The Supreme Court has weighed in on this as well and favors this opinion.  When it comes to OUR government and OUR taxes, discrimination is not to be tolerated or funded.  In case you missed it, there was a huge movement in the 60's called the civil rights movement, and that's exactly what it was addressing.  We now have civil rights laws to protect individuals from discrimination stemming from the category they are in.  That's why the KKK, for example, cannot get even one penny of OUR tax dollars for their group; Because WE do not allow OUR government to fund groups that discriminate.

  Pretty clear?  One would think so.

  However, the BSA DOES get our tax dollars by various means.  Anything the government provides to the BSA beyond what it would provide to, say, the KKK, is support for the organization, and ultimately happens by means of the use of our tax dollars, either directly or indirectly.  

  For example, the BSA is allowed to recruit new members in public schools during class time, while the KKK is not allowed to.  OUR tax dollars pay for the lights, heating, etc, plus it cuts into classroom time that our children should be spending on the education we're paying for.  They leave their literature on tables WE paid for with OUR taxes.  They are granted access to government land for one single dollar as rental, which is not provided to the KKK.  They have a special Congressional charter which is not granted to the KKK.  The president of the United States is the honorary head of the BSA, but would never be associated with the KKK.  There's more, but I think you get the picture.  By these governmental endorsements and allotments and 'breaks', the BSA is no longer a strictly 'private' organization.  Since our taxes help pay for them to exist and operate, they should exist and operate under the laws regulating non-discrimination.

  Instead, the BSA is allowed to reject a person on the basis of religious discrimination, just like the KKK.  The KKK discriminates against non-believers and so does the BSA.  In that regard, they are equal.

  Now, make no mistake.  I am not in any way, shape or form FOR the KKK!  In fact, I am against all forms of discrimination and all groups and organizations that employ it, and that's my point.  I may have to tolerate the KKK because they truly are a private organization that gets not one red cent of my tax dollars, but the BSA is a different story and I should not be forced to support discrimination with my tax dollars.  Not even one penny of them.

  The KKK cannot exist without discrimination, for that is it's foundation, but the BSA certainly COULD continue to exist without it, and I think it would be a better organization for it.  As an example, the Girl Scouts of America has changed it's policy so that it no longer discriminates based on religious preference, yet they seem to be doing just fine.  There is simply no reason that the BSA cannot take the moral high road and do the same.

  Now, some of you may be wondering why I'm going after the BSA here.  Well it's simple.  Darrell Lambert, Eagle Scout and upstanding citizen, was recently tossed out of the BSA because he would not tell a lie.  The lie they wanted from Darrell was the he believed in a god.  The problem is, he doesn't.

  Here's the story, if you want to check it out: Eagle Scout gets the BOOT over religion!!  You may also read my letter to the BSA: To the BSA from Buck Cash  Other's letters may be found on this page.

  Let's get away from the BSA's discrimination and back to a general discussion of discrimination.

  Over time, We the people of the United States of America have been working at abolishing forms of discrimination in our country because most of us know it to be wrong to discriminate.  It didn't start in the 1960's with Martin Luther King Jr., but long before then.

  Slavery was one of the most degrading forms of discrimination this country has ever known.  Our forefathers (those guys that set up these United States) had many conversations about it and knew it to be wrong, even though many of them had slaves themselves.  Not to make any excuses for them, but in their writings we see that they knew it was wrong but felt they would not at that time be able to legislate against it without starting a war between the slavers and the abolitionists.  Still, they wrote that they felt it was inevitable at some point.  At the time, they felt that opposing slavery would cause them to lose the effort to bring the individual states together into one single nation called the United States of America, which was their purpose at the time.

  History shows they were right, and less than a century later, in the mid 1800's, it came to a head and soon our nation was engaged in a Civil war that was, in large part, fought over that very issue.  While slavery will forever be a scar on our nation's history, the abolition of slavery is evidence that we know discrimination is wrong and should not be tolerated, let alone endorsed.  And while the outcome of that war in no way ended the discrimination against blacks, it was a major turning point that eventually led to the civil rights movement and laws of the 1960's that allow us to get closer every day to true equality for all in this country, regardless of race or ethnicity.

  Racial discrimination is only one head on the bigoted beast however.  Women also have had to endure and fight against discrimination.  Women's rights aren't some radical feminist 1960's movement either, but an ongoing effort to reach equality regardless of gender since 1848.  Age discrimination abolishment efforts are another front of the movement to abolish discrimination in all it's forms.  Gay and lesbian rights groups' efforts are now taking their proper place in the movement to end discrimination in all it's forms in this nation.

  But one of the discriminations we face in our country today WAS addressed by our forefathers when they were setting up this nation and it's laws: Religious discrimination.

  Having come from theocracies across Europe that did not allow religious freedom, our forefathers knew they did not want religious discrimination to be allowed here in the nation they were forming, and took positive steps to defend against it.  Article 6 of the Constitution and the 1st amendment are key examples of this, but there are more, like the Treaty of Tripoli in which they unanimously declared and passed into law, "The United States is not in any way founded on the Christian religion."  

  Another is one of my very favorite documents of the period, written by James Madison, entitled "Memorial and Remonstrance" and I sincerely urge you to read it.  You may also be interested in my use of it in this essay.

  Still, even though they took steps to address and curtail religious discrimination in this nation from the very start, today we do indeed have religious discrimination all around us, and not just by 'private' organizations, but by the government and it's representatives.  "In God We Trust" and "One Nation under God" are purely religious in nature.

  Then there are our government leaders, like George Bush Sr., who said, "No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God."  That's religious discrimination friends.  Mr. Bush holds to the view that, based on a person's religious preference, some 30 million American Citizens should not be considered citizens or patriots, regardless of the individual merits of a person (remember our dictionary definition?).  He is not alone in his bigotry and support of such exclusionary, divisive and discriminatory views, but does that make it right just because a lot of people agree with him?  

  Did the numbers of people who agreed with slavery make it 'right'?  Did the numbers of people opposed to women's rights make it 'right'?  Do the numbers of people who support the bigoted views of discrimination in any form ever make it 'right'?  No.  Flat out - NO.

  Still, we have people like Star Jones, (a black woman who you'd think would have a better perspective on prejudice and discrimination than the average white, rich, male Bush Sr.) saying she would never vote for an atheist (she's had plenty more derogatory remarks about atheists as well).  She is saying that regardless of the merits, integrity or political views of an individual, she will enthusiastically discriminate against them with malicious prejudice.  Further, her statements were made on national TV, so she intends them to influence millions of others to join with her in engaging in discrimination, prejudice and bigotry.  As long as she represents Payless Shoes, they won't be getting any of my business, I can tell you that.  And I'm not alone.

  Though I'm white, I support the rights of all races and ethnic backgrounds equally.  Though I'm male, I support the rights of all genders, including women, equally.  Though I'm heterosexual, I support the rights of all sexual persuasions, including gays and lesbians, equally.  Though I'm an atheist, I support the right of every individual citizen to believe and worship privately as they see fit.  I do support them all because I know that discrimination in all it's forms is inherently wrong.

  I ask that you stand up for what's right, and denounce discrimination in all it's manifestations.

  In ending, I will relate to you something that happened in just the last few days.  The following announcement arrived in my email: 

  You don't have to be an atheist to oppose religious discrimination designed to divide our country into two groups of people opposing each other.  Benjamin Franklin's "E Pluribus Unum" means "out of many, one".  Isn't that what the UNITED States of America should truly be?

  Please do the right thing.  Please help end ALL forms of discrimination, not just the ones that are easy or convenient for you or that represent only the group you belong to.  UNITE this nation under the commonality of patriotism again, something EVERYONE, regardless of race, gender, age, sexuality or religion can ALL get behind.  It's the right thing to do.

  "Americans practice different faiths in churches, synagogues, mosques and temples, and many good people practice no faith at all." ~George Bush Jr. March 30th, 2002  

(Thank you Mr. President - signed, 30 million non-religious American citizens)