It seems that most people don’t really know any atheists, so it isn’t

surprising that there is misconception about atheism.

I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I do want to respond to Kaitlyn

Rice’s letter-to-the-editor.

ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor

‘Under God’ Supplies Purpose

RECENTLY IN one of my classes, we had a

discussion about taking “under God” out of the pledge of allegiance. The majority of the class agreed that God should be left in, but

there were a few who disagreed. One believed that by saying “under God,” students who did not believe in God were being

ostracized.

I think it is sad that people believe we were randomly put here for no reason at

all, that we have no purpose and it doesn’t matter what we do with our lives because after we die that is just the end.

It doesn’t make sense to me that some people believe that what is right and wrong is a standard made by man. … I guess if

you believe that there are no eternal consequences for your actions, you wouldn’t think that there is anything wrong with teen

pregnancies or drug abuse. I find it depressing that people have so much pride that they believe they have accomplished everything on

their own, and that God has had no hand in their life. …
KAITLYN RICE
Albuquerque

I

understand that you attribute much that is good in human beings to god. Your mistake is in assuming that without god, I can’t recognize

good and evil in human beings. Worse, you insult me by assuming you know what I must believe if I don’t believe in god — a condition

you can’t grasp.

After I am dead, I will not enter heaven or hell. My energy and molecules will gradually move out into the

surroundings, in a sense returning to the beginning. It really doesn’t matter to me, because Mark Justice Hinton will no longer exist.

However, that doesn’t mean I don’t care about how I live or how I affect my world. I care because I am a part of it NOW. Hereafter

means nothing to me.

Much of what you attribute to god, I attribute to good fortune and chance. Indeed, a lot in life is random.

But some of it is cumulative — we end up where we are after many steps involving lots of influences, good and bad. I’m pretty certain

I’m a decent human being. I’m confident that much of what has lead me to this point has not been solely my own doing. I don’t believe

in self-made people — we’re all connected and interdependent. But our connection is life itself — which connects us to everything

else, as well. It is our humanity, our capacity for empathy and sympathy, that connect us to other human beings. We don’t need a god for

that.

Specifically on the matter of the pledge, I think we should stop saying it altogether (as I did many years ago). America is

a great nation; one should not need to be programmed to see that; one should not ever be coerced into group-think. But, if we need a

pledge to hold the nation together, so be it. “Under god” is a small part of what’s wrong. Schools (and churches) full of impressionable

children conditioned to see no evil and only good in their country — and to equate one administration and one party with all that is

good — that’s the problem. Invoking god helps glorify the state.

I would advise your classmates who dislike “under god” to stop

saying it — and ask themselves why they say any of the other words. Part of what makes this a free nation is a willingness to refuse to

join the majority and the majority’s tolerance of those who so refuse. At this very moment, some prayerful faithful rage that I am

corrupt and ‘the real problem’; their anger and hate is as obvious as their bibles or prayer rugs; some of them are willing to kill for

their god. How is that good?

peace, mjh