In Loudoun County, Virginia the courthouse lawn has exploded into an arena for freedom of speech versus religious expression. This past Christmas season the lawn was host to two manger displays, a skeleton in a Santa suit crucified on a cross and a large billboard portraying the birth of Christ as the birth of the Giant Flying Spaghetti Monster or some such nonsense. Atheists, and others, use the lawn throughout the year to promote their views or non-views. First of all, everyone is entitled to their belief or non-belief and I do respect their point of view, especially when it comes to religion. I do not respect it when someone ridicules a religion, or wraps their view in hateful and disrespectful imagery; and, say what you will, but on this lawn, Christianity is the most frequent target of tasteless assaults.

My other point is the Atheists wrong-headed use of John Lennon as a visual icon of atheism. Every year a large image of John Lennon with the lyrics “Imagine there’s no heaven…” is erected on the courthouse lawn promoting their tenet of “No God.” Admittedly, John questioned many things in his short life, and his songs “God” and the oft-quoted utopian anthem “Imagine” are full of his searching and questioning. They are full of love and hope, too.

In the middle 1970’s John had an spiritual awakening on a fateful sailing trip and not only made his peace with his God but with his own creativity.

Of course there isn’t any empirical proof to this except in one of John’s songs entitled “Grow Old With Me”. It is one of his most personal works and one of the last songs he wrote. It only takes a listen or a look at the chorus to determine if John was an atheist and an icon worthy of atheistic beautification:

Grow old along with me
The best is yet to be
When our time has come
We will be as one
God bless our love
God bless our love

I don’t think those lyrics, again, some of his last, give any indication to his atheism but actually defy that view.

So if you do want to be taken seriously with your public displays of Atheism I suggest you dial down the venom and use an appropriate visual spokesman; John Lennon certainly is not one of them.