April Fool's Day the "Atheist's holiday?"

The Judge Who Called April Fool's Day the "Atheist's Holiday"-Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor
An atheist allegedly filed a lawsuit in Florida objecting to Easter and Passover celebrations while atheists had no holiday to celebrate.
The judge dismisses the case and says the atheists do have their own holiday...April 1, April Fool's Day.

The Truth
This story is circulated with no specific such as when or where this alleged court case took place, the name of the atheist, or the name of the judge.

We've never found any substantiation for it.

Also, most ACLU cases objecting to religious activities are based on their alleged violation of the constitutional separation of church and state, not the absence of an atheist's holiday.

Last updated 1/14/04

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

Hooray For That Judge In Florida, an atheist became incensed over the
preparation for Easter and Passover holidays and decided to contact the
local ACLU about the discrimination inflicted on atheists by the constant
celebrations afforded to Christians and Jews with all their holidays
while the atheists had no holiday to celebrate.

The ACLU jumped on the opportunity to once again pick up the cause of the
godless and assigned their sharpest attorneys to the case.

The case was brought before a wise judge who after listening to the long,
passionate presentation of the ACLU lawyers, promptly banged his gavel
and declared, "Case dismissed!"

The lead ACLU lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling and
said, "Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? Surely the
Christians have Christmas, Easter and many other observances. And the
Jews--why in addition to Passover they have Yom Kippur and Hanukkah...
and yet my client and all other atheists have no such holiday!"

The judge leaned forward in his chair and simply said "Obviously your
client is too confused to know about or for that matter even celebrate the
atheists' holiday!"

The ACLU lawyer pompously said "We are aware of no such holiday for
atheists, just when might that be, your honor?"

The judge said, "Well it comes every year on exactly the same
date---April 1st!"

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" - Psalm 14:1, Psalm 53:1

HOORAY FOR THAT JUDGE