From: Matty
Date: Apr 20, 2007 11:27 AM
After reading your Bulletin and the responses to it, I wrote an email to this woman. The text of it is below. Thanks for all your work.
++++++++++++++++++++
MATT: I am so disturbed by you. It is my opinion that the reason for the prevailing distrust and disgust with fundamentalist Christian right can be traced to the kind of hate speech you posted, quoted below with comments by myself.
HATER: ATHEISM IS DETRIMENTAL TO SOCIETY
"Try hard, if you will, to perceive the worth of atheism and if you make a proper assessment of its worth to any portion of mankind, it will be revealed to you that atheism is a demonic ideology or religion that is utterly worthless, to say the least. It darkens the minds of its subjects and bring curses upon every facet of human life."
MATT: The most basic worth of atheism is as a counterpoint to those Fundamentalist Christians on the far right (such as yourself). Please consider the etymology of the word atheist. You are a "theist" meaning you believe in the existence of God. Some people are "anti theists". These are people who believe there is no God (also called agnostic). Then there are people like me who are "a theist". We have no opinion of the existence of God. Many of us are rationalists. Quite a few of us have active spiritual lives in a tradition besides Fundamentalist Christianity.
HATER: "The two basic responsibilities every person of mankind have are to love God more than all else and to love mankind. Atheism accomplishes neither one of these responsibilities. It blasphemes against God and brings harm and death upon mankind."
MATT: To claim that Atheists are unable to love mankind is preposterous. I believe that, as much as it depends on me, I should live at peace with everyone. (that's a paraphrase of Romans 12:18, btw). As atheists, we have no strong feelings for or against God. Only in your tradition and among your people is the responsibility to love God above all else. (What does that say about your kids, husband, friends, etc. If God told you to kill them, and you knew without a doubt that it was, in fact, God, would you do it?)
HATER: "Atheists are not fit to be parents; they are not fit to be employed in any portion of any society; they are not fit to be any kind of leaders in any society, nor are they fit to serve in any area of public trust. Atheism makes every person who embraces it unfit for any good work."
MATT: This is just hate-speech, plain and simple. I have many friends who are atheist, or at the very least not Fundamentalist Christians, who are fantastic parents and who have wonderful, loving, tolerant kids.. In fact, I am an atheist parent with a wonderful, loving son. Why does a person's religion or lack thereof have anything to do with their ability to work in society? This kind of intolerance is detrimental to a modern society, not beneficial to it. Take, as a case in point, the Nazi Regime. Most of the upper echelon of the Nazi party in Germany in the 1930's considered themselves strong, God-fearing Christians, including Adolf Hitler himself. Read Mein Kampf if you don't belive me. No one would argue that the Third Reich was beneficial to society.
HATER: "Atheists are not even fit to live. They have forfeited the right to life by virtue of being unfit for any good thing."
MATT: Who are you to decide who is to live and whoo is to die? From where do you take your mandate for revenge? Luke 10:27-37 speaks of a man who came to Jesus of Nazareth and spoke to him of his duties to gain eternal life. Jesus is quoted, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself". Knowing in his heart that he did not follow this, the man asks of the teacher, "Who, then, is my neighbor?" Jesus then relates the story of the Good Samaritan with which I am sure you are familiar. In the fable, the Samaritan did not judge the Jew as his own people did, he simply cared for him. Please use caution as you judge your fellow humans. (Leviticus 19:18 and Romans 12:19, Revenge is for God alone.)
HATER: "The decline or absence of morals in any society can be traced to atheism or the like. All the problems in every facet of society the world over can be traced to atheism, or denial of God and disobedience to him. The rapid increase in crime the world over can be traced to the same. Atheism has nothing good to offer any society."
MATT: I have addressed many of these issues above. I would call to your mind this fact. The "Holy Roman Empire" no longer exists.
HATER: "Atheism is so heinous and does so much harm that there is desperate need for legislation against it. It is not an ideology, philosophy or demonic religion which should be allowed to exist and flourish in any society. Every atheist should be regarded as high criminals by all governments who have no right to live on the earth."
MATT: Legislation against atheists in the US is the same as Legislation against Christians in the former USSR. It is not the place of government to legislate a particular groups idea of morality. The word Moral comes from an old Anglo-French word meaning "Custom". Morality is adherence to a set of beliefs about right and wrong. It is NOT limited to Christians.
MATT: I hope you have read this whole message, however I don't expect that you have. Most Fundamentalists do not take opposition well. I welcome your response (unless you just want to tell me I'm going to Hell... I don't believe in Hell ;-)
+++++++++++++++ -Matt
From: RationalAtheist.com
Thanks Creationist Opposer
Thanks, I think Tim Rambo
From: Keith
Lowell Jensen
This woman's stark raving loony. I doubt any of us atheists would
have a snowballs chance in hell of getting her to listen to reason, perhaps
one of you moderate Christians out there can lure her out of her cave
so she can be caged and put on display at the Museum of Natural History.
Don't worry, we'll see that she has plenty of room to run and that she
gets her raw meat twice a week.
From: Reverend
AtheiStar
Just switch out 'atheist' and 'atheism' with 'Jew' and 'Judaism' and it
becomes painfully clear who she 'heils' to! If you remember, though, Hitler
hated Atheists, too. We were amongst those in the gas chambers and in
the camps right alongside the Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and everyone
else not fit to be part of his theocratic world. If you weren't with his
Jesus, you were against him.
http://www.myspace.com/joahsmom
ATHEISM IS DETRIMENTAL TO SOCIETY Try hard, if you will, to perceive
the worth of atheism and if you make a proper assessment of its worth
to any portion of mankind, it will be revealed to you that atheism is
a demonic ideology or religion that is utterly worthless, to say the least.
It darkens the minds of its subjects and bring curses upon every facet
of human life. The two basic responsibilities every person of mankind
have are to love God more than all else and to love mankind. Atheism accomplishes
neither one of these responsibilities. It blasphemes against God and brings
harm and death upon mankind. Atheists are not fit to be parents; they
are not fit to be employed in any portion of any society; they are not
fit to be any kind of leaders in any society, nor are they fit to serve
in any area of public trust. Atheism makes every person who embraces it
unfit for any good work. Atheists are not even fit to live. They have
forfeited the right to life by virtue of being unfit for any good thing.
The decline or absence of morals in any society can be traced to atheism
or the like. All the problems in every facet of society the world over
can be traced to atheism, or denial of God and disobedience to him. The
rapid increase in crime the world over can be traced to the same. Atheism
has nothing good to offer any society. Atheism is so heinous and does
so much harm that there is desperate need for legislation against it.
It is not an ideology, philosophy or demonic religion which should be
allowed to exist and flourish in any society. Every atheist should be
regarded as high criminals by all governments who have no right to live
on the earth.
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