Letters to the Editor
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And the awards go to
A. J. Calhoun for equating atheists=nihilists.
A. J. Calhoun for complaining about atheists who 'lash-out'
Cosmo Guzzardi for writing that atheists are really closet Christians
No Name Given for writing that atheists are responsible for Nazi massacres.
No Name Given for writing that atheists were responsible for invading Afghanistan in 1979
pdxstudent for suggesting that atheists are as literal-minded as religionists.
Neil, who compares atheists to the right-wing who see things in black and white.
Neil, who compares atheists to fundamentalist Christians
Yes- that's right, if you don't happen to believe in a God, you must be a fundamentalist right-wing literal-minded nihilist Nazi who lashes out and who's actually a closet Christian anyway.
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re:christianjb
Oh christianjb you irreverent, reductive cad you!
God bless your cotton socks :)
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To: A Parent
Personally I don't care what any particular Christian believes or doesn't believe, as long as they keep it in their own homes and in their own churches. But when Christians start forcing their religious beliefs into our national politics and into our children's classrooms, you cannot expect Salon.com to stop running articles on religion, or expect Salon readers to stop debating these very important issues.
There is hardly a more relevant topic in this country today than the role of religion in our public lives, especially when you read the horrifying polling numbers that reveal a large part of our population believes the rapture will occur within their lifetimes, and with issues like stem-cell research, intelligent design, and anti-gay legislation at the forefront of our national debate.
Liberals will not stop facing these tough issues just to become more acceptable to your version "mainstream" America.
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my two pieces
I would say I am an atheist but for this: now that we have invented God, of course God exists.
If I did believe in God as Supreme Being Omniscient Omnipotent Creator, I would reconcile that existence with free will this way: God got bored with predictable perfection. He created humans possessing the ability to break His heart, hoping we would pleasantly surprise Him, but allowing for mystery, for His sake. Why wouldn't he crave a little mystery after millennia of perfection? The general heartbreak we cause Him doesn't kill Him or even hurt much. Keeps things interesting in the way our own children do, even when they break our hearts. We are like flowers in His garden. He would rather we grow pretty and strong. If we have flaws, that's not enough to junk the whole project. The consequences of blight for Him aren't much.
I also would guess that humans on Earth do not occupy as much of God's direct attention as humans think.
Ramblin,
Gordon
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why would Jesus create this drama of his martyrdom?
Maybe having to do with the politics of the time under Roman occupation.
Speculatin'
Gordon
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Maybe because he was a drama queen?
I'm just sayin'
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christopher english walling
Excellent point. It's also why I don't stay on the phone with Glengarry Glen Ross-type salesmen. It always sounds so good while I'm caught up in the moment. And than after but a few moment's reflection...good friend or not, she spews hooey. I have many good friends on whom I don't base my view of God. It's OK, you know, to like someone and not be their sycophant.
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Universe made of Dirt?
With all due respect, I can't find anywhere in the Bible where it says the universe was made out of dirt.
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To: A Parent
You are entitled to be insane and raise little jonny to be hated in the four corners of the world because he wishes to shove your faith, by force, down everyone's throat. I prefer the Bill of Rights.
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The better question is...
The better question is, who cares? I've never quite understood the fascination with apocryphal Bible books, since even if they're true, they're just as dated and useless of moral guides as the Bible is today. The obsession by some with wrestling with conservative Christians on their own turf (ie: the symbology of faith) is futile, since you've given up the moment you've acknowledged the persuasiveness of any thousand year old manuscript. I think rather than looking for meaning in any dusty old tome, we need to really just be looking at ourselves.
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Scripture as genealogy
In response to an earlier article about religion that spawned several hundred letters, there was one poster who was Jewish who said, "I regard the Bible as genealogy." Suddenly, a light bulb went on in my head--that's precisely the correct way to read scripture.
The reason this particular posting was so meaningful to me is that I am currently engaged in genealogical research on my family. Much of it consists of collecting family stories from very elderly relatives, or family legends that were written down a long time ago by unknown ancestos of mine. I enter data into ancestry.com based on these stories and check out their acuracy against ancestry.com's database or elsewhere.
I find that, in terms of literal accuracy, the stories I hear are about 75% total bunk. The National Archives has no record of my great-great-great grandfather being wounded at the Battle of Buena Vista. We have no apparent connection to White Plains, NY, despite some ancestor's insistence that we do; that line of my family is strictly confined to North Carolina. The story that this same ancestor of mine killed the last wild buffalo is a tall tale that is told about literally dozens of individuals who populated the Old West. Other stories may have nuggets of truth but were greatly exaggerated for obvious dramatic effect.
And yet...not only are the stories partially accurate, but I've come to regard with great affection those stories that have turned out to be tall tales (like the one in which my ancestor won the personal admiration of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings). I feel like they reveal some sort of truth about my family that is completely apart from the truth of the story itself. For example, I find myself pondering questions like, "Why would someone want me to believe that so-and-so was wounded at the Battle of Buena Vista?" And sometimes those questions lead to the revelation of mysteries. For example, I have since found out that a community in North Carolina that is now called King's Mountain went by the name of white Plains until the 1870s. I find myself pondering not only the original events that led to these stories, but the genealogy of the stories themselves, how they became embellished, mis-remembered, and garbled over time.
And these are all stories that are, with only a few exceptions, less than 100 years old. So I bear that in mind when reading stories that are several thousand years older. And I enjoy them in that same spirit.
Great article, fascinating interview.