A bit of irony and a bit of justice.

The Atlanta Freethought Society recently bought a new building for their *freedom hall.* The building they bought was formerly the Collins Springs Primitive Baptist Church. Churches in my county are exempt from certain zoning codes, i.e., a church can develop residential property without having it rezoned commercial.

The AFS petitioned the Zoning Department for a special land use permit to operate under the same zoning as a church. County officials have said "no." Although this is a non-profit organization, it is not a church and will not get the privilege of a church.

So............. HA!!! Take that, ye Godless folk. Thou canst have thine cake and consume it, too!!



See the church here:

http://www.atheistalliance.org/secul...ingarchive.pdf

P.S. -- the discussion in that .pdf regarding fundraising is pricesless. Fundraising without faith in God must be such a tiresome task. No promise of ever being rewarded ten-fold and no hope that *God will provide.* Members of this organization actually made *loans* to their cherished organization rather than donations. Loans???? And this 713 Club -- where do they get their statistics that the average church-goer gives $713/year to the church?

"Why does Giving America behave so differently from Non-Giving America? The answer, contrary to what you might be thinking, is not income; America's working poor give away at least as large a percentage of their incomes as the rich, and a lot more than the middle class. The charity gap is driven not by economics but by values.

Nowhere is the divide in values more on display than in religion, the frontline in our so-called "culture war." And the relationship between religion and charity is nothing short of extraordinary. The Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey indicates that Americans who weekly attend a house of worship are 25 percentage points more likely to give than people who go to church rarely or never. These religious folks also give nearly four times more dollars per year than secularists, on average, and volunteer more than twice as frequently.:

http://www.icnl.org/KNOWLEDGE/ijnl/v.../special_2.htm

"Some Americans are more generous than others, obviously. Generally, regular church-goers give away more than the irreligious."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...le-454789.html