Hi y'all - from half way up a mountain in Colorado, I sent the following letter. I decided to attack from a different angle - I'm sure you'll all recognise it.
I take umbrage at the recent letter published on behalf of Kathi Peacock. I quote "claim not to believe in God." Atheists make no claims! If I were to say to Kathi that I have a fire breathing dragon in my garage, I'd be' making a claim. I feel that she would be justified in saying "prove it." If I were to take her down to my garage and open the door, she would probably say "I can't see it." Of course, my response would be "it's invisible." OK, she may say 'I'll throw some flour on the floor to catch its footprints." I'd point out that it is "ephemeral with no material substance. "Right," she might say "I'll bring an infra red detector which will pick up its fire." "The fire is the "cold type"" I'd respond. You may see where this leads. Christians claim a God with no evidence or proof to back it up (hearsay in a 2000 yr. old book is not evidence.) I say to Kathi don't accuse Atheists of making any claims - we claim nothing. It is you who make the claim, so prove it, and if you do, I'd be the first to agitate for the proof to be practiced and taught in schools. On Sep 7, 1:50 pm, "Angelia Stinnett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The editor's won't let me address her directly and will make me hold off on > writing a rebuttal, but the Memphis Free Thought Alliance Members can do it > much quicker and with less restraint than I will have to use. As a > columnist, I am liable or at least the Sun is for what we write, however, > the writer to the editor can speak much more freely, so sock it to her. > > And yeah, I react with hostility toward the religious when they're so > fucking stupid as to enforce Christianity in government, which includes > schools. As Sam Harris writes, "why should we be tolerant of ignorance, even > when it comes within Christianity?" > > Here's the arguments that can be used in a letter to the editor: prayer was > taken out of schools in the 80s, the 90s had the greatest decline in violent > crimes since WWII, . The decline of the 90s followed a boom in crime rates > that occurred during the 60s and 70s, when prayer was still in school. > During that time high school drop out rate fell from 14.6 in 1972 to 11.0 in > 1993. > > > > On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 11:33 AM, Taylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > <<I wonder if calling Kathi Peacock a "stupid ass" helps the > > discussion > > or adds to the argument. >> > > > I have to agree with Jason. > > > Angelia, you tend to react with hostility towards the religious. > > EDUCATE them. Why not write an article dispelling this idea that "all > > of our problems" started with getting prayer out of the school. Use > > evidence and reason.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Memphis Freethought Alliance" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/memphisfreethoughtalliance?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
