Writing for The Examiner

I have become the Detroit Church & State Examiner for Examiner.com. I have several article ideas, but there are two ways I want to involve Michigan Atheists. First, I want to give Michigan Atheists as much positive publicity as I possibly can, since the primary reason Michigan Atheists exists is to educate the public about separation of state and church issues. The second is that I want to document individual events and help promote them.

I will be writing four to five articles per week for Examiner.com. While I won't be focusing one hundred percent of them on Michigan Atheists, I would like to raise awareness of issues by presenting the facts on Examiner.com, then coming here and calling for action when it is necessary.

I would love your thoughts.

My first article may be found here.

Southfield Churches Involved in Michigan Politics

In the pictures above, we have three churches (two pictures are from one church) in Southfield, Michigan, which have become involved in state politics by advising voters to vote "no" on Proposal 2, an initiative which deals with public funding for stem cell research.

Whatever view voters take on stem cell research and the public funding of it, the issue here is that churches may be overstepping their bounds when it comes to maintaining their tax exempt status. They are quite welcome to preach within their walls about the "evils" of stem cell research, but when it comes to telling voters how to vote, and not just their congregants, but every voter who drives along Lahser, Berg, and Ten Mile Roads in Southfield (just to name a few--I have seen these signs in front of churches in Clawson and Royal Oak, too), they should refrain from telling voters what to do with their tax dollars--or they should pay their fair share of taxes.

The churches in the pictures are Our Lady of Albanians on Lahser Road, Mother of God Chaldean Catholic Church on Berg Road, and the Church of the Transfiguration on Ten Mile Road.

If you see any churches with signs in front regarding ballot proposals or supporting candidates, please snap a picture, if possible, and send it to gregtreich@comcast.net.