[NYTr] Atheists Warn that Bush Policy Fuels Religious Terrorism

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AMERICAN ATHEISTS, INC.
http://www.atheists.org
http://www.americanatheist.org

For more information, please contact:
Ellen Johnson, President (908) 276-7300
Dave Silverman, Communications Director (732) 648-9333
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 24, 2007
 
ATHEISTS WARN: 

BUSH PLAN TO FURTHER MILITARIZE MIDDLE EAST FUELS RELIGIOUS TERRORISM
 
AMERICAN ATHEISTS cautioned today that President Bush's plan to sell
$20 billion of advanced military hardware to Saudi Arabia and five
other Persian Gulf states, and provide more aid to Israel threatens to
further destabilize the region and fuel religion-based terrorism.
 
The New York Times last month described Bush's maneuver: "(T)o contain 
the growing power of Iran in the region and demonstrate that, no matter 
what happens in Iraq, Washington remains committed to its longtime Arab 
allies."
 
Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists, said that further 
military assistance "can only add to the instability of this already 
volatile region," and called for an international arms embargo.
Johnson added that the U.S. needs to pay less attention to preparing
the Arab countries for war, and instead join an international effort to
develop the area and create economic prosperity, and "grow" secular
institutions. 
"Creating jobs and economic opportunity, securing full rights for the 
region's women, encouraging an authentic civil society with personal 
rights -- all of this is needed to challenge the rampant clerical 
terrorism that plagues the Middle East."
 
Dave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists, said
that western aid is fueling  the growth of religious chauvinism
throughout the area. "In Saudi Arabia, the  religious police,
('Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice') drive new American
jeeps, and King Abdullah  declared last year that he supports the Koran
as his nation's constitution and Islam as the state religion."
 
"This type of military aid is propping up dictatorial, theocratic 
regimes. These weapons can easily fall into the hands of religion-based 
terrorist who are even more ruthless in their desire to play the role
of being "God's warriors,' " added Mr. Silverman.

AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights
for Atheists; works for the total separation of church and state; and 
addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.
 
 
American Atheists, Inc.
P. O. Box 5733
Parsippany, NJ 07054-6733
Tel.: (908) 276-7300
Fax: (908) 276-7402