Atheist Group Considering Facebook Lawsuit

WASHINGTON—An atheist group, the Atheist Center for Humanists United (ACHU), released a press statement today indicating that they are considering a discrimination lawsuit against users of the popular social network Facebook.

The group argues that taxpayer funding of telecommunications infrastructure through the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) means that communications emanating from rural communities, mostly from “red” states, should be subject to anti-discrimination laws, especially when those communications violate the separation of church and state.

ACHU founder and president, Nile Hist, described the primary purpose of the potential lawsuit: “Obviously, we are interested in pursuing the discriminatory practices of social media users, especially on Facebook. While blatant religious communications about the Christian God and other gods are of concern, our primary push will be to stop the use of the acronym ‘OMG’ (Oh My God!). Users of Facebook who lack a belief in gods should not be subject to this form of bigotry on a daily basis. We have filed a cease-and-desist letter requesting that the use of ‘OMG’ be immediately halted by all users and that Facebook proactively replace all previous references of ‘OMG’ in user history with the acronym ‘EESAS’ (Exclamation of Excitement, Surprise, Amazement, or Shock).”

Mr. Hist related that the details of the lawsuit are not yet complete. Of the approximately 1.44 billion users of Facebook, it is estimated that only about 745 million use the term ‘OMG’. A majority of those users are teenage girls who would most likely not be a target of any litigation.