An open letter to the Knights of Columbus
Offline I would like to start off by letting it be known that I am an atheist, not because I have all the answers, but because I do not. I am not completely shunning the idea that there is a higher power, I simply have never witnessed (or felt) anything that would cause me to believe otherwise. My question is admittedly broad but I feel the desire to obtain an honest answer. Rational thinking in this country has dwindled to the point that I believe there are few people that actually reach conclusions based upon truth, rather than following what is believed to be the normal line of thinking. The average person living in the same area that I do can hardly read, let alone understand what is actually meant by ancient texts that were deciphered from a forgotten language. These same people also assume, upon finding my religous stance, that I must be some immoral being. Why is it that the religous person believes that without belief in a supreme being we revert to animalistic behavior? To assume that I am a bad person because of my lack of belief in a personal god is also assuming that If tomorrow they found that there was no "god", they too would rape, murder and torture as they wished. To avoid a drawn out explaination of all possible situations, I will cut straight to the chase. Given the sheer number of ancient stories (predating Christ) that closely mimic the story of Jesus Christ, what makes you so certian that you are right? The celebration of December 25th has been around much longer than the timeframe that modern Christians believe to be the age of Christ. Any casual observer can plainly see that the story of Jesus, as it is written in the bible, was borrowed from a collection of much earlier stories. More to the point, why do you feel that it is important to keep Christ in Christmas, as the television ads state? Is there any more proof that we celebrate Dec. 25 in the name of Jesus than, say, the winter solstice? You have alredy broken the boundary of church and state by directly causing "in god we trust" to be imprinted into our currency, even though a lot of Americans do not trust in your god. This nation was founded upon the notion of freedom of religion, which also means freedom from religion. Your campaign to fuse religion into our daily lives makes no sense to me. Why can't you believe what you believe without trying to force it upon everyone else? What do you stand to gain by joining the church and the state? What is your agenda?
"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence." - Bertrand Russell
Stewie: Yay and God said to Abraham, "you will kill your son, Issak", and Abraham said, I can't hear you, you'll have to speak into the microphone." "Oh I'm sorry, Is this better? Check, check, check... Jerry, pull the high end out, I'm still getting some hiss back here."
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Hi Awelton85,
While I find little fault in either your reasoning or your legitimate complaints as regards contemporary projections of separation of church and state, I am curious as to why you addressed your post to the Knights of Columbus. A back-story, perhaps?
It was originally sent to the main office of the Knights. I don't really think it will be taken into consideration over there, but maybe if a few hundred people let them know what they think they might take notice.
I really just needed to preach to the choir if you want the honest truth.
"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence." - Bertrand Russell
Stewie: Yay and God said to Abraham, "you will kill your son, Issak", and Abraham said, I can't hear you, you'll have to speak into the microphone." "Oh I'm sorry, Is this better? Check, check, check... Jerry, pull the high end out, I'm still getting some hiss back here."
I understand the sentiment and concur. A year or so ago I wrote a particularly scathing response to a pastor who was "outraged over the popularity of Harry Potter." Truth be told, I have neither read the books nor intend to do so; nevertheless I felt obliged to respond to his idiocy. Naturally, my response was not reprinted (it was a bit on the caustic side, admittedly) and I was left with the nagging feeling- I wish someone could read this!
If you have a moment, my reply to him is entry 3.2 at : http://zacrob76.wordpress.com/
Regards,
UE
Exactly. I may not be educated enough to completely debunk a subject, but I can attempt to explain it in laymans terms. I want someone to agree with me even if it isn't the original target.
I did read your link. I think it was a wonderful point by point. It is a shame that they probably never made it past the second line.
"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence." - Bertrand Russell
Stewie: Yay and God said to Abraham, "you will kill your son, Issak", and Abraham said, I can't hear you, you'll have to speak into the microphone." "Oh I'm sorry, Is this better? Check, check, check... Jerry, pull the high end out, I'm still getting some hiss back here."
“There is nothing funny or amusing about real magic.” Magic IS quite humorous when it allows us to view the image of a grown man throwing a verbal tantrum over a children’s book of FICTION.
I lol'ed.
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