{"id":155,"date":"2005-11-22T16:19:31","date_gmt":"2005-11-22T22:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/?p=155"},"modified":"2005-11-22T16:34:44","modified_gmt":"2005-11-22T22:34:44","slug":"meet-an-atheist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/letters-to-the-editor\/other-voices\/meet-an-atheist\/","title":{"rendered":"meet an atheist"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems that most people don’t really know any atheists, so it isn’t <\/p>\n

surprising that there is misconception about atheism.<\/p>\n

I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I do want to respond to Kaitlyn <\/p>\n

Rice’s letter-to-the-editor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor<\/a><\/p>\n

‘Under God’ Supplies Purpose<\/p>\n

RECENTLY IN one of my classes, we had a <\/p>\n

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

there were a few who disagreed. One believed that by saying “under God,” students who did not believe in God were being <\/p>\n

ostracized<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I think it is sad<\/em> that people believe we were randomly<\/em> put here for no reason at <\/p>\n

all<\/em>, that we have no purpose<\/em> and it doesn’t matter what we do with our lives because after we die that is just the end.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

you believe that there are no eternal consequences for your actions, you wouldn’t think that there is anything wrong with teen <\/p>\n

pregnancies or drug abuse. I find it depressing that people have so much pride that they believe they have accomplished everything on <\/p>\n

their own, and that God has had no hand in their life. …
\n KAITLYN RICE
\n Albuquerque<\/p>\n

I <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

you can’t grasp.<\/p>\n

After I am dead, I will not enter heaven or hell. My energy and molecules will gradually move out into the <\/p>\n

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

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 <\/p>\n

means nothing to me.<\/p>\n

Much of what you attribute to god, I attribute to good fortune and chance. Indeed, a lot in life is random. <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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

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 <\/p>\n

that. <\/p>\n

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

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 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

children conditioned to see no evil and only good in their country — and to equate one administration and one party with all that is <\/p>\n

good — that’s the problem. Invoking god helps glorify the state.<\/p>\n

I would advise your classmates who dislike “under god” to stop <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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

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 <\/p>\n

their god. How is that good?<\/p>\n

peace, mjh<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading meet an atheist<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-voices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}