The Volokh Conspiracy - "And It's Dangerous for Our Children to Even Know That Your Philosophy Exists!"

"Get out of that seat!" "You have no right to be here!" That's from Illinois Assemblywoman Monique Davis berating a witness:

Davis: ... What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it's dangerous--

[Witness]: What's dangerous, ma'am?

Davis: It's dangerous to the progression of this state. And it's dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you'll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

[Witness]: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I'm sure that if this matter does go to court---

Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

What's the philosophy that is dangerous for Illinois children to even know about? Advocacy of child molestation? Of mass suicide?

No, it's the belief that there's not really much evidence for the existence of God, and that we shouldn't believe things for which there's that little evidence. This belief (also known roughly as atheism), besides being an eminently serious challenge to theistic beliefs, is also a belief that has to be known about in order to understand vast chunks of history and philosophical thinking (just as Christianity or Islam must be known about in order to understand vast chunks of history and philosophical thinking). Yet Rep. Davis thinks her children (and apparently the people in the House State Government Administration Committee hearing) need to be shielded from this Dangerous Thinking.

For more of the transcript, see here; for the audio, see here; for the story related to the specific object of the witness's testimony (which doesn't seem to be the target of Rep. Davis's tirade), see here.

The story was apparently broken Thursday by Eric Zorn, a Chicago Tribune metro columnist on his blog. The witness was atheist activist Rob Sherman, who continued with his testimony. I have found no mainstream media coverage of Rep. Davis's outburst other than in the Tribune on Sunday.

	[Eugene Volokh, April 7, 2008 at 6:25pm] Trackbacks "And It's Dangerous for Our Children to Even Know That Your Philosophy Exists!" "Get out of that seat!" "You have no right to be here!" That's from Illinois Assemblywoman Monique Davis berating a witness: Davis: ... What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it's dangerous-- [Witness]: What's dangerous, ma'am? Davis: It's dangerous to the progression of this state. And it's dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you'll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat! [Witness]: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I'm sure that if this matter does go to court--- Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon. What's the philosophy that is dangerous for Illinois children to even know about? Advocacy of child molestation? Of mass suicide? No, it's the belief that there's not really much evidence for the existence of God, and that we shouldn't believe things for which there's that little evidence. This belief (also known roughly as atheism), besides being an eminently serious challenge to theistic beliefs, is also a belief that has to be known about in order to understand vast chunks of history and philosophical thinking (just as Christianity or Islam must be known about in order to understand vast chunks of history and philosophical thinking). Yet Rep. Davis thinks her children (and apparently the people in the House State Government Administration Committee hearing) need to be shielded from this Dangerous Thinking. For more of the transcript, see here; for the audio, see here; for the story related to the specific object of the witness's testimony (which doesn't seem to be the target of Rep. Davis's tirade), see here. The story was apparently broken Thursday by Eric Zorn, a Chicago Tribune metro columnist on his blog. The witness was atheist activist Rob Sherman, who continued with his testimony. I have found no mainstream media coverage of Rep. Davis's outburst other than in the Tribune on Sunday.