This is a long entry, but this stuff needs to be preserved for posterity.  The following is from a post by some theist or another.  I'm posting his original entry, and then my reply.  Feel free to cut and paste my reply anytime someone uses the whole "Evolution is a scam" argument, or any of its corollaries.

"Why are all atheists so angry?" I hear this question all the time. In fact, my Rambo-Kitty avatar is partially inspired by the question. Anyway, today I was reading an article about the debate between Sam Harris and Rick Warren, and was struck by Warren's statement, "I've never met an atheist who wasn't angry." My first reaction was denial. Many atheists, myself included, are happy most of the time. My atheist friends are great fun to hang out with. We laugh and joke and drink beer, and hardly ever mention religion. My second reaction, I confess, was anger. How dishonest of him to try to discount atheism by labeling us all as angry malcontents! This is exactly why people like him make me angry! That's when it hit me, square in the forehead. He's not being dishonest. I don't doubt that every atheist he's met has been angry. If I met him, he'd almost certainly make me angry, too. That's just it! HE makes atheists angry, so they're all angry around him. So, I forgive him for thinking that all atheists are angry. I understand how he made the mistake.

This is a reprint of an essay I wrote for another blog.

*************************************

Today, I will attempt to piss off Moderate Christians. This is going to be a difficult task, because one of the primary reasons I'm calling them out is their obstinate refusal to be offended. I had a long conversation tonight with one of my friends, who is some variety of theist, although he's very difficult to categorize. He was relating to me a dilemma he's going to face this weekend when his Moderate Christian family is going to ask him to go to church. The question of whether he should go, even though he disagrees strongly with many of the Christian church's teachings, is very close to me.

I am an atheist. I used to be a Christian, and then I read the Bible, thought about it, and left Christianity. Soon after that, I examined the concept of “the supernatural” and became an atheist. Hearing my story would probably be interesting to some people, but apart from some minor variances, it’s no different from the stories of thousands of other “de-converts.” Most atheists are well versed in the logic necessary to rid the mind of religious delusions. What I want to discuss in this essay is the number of theists who fully comprehend the same logic, and yet remain theists. Clearly, this phenomenon should be of great concern to the freethinker who would like to see friends, family, and society in general rid themselves of the poison that religious thought injects into culture.

If you missed my first blog, I'm telling Bible Stories, fairy tale style. The premise is simple. I use fairy tale language and assume that everything is true. Yes, I know the objections Christians will make. I know that there are differences in translations and that words sometimes have different meanings than they do today. Before you criticize my interpretation, ask yourself this question: Have you read the entire Bible for yourself? Did you cross reference with Hebrew and Greek to check the meanings of questionable words? Think twice about criticizing my scholarship if you answer "no" to either question. Looking foolish is your right, but I don't recommend it. These stories are an excercise, designed to provoke thought. Here's a thought to start with. If you were not a greek or hebrew scholar, and you read the Bible literally, wouldn't you expect a loving God to mention in his text that a lot of the passages didn't mean what you thought they meant because they were not translated well?

I've recently started translating the Bible on my livejournal account. The premise is simple. I convert it into a fairy tale style, and assume everything is true. I've been working off of the NIV, simply because I don't feel like going to the extra trouble of reading the antiquated style of the KJV. To date, I've only done four stories, but I plan to make this an ongoing series.

For your enjoyment, I present two stories of Joshua. Enjoy.

HOW GOD TAUGHT US WHERE HEAVEN IS

Once upon a time, there were some people who lived in a place called Amalek. They were called Amalekites. There was a time when they were very mad at the Israelites. When they found out that the Israelites were at a place called Rephidim, they sent their army out to attack the Israelites.