If you won a billion dollars....

What would you do to further the secular cause?
I don't think donating a portion to a secular charity is enough. I would want to be hands on and involved, making sure my money went somewhere AWESOME!

I would invest in a fleet of party barges ala Moore.
It would exist simply to drown out hate speech like WBC. Any event they planned to be at we would be at, too. I want to fight freedom of speech with more freedom of speech.
We would ask the parents of fallen soldiers if they would prefer glitter and sequins or a simple wall of black-suited men and women linked arm to arm.
I would also invest in macho men and women with hearts. Pay a fair wage to folks who take on the duties of safe-haven escorts and private(ish) security outside of abortion clinics.
I want to do what the government fails to do..
-or what they don't have the right to do in the first place.

I figure it would take about fifty buses and a few thousand people.
We would have to have our own IN-HOUSE training for protest safety and riot -management.
We'd need dispatchers in every state and diplomats working with local officials (where possible.) In states like Texas, we'd have to have a clear liaison with the ACLU or other big hitters that could help ensure fairness and equality in permit granting.

I think that action like this could change the face of America.
This is my secular pipe-dream.

What's yours?

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Permalink Reply by Heather Spoonheim on May 15, 2011 at 11:57am

I would build an alpine villa right into the side of a mountain, like some Bond villain. It would only be accessible by cable car, and I would hire Joe Pesci to guard the bottom station - so no muthah-fuggin, holy rollahs could get in nare! Then I would spend the rest of my days in my own secular world - after that, everyone else can go diagf.

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Permalink Reply by 3equ3cp1fsw0n on May 15, 2011 at 1:27pm

Heather wrote (snippet) - after that, everyone else can go diagf.

Oh, I am getting to know you too well. I figured it out on my first attempt (diagf). Damn, I thought it was going to be a challenge, but I started right off the bat by trying the words "die" for d, and then "in' for i; the rest fell into place immediately.

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Permalink Reply by Luka Rek on May 15, 2011 at 4:56pm

I would secretly invest money in expensive projects intended for rich people. After a couple of years of sucking out the money from the walking piggy-banks I would organize an atheist lobby/mafia which would take control of all the capitalist money-making businesses across the globe. Then I would organize a systematic removal of all religious politicians and MPs and all other government officials from their respective positions and substitute them with a completely atheistic government. Another prerequisite for becoming a government official or a politician would involve necessary higher education at an institution with an established reputation which would be individually scrutinized to make sure the individual is completely capable of rational thinking and devoid of all delusions (of a personal god or grandeur). Then I would introduce tax rates on religion (i. e. a church) which would be proportionate to the powerfulness of the god in question (i. e. the power that particular church holds with the people). That would mean that the more the church insists on its god being the most powerful the more tax it would have to pay. Any expression of religious attitudes which could influence your work or your working environment in a negative way would be prohibited by law. It would also be prohibited to back up your claims with any religious materials or your personal beliefs outside the religious sphere. Then I would form a classless society in which every employed person would have the same hourly wage with the exception of government officials who would be allowed to have at most three times that amount. All other remaining funds would be government property which would belong to everyone. All the money would be accounted for and it would be visible to any citizen exactly how much money came from whom and where. Then the whole country would vote through an online referendum on what the money should be used for. Every citizen would have a say in it and everyone could talk about legislative proposals, etc. I would also include a rating possibility so that every citizen could vote on any other citizen`s expertise on particular subjects which would help in establishing the right authorities in particular areas. And then I would simply conquer the world and employ this kind of government on the whole of humanity

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Permalink Reply by matt.clerke on June 27, 2011 at 1:07am

one billion dollars is probably not enough to do what I want to do: Start a secular country which actually has a bill of rights(apparently Australia does not) which will force its government to investigate an issue before passing any law regarding it.

In short: laws in my country will be made on the basis of "Why should this be illegal?" as opposed to "Why should this be legal?".

For example: on the issue of homosexual marriage: the default state is legal, if there are reasons to make it illegal then it can be discussed until the law is finally decided. Of course religion will have no power in these kinds of discussions.

This doesn't go into enough detail to really find all of the problems with the system but you get the idea.