It is an unfortunate experience of many atheists that their positions and idea aren't as tolerated as those of just about anyone else. This seems to be the reason behind the treatment of an atheist group in Alabama where no politician is willing to sponsor a "rainy day" location for a planned rally at the Capitol - even though they do sponsor such things for other groups all the time.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports:

Larry Darby, president of the Montgomery-based Atheist Law Center, said Rep. Jay Love and Sen. Larry Dixon, both Montgomery Republicans, turned down his requests for sponsorship of the old Archives chamber as a backup location for the center's "Rally for Reason & Picnic on the Capitol Lawn," an event scheduled May 6. Darby said the group wanted to use the chamber in the event of inclement weather. He claims his group is being denied equal treatment because of its atheist beliefs.

The center's rally falls on the same day as the National Day of Prayer, which state leaders and residents will observe with a special service on the front steps of the Capitol. "They are discriminating against me because I am an atheist," Darby said. "Both Rep. Love and Sen. Dixon are showing favoritism for a Christian business, and they are discriminating against an atheist organization." Darby called the legislators' rejections "low-down, mean and un-American."

I suppose that legislators have a right to decide whom they will and will not sponsor - but if sponsorship is the only way to use the Capitol facilities and groups can be discriminated against based upon their views, then the entire system is rigged to be discriminatory. Moreover, if Love and Dixon don't routinely inquire into the views of groups they sponsor, then they are treating atheists differently from others - and that does qualify as a form of discrimination.

If the Capitol facilities are opened up to some private groups, then the government has created at least a limited public forum. That means that they don't have the right to exclude certain groups simply because some politicians disagree with those groups' message. Viewpoint discrimination like that simply isn't permitted under the Constitution.

In Alabama, though, that doesn't seem to have ever been much of a barrier.

Read More:

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• Separation of Church and State 101
• Atheism 101
• Atheism in Society
• News About Atheism and Atheists
• Rebuttals to Attacks on Atheism