Letters to the Editor
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Another pompous, windy apologist for superstition
Tell us what your god *does*, tell us how and when he/she/it does these things, form a testable hypothesis or else SHUT THE HELL UP, moron. There is nothing more to be contributed by another dim-witted "theologian" bleating about the "dogma" of scientific veracity and making special pleading for his stupid pet superstitions. Your magic books and imaginary spirit beings and incantations and ritual gibberish have nothing to tell us about the origin or nature of the universe and have nothing to do with science.
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I'm not going to even bother to read the article
I'm probably pretty safe in believing this will be yet another "Atheists are annoying, why won't they shut up" article trying to sound like it's really taking religion to task so it's okay to imply that Atheists are really the problem.
It is this constant stream of insulting articles of this nature that is number one on the list of why I won't renew my membership at expiration.
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Separtion of church & State
God belongs in the church and personal life. Darwin belongs in science classes. End of conversation.
I attended a Catholic high school in the 60s. In our world history/theology class we were taught evolution, but that god infused a soul into man at some point in the evolutionary process. In science class we were taught evolution. Never the twain met.
The bible is a book of myths. Evolution is scientific theory which has been proven over. and over, and over, again.
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You know what's also been around for a really long time? Atheism, or at least skepticism of a divine creator. That I know of, it's been around AT LEAST since our forefathers.
Atheists have long been reserved, not wanting to step on the toes of believers. The reason why Dawkins and his posse have become so outspoken is exactly because being shy and reserved has earned atheists nothing. We've been flexible. We've heard the opposition. I grew up in the deep South and listened to creationist theories for over half my life. Never once has a person of religion stopped to ask me what I thought about the afterlife. The only thing I've heard is why my beliefs are wrong, followed by veiled threats about a fiery hell.
All of this is fine, but now religious crusaders want to make it impossible for nonbelievers to have access to abortions, stem cell research, marry whom they please, and learn about evolution. It's pretty frustrating to spend your whole life advocating for acceptance, only to have segments of the population throw your acceptance in your face and try to legislate their morality.
I'm not saying that atheists are never dogmatic. But I think this new public embracing of atheism comes from the realization that standing by quietly in the corner with our hands in our pockets isn't going to do us much good as long as fundamentalist conservative keep playing whackamole with our basic freedoms. Atheists want their rights protected and to do that we have to become more outspoken.
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The Following Quote Near the End of the Interview Made Me Chuckle...
"And certainly people like Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould aren't walking around glum all the time, saying, "Oh, life has no purpose, I think I'll just kill myself." They are very energetic people who love life and do lots of fun things. I don't think Christians are wise to say we've got the corner on purpose." [emphasis added]
Of course, Stephen Jay Gould has been DEAD for several years now.
And to the arrogant gasbag whose letter got posted first, I say that YOU are an example of exactly you would deride. Religion is based upon faith in much the same way science is based upon research and investigation. Though I've always believed that eventually - and ironically - science will be the way in which mankind finally opens that last door and looks God in the face. And God will of course smile, invite those future people into his home and say "What took you so long?"
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Same old story
Way, way back in time, some Neanderthal type was out in a thunderstorm. Lightning struck a tree nearby, and this primitive dude had a revelation: there's someone up there! And he's mad as hell! He ran and told the other hairy dudes about it, and from that moment came all religion, all belief in a huge angry guy up there. It was a fairy tale then, it's a fairy tale now.
Giberson says: "So I'd say to Dawkins, until you explain to me how human beings interact with the world, don't tell me that God couldn't interact with the world in the same way we do." Fine, so it's possible that your imaginary God "could" interact with the world. OK, now show me some evidence that He does. Here's some evidence that He doesn't: 40,000 children starved to death today. Another 40,000 will starve to death tomorrow. And the next day, and the next...Should I also mention how many thousands of children under the age of 12 will be raped this month, and next month..?
Bottom line for me: you can believe any fairy tales you want to, it doesn't bother me. But spare me the crap about there being a loving being out there who watches over us and loves us and can interact with the world, but somehow won't lift a finger to save even one of the weakest and most innocent among us, or to relieve one iota of the enormous suffering that exists all over this planet.
So I can't really say that I know whether God exists or not, but if he does, he clearly doesn't give a shit about us. And for me, the feeling is mutual.
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Science Didn't Start This Fight, or Why Some Atheists Are So Angry
If Atheists are angry and dogmatic, it's because of arrogant and dogmatic religious indoctrination they were subjected to as children.
Religion invented rigid dogma, not science.
But I'm not so harsh on believers; humanity hasn't evolved very far beyond running around naked with sticks and stones. Maybe in another 10,000 years we may outgrow our need for a cosmic daddy.
Darwin was painfully aware of the reaction religious avatars would have to his theory. It's why he worked so hard to assemble hard data, and waited almost 20 years before publishing "The Origin of Species."