due to a problem with loging it. Wierd really.

Anyway, first off, anonymous. Not one word of hyporbole, more like one heck of a blunt means of putting it. Remember, Bush Snr won those elections AFTER denying the citizenship of America's atheist population (About 13 to 17 percent of America's population.)

Oh, and if you can find me a single American president who during his election campaign has ever said anything disparaging the patriotism and citizenship of America's Christian community, go ahead and post some quotes. Please.

pacificwhim

Being nice has gained what exactly? American atheists are now the subject of a culture war because, someone decided that "Happy holidays" covered more then just the Christian tradition (Midwinter is a very common time for a festival after all.)

Atheists now are under attack from a major portion of America's political power base, and lets be honest here, evolution in schools? Being tolerant hasn't achieved anything. Being nice, and in most things I am not a total monster, has gotten us precisely nothing.

Atheists are 13 to 17 percent of America's population, yet nobody thinks anything of basically telling an atheist father to go to church because his daughter has been terrorised into believing in hell(Cary did that.)

Nobody thinks anything, of implying that atheists cannot feel love. (This story does that.) Love isn't learned, it is something which binds us even as we infuriate each other.

And I am not saying all Christians are bad people, in fact a lot of Christians, just like a lot of other people, are good people who strive to do good for others just as I strive to do good.

Nor am I saying that Christianity should be banned, or that I even want to convert Christians over to atheism, but rather that Christians stop trying to claim the virtues that a lot of people share whether they are religious or not, as being specifically Christian.

I do not want to win converts, I want Christians to wake up to what they are saying. I want to put an end to the myth that morality, community and good are all based on religion. We are better than that.

We need to start standing up for the idea that you have moral atheists, that there is nothing wrong with thinking differently to others. That we are people first, opinions? They can be argued and changed.

Here is what is good about Christianity: Christmas.

It is a celebration not so much of the birth of God or whatever, but in real terms of generosity, goodwill and overly large meals.

It is a time of year when we relax the cold, hard behaviours of the past year and think of each other, rather then adopting the selfishness which we are programmed to adopt.

It is a time when aside from all the religious guff, we strive to actually like each other.

It is a time sacred in who we are not because of God, but because at least for one day a year, we strive to set aside our mutual irritation and celebrate our families, our friends and our communities.

Belief in the nativity does not make this day special, nor does belief in a big fat man in a red suit, we made this day special. And if there is one thing I like about Christianity, it is that one special day.

And it one Christian holiday that I as an Atheist celebrate.

If you haven't read it (Which judging by your post, I am guessing you haven't, Dawkins isn't nearly as angry as some restuarant reviews I have read) go read the God Delusion at some point. He isn't the polemist the religious make him out to be, he is more putting forward his argument in a manner that will sell.

Anyway, atheists have tried being nice. You don't have this sheer brutal hatred of atheists by the religious as a reaction to something atheists did. In fact, atheists generally don't do much on a major scale, hence why politicians and polemists on the right feel perfectly comfortable scapegoating atheists for all the nations ills.

If you are a doormat you get stepped on and atheists, for a long time, have been doormats. The recent spate of atheist books has come as a reaction to what is happening now - and still you have atheists who say "Don't rock the boat."

Rock the boat. Get angry. Fight the propaganda that is eating away at America's perception of the worth and humanity of America's atheists.

The best explanaition of why atheists are angry is this site, read what she has to say and think about it.

http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2007/10/atheists-and-an.html

Don't blame me because you are too much of a fucking dumbass to get the overt meaning of a song.

Shit what did you think Dylan was singing about? His girlfriend?

You only noticed this now?

http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2007/10/atheists-and-an.html

This sort of crap has been going on for a long time.

If Christians didn't want this fight, they should never have started it because we are not going to shut up, we are not going take prisoners.

Liberals got voted out of government. All three houses and both parties turned their backs on liberalism and thus become conservatisms problem.

To have responisibility you must have power. That conservatives never claimed responsibility was the problem, not that liberals abdicated it.

Remember, the Democratic party is at best a centre-right party, liberals don't actually have a decent voice in American politics.