The emails you got had nothing to do with 'obeying a higher power', and I doubt very much that they were truly hate mail. We just simply disagree with you. My first problem with you appearance had more to do with CNN - there was simply no atheist representation. Not great journalism. I stumbled upon this website and decided FOR MYSELF to tell you how I feel and how disappointed I am in your viewpoint.

Your views on what America is all about are skewed. For instance, you said Freedom of Religion does not include freedom from religion. Thomas Jefferson would vehemently disagree: "[N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." - Thomas Jefferson.

You also said America is a Xian nation. No. America is not a Xian nation, but a nation full of Xians. America is supposed to be a land of tolerance and acceptance, concepts seemingly foreign to you. We do not selectively attack Xianity. What we stand against is the Xian right attempting to force Xianity (and their brand at that) on the rest of us, including you. We simply wish to be allocated the right to believe what we wish without interference from people pushing their own beliefs on us. We are simply pushing back. No one has ever removed prayer from schools. It was mandatory prayer that was removed. Any child has the right to pray, hold their beliefs, etc., and that INCLUDES children from atheist families. It is simply the Xian right which is perpetrating the discrimination of atheists and that is who we are pushing back against.

You also said one man that went "all the way to the Supreme Court for his child, the child doesn't know what's going on, to try to get 'under god' taken out of the Pledge of Allegience..." First, how is exposing a child to religion, before they have the capacity to intelligently form their own opinions better than teaching free thinking? Second, why do you think that an atheist would not be offended by pledging allegiance to something that they do not believe in? Quid pro quo. While there are people with different belief systems that are intolerant to other religions (Xians are no different in this regard), there is nothing wrong with standing up for ones beliefs when they are being institutionally and societally trampled.

The only voice of reason was that of Stephen Smith. Even though he and I will never agree on matters of religion, we can still respect each other's beliefs, and that's what this is all about.

Debbie, what happened was this story got picked up on Digg. Here's the Digg story: http://digg.com/politics/CNN_Anti_Atheist_Hit_Piece_write_them_to_protest_unanswered_hate_speech

The thing is, Digg's audience is largely:

In their 20's
Secular/Atheist
Liberal/Left leaning

And, as an Atheist, I'd say I have to agree, we're entitled, just as everyone else is, to make as much noise about what we believe in that we want. If you don't want to listen, don't, but telling us to shut up is wrong.

A simple search on Youtube for "Paula Zhan atheists" yielded this clip, Debbie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPHnXrU5JzU
So apparently we cannot trust you to put even the slightest bit of work into verifying the most arbitrary facts.

I'm looking forward to Zhan's next panel discussion (composed entirely of white Christians and Muslims) that talks about how Jews and women need to shut up and stop imposing their values and beliefs on the rest of us.

A SIMPLE SEARCH OF MY NAME DOES NOT YIELD THE VIDEO. MY NAME IS NOT IN THE KEY WORDS, SO BASICALLY YOU ARE SAYING I CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO FIND A VIDEO OF ME THAT IS NOT UNDER MY NAME. THANKS FOR CONFIRMING THAT MANY ATHEISTS ARE ALSO IDIOTS, IN ADDITION TO BEING FUTURE MUSLIM EXTREMISTS. THE ONLY REASON THESE PEOPLE ARE E-MAILING IS BECAUSE A PROMINENT ATHEIST WEBSITE TOLD THEM TO. THE VIDEO WAS POSTED ON 2/4/07. THAT I'M JUST GETTING THE E-MAILS LAST NIGHT AND TODAY AFTER AN ATHEIST BLOG POSTED ABOUT IT, TELLS ME THE REAL STORY. ESPECIALLY SINCE EVERY SINGLE E-MAIL SAYS THE SAME THING. MONKEYS DOING WHAT THEY'RE TOLD AND PARROTS PARROTING WHAT THEY'RE ASKED TO REPEAT DOESN'T MAKE THEM SMART OR TRUTHFUL.
DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL

The USA was founded on Christian principles (argue with history if you want but that won't change facts), and it's population is 85% Christian. That is what you call a Christian nation. You can pretend it's not, and you can call it something else, but that does not change the fact that it is a Christian nation.

It's interesting to note that the athiests here are complaining that religion is being shoved down their throats, and at the same time telling us that if we don't want to listen to them we don't have to and that we shouldn't try to shut them up. Which is it? Are you allowed to talk about your religion (athiesm) because it's not Christianity, but we're not allowed to talk about ours? Typical of the left.

How ironic! Atheists claiming they only think for themselves following like sheep when someone tells them to bombard you.

You are right, Debbie. That atheist is an idiot. And, what a whiner.

Uh, Jeff, please point to me where anyone specifically asks to have Schlussel "bombarded". Not in the digg article or the comments does anyone mention that Debbie has a website, or it's URL, nor do they mention her email. If people are upset with her, they've taken the time to google her and find this information on their own.

You're a pot calling the kettle black, Debbie. You say "A SIMPLE SEARCH OF MY NAME DOES NOT YIELD THE VIDEO. MY NAME IS NOT IN THE KEY WORDS, SO BASICALLY YOU ARE SAYING I CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO FIND A VIDEO OF ME." Please stop shouting, by the way. Seems your monkeying around has found the all caps key. It's not that you cannot be trusted to find a video of yourself but that you can't be bothered to look very hard (and less than narcissistically) and then blame everyone else for your misgivings (of which there seem to be many). The video is all over the net. Plain and simple, even for you.

If my tone with you has seemed to change, it has. You are hateful, spiteful and a liar. How does being an atheist turn one into a Muslim? Besides, I have known people of Xian, Jewish and Muslim faiths and found them to be gracious people. What makes a person turn into the likes of you has nothing to do with religion. When I saw that video on YouTube I was genuinely angered, but after reading this vicious diatribe I was disgusted.

You are not the least bit interested in understanding anyone else that has a differing opinion and immediately label them. Ad hominem attacks like that are typical of those whose positions are untenable and indefensible.

By the way, OneLess, America would only be a Xian nation if it were institutionalized (ie, the word 'Christianity' were in the constitution). It is not. Typical of the right to be incomprehensible and thoughtless.

"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity." - John Adams, Signer of The Constitution

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." -Thomas Jefferson

"It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe. It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime." -Thomas Paine, patriot: "Give me Liberty or Give me Death".

"The Christian God is a being of terrific character - cruel, vindictive, capricious, and unjust." Thomas Jefferson

"[T]he government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion[...]" - Thomas Jefferson

"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." - James Madison

"If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. These found it wrong in the Bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here [England] and in New England." - Ben Franklin

Of course you don't want to argue history or the facts; by their own words the fathers of our nation make lie to your claim that this is a Christian Nation.

This nation was founded on the timeless noble principles of Justice and Freedom, independent of this feeble passing fad of Christianity.

You tell us to shut up? I say clearly with all my heart: NO! This is my country, and I'm going to fight for it!

Randola,

I think the reason why Debbie uses all caps is to distinguish her words from that of the poster she's addressing.

Randola, it was me. Not OneLess. He's on your side.

First, she always responds to comments in capitals do make it easy to differentiate between her text and the commenter's text. It's only shouting when you're in an AOL chat room full of teenagers.

Second, I never said it was founded with the intent of being a Christian nation. I said it was founded on Christian principles, meaning the inspiration for creating this country was from a Christian perspective as opposed to any other religious perspective, atheism included. They didn't come here to get away from religion, they came here to get away from an oppressive church/government that wouldn't let them worship the way they felt they need to. The fact that it is 85% Christian makes it an overwhelmingly Christian nation. You're trying to ignore what it is and call it something different. You live in a Christian nation. You don't have to be a Christian, but whenever you see another person in this country, they most likely are a Christian. They celebrate Christmas. They even call it Christmas. (gasp) They might not go to church, they might not even think about God much, but you can be almost certain they are Christian. That is because they live in a Christian nation. Maybe you would be happier in Europe.

Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.

-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.

-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787

Ooops my bad, Stealthkix. Actually, the first amendment was in response (at least in part) to the mandatory attendance of weekly Anglican services in Britain. The American Revolution was about Freedom, not just Xian freedom. It cannot be conditional. I don't ignore that the demographics are such that the population of the US is overwhelmingly Xian, but does that mean that the majority is given carte blanche to ride roughshod over the rights of minorities? The Founding Fathers would be appalled as I am at Debbie's diatribe. Does the consitution mean nothing more than toilet paper to the right?

And as an atheist I celebrate Christmas, though not in the way Xians do. We have a tree and exchange presents (no carols - Christmas music drives me nuts (not a philosophical thing, just that they are so bad). I even call it Chrismas (Xmas is just typing shorthand for me).

My biggest problem is that Debbie is not the least bit interested in what anyone else has to say unless they agree with her. She and her ilk foment resentment and are part of the problem and not the solution. For every atheist-turned-Muslim I can find her 50 theist-turned-mass murderer without any problem. Atheism isn't about being immoral or amoral. Far from it. Anyone that thinks otherwise should read up on secular humanism. This is a common misconception. Go to any prison and try to find an atheist inmate. The percentage of atheist prisoners is much lower than atheists in the general population. If atheists are so immoral this would not be the case.

It's almost certain that you (and Debbie) know and respect people that are atheists. You just don't know that they are because they are not vocal. I wasn't until a while ago. It was the Kitzmiller trial that was the last straw for me.

By the way, to suggest to someone to move somewhere else because they might be , Stealthkix, is the most unAmerican thing I've ever heard someone say.

You make salient points, Randola, although your word choice is revealing and unappealing. When I think of a child being "exposed" to something, I think of lead paint or bitter cold or pornography. *Introducing* a child to religion is completely different.

I agree with Debbie, that those who purport to believe in no faith are liable to believe in a faith (Islam) that is completely hostile to Christianity (and to atheism!). They are even more likely to sympathize with Islam or, at minimum, grant it a validity to which it is in no way entitled.

Those who ignore that we are "a Christian nation" do so at our nation's, if not their own, peril. Christianity (Judeo-Christianity) is our unique inheritance, and is the source: of law, literature, psychology. Almost any field in the humanties taught at any secular university is indebted to the Holy Bible, and not the other way around. (Stealthkix already started this point.)

Despite a neutral, personal disbelief in God or non-observance of religion, many atheists abdicate their political will to those who actively oppose religion, i.e., *anti-theists*. (Like liberals who time and again are duped by Communists or Muslim radicals, atheists are, imho, duped by anti-theists.) Christopher Hitchens, for one, is honest enough to identify as an anti-theist.

Those of us who believe God has a place in the public sphere have let anti-theists set the tone and temper of this debate by hiding behind the label "atheist." Our bad. We need to do better.

***

"Xian" btw is a city in China:
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9806/25/clinton.china.01/

What's the Kitzmiller trial?

What in God's name possesses someone to use the meaningless term, "Xian"? Oh wait .. I answered my own question ...Of course, nothing in GOD's name would move someone to use that sort of vulgarity.

Oh well. Randola, for reasons having, I'm sure, to do with the terminally unique choice of the name Randola, obviously prefers other sorts of meaningless uniqueness' too .. amply evidenced in her soulless choice to embrace the dumb religion of atheism.

The use of the term Xian is simply a short form for Christianity, Daisytoo, not meaning any disrespect. It has a historical basis as well, it's etiology Greek. Use of the term God, god, or whatever is not offensive to me. You are entitled to your beliefs, as I am mine. Your insinuations demonstrate your low level of intelligence and morality and as such you are dismissed.

Atheism is not a religion. It's meaning is 'without belief'. Take it as you will.

And Jeremiah, our society owes a great deal to Greek and Roman influences, so what's your point?

By being unable to accept that you live in a Christian society, you seem unhappy with the way things are. To suggest that someone unhappy with the US move to where they might be happier is in no way unAmerican. I encourage barbara streisand to move to the UK like she has threatened to do for years whenever her party loses.

Debbie does tend to be aggresive with her opinions, but it's her blog and she's allowed to. She's over the top at times, but who isn't?

As far as the Christian majority "riding roughshod over the rights of minorities", what exactly are you talking about? Who's not allowing you to be an atheist? It's actually the other way around, and it's most apparent at Christmas time. It's become practically illegal to say the word "Christmas" in a public school, although there's no problem mentioning any other religion. You can't call the Christmas Break what it is, you have to call it "Winter Break" or whatever. Even though it's purpose is to not staff the school at a time when most students won't be there anyway because of Christmas. Not calling it what it is seems to be the atheist way.

I never thought there would be a situation where Steven A Smith would be voice of reason. I can't say anything that hasn't already been said multiple times so I will state simply that I feel sorry for you Debbie. I don't know how you deluded yourself to reach the conclusions you have, but you have none the less.

If you think Atheists would likely believe in a religion like Islam, you obviously do not understand what Atheism is. Atheists feel Islam is just as ridiculous Christianity and has the same amount of validity, which is none.

Truthfully there isn't really that much difference between Christianity and Islam once you get rid of the Sharia law that was institued outside of the Koran. In fact all religions have some form of the Ten Commandments.

So, in suggesting that Atheists are likely to believe in Islam you are proving your complete lack of Atheism. Atheists don't mark any real difference between any religion, they are all man-made concoctions with no proof.

Debbie, it's very foolish to think people write you before we are "told to" and parrot others "talking points". We are independently minded persons who think some of your comments and opinions are offensive and appalling according to our own barometers of what is socially just and fair. I don't know anything about you and I've never seen or heard you before that clip from CNN. But based on what I say, I think you are a very mixed up person. I hope you learn and grow in a compassionate person, because I know it must be painful to be where you are at right now.

I actually agree with you Stealthkix. The whole PC thing has gotten away from itself. You can't say anything controversial without fear of legal reprisal anymore. I have never had any problem with calling it Christmas.

You are right, it's her blog. However, that does not mean that other voices cannot be raised in protest, especially when I vehemently disagree. But I think over the top does not begin to describe this blurb. It's unsubstantiated garbage, just like what she said on CNN. By the way, the whole Xmas thing is not due solely to atheists. There are other religions that have felt offended. To ascribe this as a solely atheist push is incorrect and somewhat disingenuous. But you tell me how an atheist is to handle something like the Pledge when he/she has no belief in the existence of god? It's tortuous, like telling someone to go into a roundhouse and stand in a corner.

My apologies for my comment on the unAmerican thing, but this is my first exposure to Debbie and her 'views' have greatly upset me. I do not feel persecuted where I am, but I don't expect that to stay that way.

This post is literally the dumbest thing I have read on the internet. Do they have some sort of affirmative action thing going on at CNN for the mentally challenged or what?

It is sure good for a laugh though. I can't stop chuckling as I read this train wreck. Bravo!

Jesus, I just read that article above. You are one sick, uneducated lady. I guess that's because Christians are taught not to question things, so your brain turns to mush. Why you think atheists are so weak minded is beyond my comprehension. Learn about secular societies like Japan--the world's second biggest economy. It's orders of magnitude safer than America. It's technologically advanced. They have national health care. It's a truly spectacular soceity. American on the other hand, has more people in prison, more people on drugs, more people in therapy, more people in povery, more people without insurance, more people who simply kill each other than any other industralized nation on this blue planet. Compare those stats with secular nations like Japan, or Denmark, or Holland. You're just uneducated, bible belt white trash.

American is heading to be a Hispanic nation, so it will be your turn to SHUT UP soon. :)

This country was NOT founded in the Christian religion...it was formed out of Judeo-Christian VALUES. (Save the millions and billions of death quotes from better men than all of us for someone who buys the emotional arguments.)
Atheists shmatheists... Can an Atheist be conservative? How about a "Liberal"? I guess if we don't worship at the altar of the UN, believe in the dogma of "Global Warming", or the apostles of Rainforests aren't really jungles, or practice the creed of"Meat is Murder", then all those who choose...a novel thought eh...choose to believe in an intangible such as a divinity which dwarfs eternity are all "backwards", non-progressive et al etc.??
Freedom of Religion is guaranteed, not FreeDumb from it. Are American-Indians classified in the same class as a White Christian? How about a Black Jew? Why or why not?
Who said the following, "Can't we all get along?" "...nothing to fear but fear itself."? Values...values...values...
Your pain is weakness leaving your body.

SickBoy, I have no idea what that rant meant.

The Greeks and Romans were enormously religious peoples. Hesiod and Homer came before Plato and Aristotle. Oedipus's faulty free will was redeemed by his piety. Shall I go on?

My points:

* Any society that diminishes religion's importance diminishes itself to the point of moral castration. (Robert Bork is somehwat more polite, terming America's situaiton in Slouching Towards Gomorrah as one of "dwindling moral capital.")

* [So-called] atheist Marxism's attempt to eradicate religion from the public sphere reproduces it in force. This is true in theory (the Catechism) as well as in practice (USSR).

***
As for wabi's point about industrial Japan being so great: its population is in decline, it is a diminishing nation. Man does not live by Sony Walkman alone:
http://jeremayakovka.typepad.com/jeremayakovka/2007/01/turning_japanes.html

As for Chubby's point about atheists steering clear of Islam: of course an intelligent atheist will balk at Islam *as a matter of personal creed*, but that same intelligence should also find common cause with devout non-Muslims -- all of whom are in Islam's convert-subtmit-or-die crosshairs. Only a fool would believe that atheism alone will prevail over the Islamist threat.

>As for wabi's point about industrial Japan being so great: its population is in decline,

Is that bad news? Italy's population is also in decline. I think it's great news. We have enough people on this planet. Japan can import labor from countries like Brazil killing two birds with one stone: giving jobs to labors from less wealthy countries, and colleting taxes from them to pay for Japan's social security.

The earth can't afford to have global population grow unchecked. There's nothing to say that a fast growing population is a health nation. In fact all evidence points to the opposite conclusion. Wealth countries with educated women have a lower birth rate than very poor countries with uneducated women.

If everyone living today had the same standard of living as Americans enjoy, we'd need 6 more earth's worth of resources to support them.

Recommended reading for analysis on global population trends: "The Future of Life" by Edward O. Wilson

I think the more likely cuplrit for your sudden "fame" is a posting on Deadspin.com.

http://deadspin.com/sports/espn/stephen-a-smith-voice-of-reason-in-a-world-of-insanity-234596.php

>think the more likely cuplrit for your sudden "fame" is a posting on Deadspin.com.

it's also on onegoodmove, there is where I found it.

wabi, you're an idiot and an enemy of the West.

Shrinking populations in industrialized, traditionally Christian nations has nothing to do with halting global population growth, but everything to do with guaranteeing that free civliization as we know it will be wiped off the face of the earth by the next century.

Shrinking populations justify calls for more immigration, chiefly from groups that are strongly anti-assimilationist (Muslims, Mexicans).

If you really believed in retarding population growth, you'd target, for starters, a) Muslim nations abroad and b) immigrant populations here -- IN ITALY, for example -- that breed in order to take over the society. (Anyone interested in the subject can read about this in Oriana Fallaci's The Force of Reason.)

Come on everybody! We all know that this country worships the one thing only - the almighty dollar.

Ms. Schlussel--
The only kind of 'Jew' who could say the bigoted idiocy you thought was so insightful on "Paula Zhan Now" (and what you have displayed in this post) is one that either has no knowledge or appreciation of her peoples heritage.
Perhaps you were more interested in planning your bat mitzvah than actually learning about Judaism. To remedy this fact, I encourage you to speak with your rabbi, maybe ask him to discuss 'empathy' with you. Until then, dont shame us all by prefacing your hateful views with "Im Jewish..."

Dear Debbie,
I am an atheist, (a quiet one), and a great
supporter of yours. I do not feel threatened in the
least by Christians or Jews. I do however, feel
threatened and fearful of Islamic Fundamentalists
and supposedly moderate Muslims, (are there any?) ,
around the world and in the U.S.. I believe they
wish to destroy my way of life.
Please keep up the great work!
Brian

i'm with you brain,beleive(or dont)whatever you want,leave me alone and i will do the same,but islam wont leave us alone,so if we want to keep our country then we have to do away with islam,just like we did with nazi's.japans religion used to be they were gunna rule the world too,and we had to beat the hell out of them to stop them.

Wow, I didn't think it could get worse... but obviously, I was wrong!

I think Debbie just likes to pick a fight, obviously while her head is shoved up her own ass, so it's easier to see her opponent that way. It's her blog, she's allowed to... and she allows comments, so lucky us who respond!

Debbie: I too saw you on CNN last night, on the web; yes, the clips from cnn did make youtube (doesn't everything? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPHnXrU5JzU but others have linked that for you )

Second, atheists aren't e-mailing you en-mass on the calling of a "higher power," they're e-mailing you cuz they're a group of pissed off people. I'm surprised you aren't used to that by now. Nobody told us to e-mail you/post here, the original blog actually said to bombard CNN, but many of us thought to give you a piece of our minds too since we're concerned that our voice wasn't heard over your own loud clucking. But, obviously, you aren't interested in anyone's idea who contradicts your own. Seriously, I think you should be checked for NPD (http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis/p20-pe07.html).

And how in the world do you associate Atheism with Islam? Based on one instance you can site of an atheist turned Muslim? Lots of people in this world change religion or turn to a belief that there is no god. You've obviously got a bias against Islam by your implication that Muslim is equivalent to extremist. I won't account that bias to your being a Jew because, well, I know a few Muslims and Jews who get along with each other just fine. You just think that way because you're a narrow-minded bitch, and you seem to be proud of it.

You put all the people you hate in this world (Atheists, Jews, Europeans) in the same basket, as if they're all in it together against you and the rest of America. News flash: atheists aren't anti-american, and they're definitely not pro-islam. There are plenty of good hearted, humanitarian atheists in this world (look up secular humanism, it's actually a very good thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism). Atheists are often just average Americans who believe there is no god. Deal with it without putting them down as a group. (Good thing we don't judge all Jews based on what we know about you.)

Randola, well said. (And all caps is universally perceived as shouting online, and there are many different ways for the author of a page to distinguish their own words (color, italic, font) aside from all caps.) And wabisabi, good point bringing up Japan as an atheist nation. (Explaining who Jesus was and the resurrection to Japanese kids... they get the point; Jesus was a zombie)

I don't ignore that the country is majority christian, but it's also on average $10k in credit card debt, majority white, and heck, even majority female by a small percentage. Does this mean we need to cater to the needs of only the majority?

Even if the country is majority christian, there's this thing that's supposed to be separation of church and state. "In god we trust" and "one nation under god" didn't appear until the U.S. was fighting those "godless commies." It was all about politics; not about god.

Your claims that atheists are becoiming Muslims in record numbers have no basis in reality at all. There are no statistics out there that show that atheists are converting to Islam at a rate higher than theists (of any religion). You are talking completely and utterly out of your ass.

Its interesting though to witness your disdain for Islam. I am an "atheist" and I share this disdain. The Muslim God is an illogical tyrant and the Muslim holy book, the Koran, is full of hate, contradictions and absurdities. I share your sentiments about Islam. There is good reason to disdain Islam. What you feel to realize, however, is that the same thing can be said about both Christianity and Judaism. Both of those religions also contain much hate (the Bible verses Christians love to ignore or lamely explain away) and the deity of Judaism and Christianity is an absolute tyrant who is set to torture all those who do not buy is illogical book for all eternit. Its there in the Bible.

The differance is that Christianity and the "Christian world" has been whitewashed with good doses of reason and reationality. We had an enlightenment, we have seperation of church and state, we have many things that encourage Christians to ignore their Bible. At one time Christianity was almost just like Islam is today. It was completely a terroristic religion. Women were burned as witches, men and women where tortured and killed as heritics and nations were conqered and "Christianized" by the sword.

Christianity had roughly a 700 year head start on Islam. Subtract 700 years from today and that is right around the time of the Inquisitions and Crusades.

Educate yourself you fool.

I would question your reference to "hate" mail, because most of the anger expressed above seems to be yours in a veiled attempt at using sarcasm and accusations that assume things about atheism you know nothing about. And your attempts at relating atheism to too extreme samples of less than stellar human beings lacks credibility, and the same examples of Christians can be made. Sadly you lack the intelligence to gain knowledge about atheism, and because of this you assume superiority with your god and religion. I would never assume something about you on the generalization of your Christianity, however you have generalized about Atheists. Yet I smile, because your lack of intelligence is transparent in your comments above, and even many in your community will probably be embarrassed by your ignorant and superior attitude. This by the way is not hate mail, quite the opposite, because I believe in addressing your lack of knowledge and your silliness. I am sorry for you. Read and learn, have a will of your own, and good luck with your bigoted attitude. I hope you find some inner peace.

How could I not be pissed-off after having to endure that hate-fest of Karen Hunter and Debbie Schlussel repeatedly demanding that atheists need to 'shut up!'. And now I come here and find that the mindless pejoritives and seemingly endless ad hominem atttacks from this women continue.

--------------------------------------------------
As for the facts of history:
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"... the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion"

-Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11, written during the administration of George Washington, signed by President John Adams, and ratified unanimously by the United States Senate.

Does it get any clearer than that? *unanimous*
--------------------------------------------------
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Secularists (which include Jews, Christians, and Muslims as well as atheists) struggle to preserve the constitutionally protected rights of *all* Americans to freely express their beliefs through whatever rituals they choose without government interference supporting or hindering any one practice over another.

Your choice to participate (or not participate) in rituals related to your own belief-system are your own business. If your children want to pray in school or practice any other ritual there, they are free to do so, but it is a wholly different matter to have a teacher officially instructing a child in a particular kind of ritual and/or faith-based belief system and/or political party message. I sincerely hope that you can see the difference.

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I would no more want a teacher telling your child that Jesus is not Christ, than I want a teacher telling my child that he is.
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--

Debbie,
In your essay, you say "If you don't believe in anything, you'll fall for virtually nothing." Which tells me you're something of an idiot. What you meant to say is "If you believe in nothing, you'll fall for anything." Take a second to reread what you actually wrote. You're saying that people who "don't believe in anything," i.e. atheists, are going to "fall for virtually nothing," meaning atheists are likely to be convinced by very little or "virtually nothing." This actually makes a lot of sense because atheists frequently come to their conclusions about the absurdity of belief in a supernatural being through the questioning of organized religion. That ability to ask questions, and demand reason and logic behind the answers, is the very thing that keeps atheists from falling for any stupid thing that they're told. By the way, do you own a sense of irony? That a Jewish woman would agree that a minority group ought to "shut up" about their rights as citizens under the Constitution is disgusting and ridiculous. You have no sense of history (American or Jewish) and, as such, you are doomed to stupidity until you educate yourself.

Most of these posts are dripping with hate. All of them seem to be thinly veiled efforts to display how superior the intellect of the writer is.
I especially like it when they accuse others of knowing nothing about atheism. Please forward the rule book!
Most of you really are ripe for the picking by an Islamic Fundamentalist recruiter. Soft minded pseudo-rebels from suburbia.
Brain (atheist)

The point of the show on CNN was, to one extent or another: are atheists being villified and/or discriminiated against?

And the answer was given to us immediately, conveniently, directly from Ms. Debbie Schlussel. Which is to say, a resounding yes. I rarely see such blind hate and ignorance, and the fact that it was legitimized by being put on CNN makes it even worse.

I don't think you're being entirely truthful by saying that you received thousands of "hate mails," more than likely you received negative e-mails that expressed disapproval with your bashing of people that you don't know or understand. There's a difference, though the subtlety was likely lost on you.

The most unfortunate bit of this whole situation is that the reaction given by atheists entirely suits Schlussel's purposes, even if our reactions aren't what she says they are. By calling this attention to herself and attempting to inspire as much hate as possible, Schlussel draws national attention to herself and her hateful messages, and therefore increases traffic to her blog and makes a name for herself (Coulter does the same thing).

The best advice that I can give to other people outraged at Schlussel's faulty comparisons is to express the disapproval and then to move on as quickly as possible, you only do her a service by spreading her name around.

I am quite interested in seeing these "statistics" stating that atheists are converting to Islam in record numbers. As a researcher focused on the psychological study of religion , I can refute this claim, as I do remain current on relevant literature. I have yet to see a study of this kind published anywhere, and given the scope of a project such as this, I sincerely doubt that any "data" supporting this claim comes from a reputable, confirmable, and empirical source.

Just to clarify, atheism is not a doctrine... it is not an agenda. It is simply the non-belief in god and (typically)other supernatural phenomena. The statement that this country was founded based upon "Christian principles" needs to do some reading in the areas of philosophy and morality. It is just as simple and accurate to say that our nation was founded on Confucian values, or Jewish values, because all of these value systems have common features. Our founding fathers were largely a secular group, as is evidenced in their writing and in their urgent desire for the separation of church and state.

This myopic, revisionist history that Schlussel presents is a sad excuse for journalism. Also, please note that while 85% of the country may state they are Christian (I am unaware of the most recent statistics, however I suspect that is an extremely high estimate), the number of individuals who actually practice their religion and truly believe it's doctrine is much smaller, around 44%.

Debbie, I emailed you yesterday after seeing your disgraceful performance on Youtube. You sound a bit paranoid, but as a Jew and an Atheist you showed you are completely clueless and a Dhimmi for Jesus.
I got your email from your contact info at the top of the page. Nobody made me do it. I did it because you need to be told. I even wrote a blog post and pretty much dedicated it to you.
http://baconeatingatheistjew.blogspot.com/

WELL DEBBIE…you certainly attracted the “tumbleweed” with this post!

ATHEISTS…just look at these FLAT-SOULS quoting Thomas Jefferson. As a Canadien, I don’t really know much about him…but wasn’t he some debauched ex-President?

Disregarding Thomas’s obvious insignificance…I mean what does he have to say that compares with the magnitude or eloquence of anything Jesus, the Christ, said.

Man…I look at atheists and I am just laughing.

Long before YOU atheists rejected us…we rejected you!

MAKE NO MISTAKE atheists…Catholics and other Christians, and Jews for that matter, want nothing to do with your aimless, wandering and worthless lives ~

And don’t criticize us…because from the beginning, you have failed to understand us, or our motivations–

I'm gonna call them "xtheists" for now on. Heh heh, two can play that game!

From iQGuy:

--------------------------------------------------
As for the facts of history:
--------------------------------------------------
"... the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion"

-Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11, written during the administration of George Washington, signed by President John Adams, and ratified unanimously by the United States Senate.

Does it get any clearer than that? *unanimous*

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

You guys are such out and out liars. You twist words and leave out a huge deal of quotes that support the religious views of the founding fathers.

First of all, the Treaty of Tripoli said "the government" was not founded on the Christian religion. They did NOT state this wasn't a country founded on Christian principles.

---------------------------------------------
You want to quote John Adams? How about:

"The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were. . . . the general principles of Christianity. . . . I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature."

John Adams, Works, Vol. X, pp. 45-46, to Thomas Jefferson on June 28, 1813.

--------------------------------------------

Notice, unlike you xtheists, aka liars and phonies, *I* provided the reference.

I am not going to get in a war of quotes as I know you guys are totally insane and it would never stop, and I never want to force my Christianity on anyone. But, you xtheists at least should attempt to be honest about your religion.

Rock on, Debbie. Every single thing you said about these people is true and they have proven it with this silly attempt to hassle you for your views. These xtheists proclaim they are so "free" and "open minded"...HA! They are the biggest sheep who will fall for anything.

Hey Canadien, I'm Canadian too. Jews rejected Jesus, how do you feel about that. In fact Jesus never existed and you are living a lie.

You can laugh all you want. But I don't go around denying reality.

There is absolutely no proof God exists or has ever existed. None.

40 historians were alive when Jesus supposedly lived and not one world was mentioned about him from 0-40 AD. Not one.

Paul made the whole thing up, and you are living a big fat lie. You reject reality, you might as well reject me too:)

And now CNN has invited Richard Dawkins to appear Thursday, February 8 at 8 p.m. Do yourself a favor Ms. Schlussel and watch and learn. If you can open your mind a moment you may learn something.

BTW, one more word from me on the Treaty of Tripoli. Anyone interested in it and it's ramifications, just do a Google on it and MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND!

I'm not going to attempt to lie like the xtheists, read for yourself and you will see it's not a cut and dried issue like the lying "iQGuy" and the other xtheists are trying to say.

Then, judge who is trying to force their views on you.

To the Canadien,

I agree with most of what you say, except for your comment that Thomas Jefferson was "insignificant".

Are you kidding?

The Declaration of Independence is hardly insignificant.

"There is absolutely no proof God exists or has ever existed. None."

Conversely, there is absolutely no proof that God does NOT exist. Hence, this is a matter of belief.

Of course one can ask questions.

"Though there is as yet no accepted theory for that minuscule split second before quarks and electrons came into existence, there are constraints on how the universe must have started. To produce a universe resembling one in which we can live, the Big Bang had to be finely tuned. How finely? Theories vary. According to one, if the initial conditions of the universe were chosen randomly, there would only be one chance in 10^120 (that's one with 120 zeros after it) that the universe would be livable. Cosmologist Roger Penrose has it vastly more unlikely: The exponent he suggests is 10^123. By any such estimate, the chance that a livable universe like ours would be created is far less than the chance of randomly picking a particular single atom out of all the atoms in the universe-Can you accept odds like that as a coincidence? It would seem more likely that something in yet-unknown physics determines that the universe had to start in the way it did. Such new physics would likely include a quantum theory of gravity. It may well be the long-sought "theory of everything" - the ToE - uniting Nature's four fundamental forces into a single theory. All physical phenomena (all phenomena?) should then be explainable in principle."

"With another perspective on whether a ToE would explain all we see. Stephen Hawking poses a relevant question:

'Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?'"

From Quantum Enigma by Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner

The Canadien asked, re: Thomas Jefferson, ".....what does he have to say that compares with the magnitude or eloquence of anything Jesus, the Christ, said."

How about this?

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The Declaration of Independence

"According to one, if the initial conditions of the universe were chosen randomly, there would only be one chance in 10^120 (that's one with 120 zeros after it) that the universe would be livable. Cosmologist Roger Penrose has it vastly more unlikely: The exponent he suggests is 10^123."

This sounds like an incorrect use of probability. What is the probability of rolling 3 dice and getting 1's on all of them? Well, it depends. Before you can answer this question, you have to know some information. How many sides do each die have? Maybe they're the normal 6-sided dice, or they could be 20-sided dice, or maybe it's a 4-sided dice, a 10-sided dice, and a 100-sided dice. Are they fair dice? Perhaps one of the dice has only 1's, or maybe one of them is weighted. And are they independent events? Maybe one of dice rolls depends on the other ones. For instance, perhaps the types of the second and third dice will be chosen based on the number that came up on the first die. As you can see, before you can answer this probability question, you need to have a lot more information about the sample space and the possible outcomes.

So, what's the probability that the universe is the way it is? Well, what other possibilities are there? How likely are they? Do those universal constants depend on each other? How many different combinations of universal constants would give rise to some form of life? Do we even know the answer to these questions? Unless we do, any probability calculation here is absolutely meaningless. It's like calculating the probability of getting a full house without knowing the size or type of the deck you're playing with and how many cards you get dealt.

As for why it exists, does it need a reason? It's probably difficult for human minds to accept that some things happen without a reason** (here I mean reason as in "purpose", not reason as in "physics say when this happens then that occurs"). In any case, I just shuffled a standard deck of poker cards without the jokers. I won't give you the full sequence here, but it starts with 4D 7H 2H 2C 9H 5C and ends with 2D JC 5C 8H 6H. The odds of getting a 52-card poker deck in exactly this sequence is 1/(52!), or about 1.24x10^-68. Incredibly unlikely, right? Can you explain the reason why it came up in this order, and not any other?

** This is probably because of pattern formation. If you see a tiger pattern in the bushes when there's not really a tiger there, you get scared and run away. If you don't see a tiger pattern in the bushes when there really is a tiger there, you get eaten. In the first case, you spend some energy running. In the second case, you get eaten and don't pass on your genes. Thus, the mind is perhaps too good at forming patterns. For an example of this, see this optical illusion: http://www.coolopticalillusions.com/invisible_triangle.htm .

Hello Debbie,
I regret that you receive hate mail, but you no doubt intelligent enough to know that hate mail comes from people of lesser intelligence and does represent any group of people as a whole. I regret to see your views are so very intolerant and against all that represents the freedoms of people in this country. This is by no means a nation dedicated to any particular religion as you believe. In fact, the belief of nations being Christian or Muslim is quite counter-productive in the sense of peace being attained in this world. You think it is good that atheist and others opposed to your views are small in number and "weak", but history only shows that your brand of discrimination, bigotry, and intolerance only strengthens the groups of people who it is directed against. You probably don't realize it, but your behavior parallels more the behaviors of pagans toward Christians in the late Roman Empire. I firmly believe that the good people of the world will overcome people who share your shameful brand of bigotry and intolerance.

BACON EATING ATHEIST JEW:

YOU are really FAT, and BALD, and UGLY!

I saw your ridiculous video snorting pepper. What a fool you are. You are just gross. Been eating too much bacon I see.

Ok, loser you prove nothing in that video except that you are disgusting.

Shucks, no edit function! Anyway, I wanted to comment on this as well:

"Conversely, there is absolutely no proof that God does NOT exist. Hence, this is a matter of belief."

I'd also like to say that there's absolutely no proof that Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and the Invisible Pink Unicorn don't exist. Just because there's no proof that something doesn't exist doesn't mean it's OK to believe it. Indeed, it's almost impossible to attain this proof. Does that mean we should believe in little green men on Mars?

If you're up for some "light" reading on belief, I'd recommend this website: http://ajburger.homestead.com/files/book.htm . This website contains the text of two very famous articles and one not-so-famous article. The first is "The Ethics of Belief" by William K. Clifford, who criticizes belief without sufficient evidence. The second is the famous "The Will to Believe" by William James, a defense of belief. The third is a critique of The Will to Believe by A. J. Burger. While it's a bit blunter than I would have liked, I think it is a fairly comprehensive rebuttal to "The Will to Believe" and is worth a read.

Zelc,

"I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."

Albert Einstein

Willpower:

If Albert Einstein said that, so what? He's a human being (albeit a very intelligent one), and he can be wrong (especially since his specialty is physics, not philosophy of religion). Newton believed in alchemy, and we certainly think he's wrong in that. Einstein was incredibly smart, but he wasn't some prophet or visionary who could not possibly be wrong.

Besides, I think it's been shown that Einstein wasn't religious in this way. According to the Wikipedia article (yea yea, I know, Wikipedia can't be trusted, but this article actually cites some reputable sources and quotes for that), Einstein never believed in a personal God, but used "God" to mean the natural laws.

It's also interesting to note Einstein was wrong. This famous line was made in response to quantum mechanics, which now is widely accepted due to its amazing accuracy at describing and predicting observations.

***IS AMERICA A CHRISTIAN NATION?***

The Government of the United States is in no sense founded on the Christian religion. - John Adams, 11th article of the Treaty of Tripoli

“Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man”
-Thomas Jefferson

"The Bible is not my book, and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."
--Abraham Lincoln

“Of all religions, Christianity is without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most, although, up to now, the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men”
-Voltaire

"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."
[James Madison, "A Memorial and Remonstrance", 1785.]

"Gouverneur Morris had often told me that General Washington believed no more of that system (Christianity) than did he himself."
-Thomas Jefferson, in his private journal, Feb. 1800

"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition [Christianity] one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies."
--Thomas Jefferson

"Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society."
--George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, 1792

"Twenty times in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, 'This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!'"--John Adams

“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.”
-James Madison

"History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose."
[Thomas Jefferson to Baron von Humboldt, 1813.]

"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
--James Madison

"Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history."
--James Madison

"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved -- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"
--John Adams

"That Jesus Christ was not God is evidence from his own words."
--Ethan Allen

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of... each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."--Thomas Paine
(The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine, pp. 8,9 (Republished 1984, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY))

"And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."--James Madison

"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."--James Madison
(The Madisons by Virginia Moore, P. 43 (1979, McGraw-Hill Co. New York, NY) quoting a letter by JM to William Bradford April 1, 1774, and James Madison, A Biography in his Own Words, edited by Joseph Gardner, p. 93, (1974, Newsweek, New York, NY) Quoting Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments by JM, June 1785.)

"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and his religion... has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble."--Benjamin Franklin
(Benjamin Franklin, A Biography in his Own Words, edited by Thomas Fleming, p. 404, (1972, Newsweek, New York, NY) quoting letter by BF to Exra Stiles March 9, 1970.)

"The Christian priesthood, finding the doctrines of Christ leveled to every understanding and too plain to need explanation, saw, in the mysticisms of Plato, materials with which they might build up an artificial system which might, from its indistinctness, admit everlasting controversy, give employment for their order, and introduce it to profit, power, and pre-eminence. The doctrines which flowed from the lips of Jesus himself are within the comprehension of a child; but thousands of volumes have not yet explained the Platonisms engrafted on them: and for this obvious reason that nonsense can never be explained."--Thomas Jefferson
(Thomas Jefferson, an Intimate History by Fawn M. Brodie, p. 453 (1974, W.W) Norton and Co. Inc. New York, NY) Quoting a letter by TJ to Alexander Smyth Jan 17, 1825, and Thomas Jefferson, Passionate Pilgrim by Alf Mapp Jr., pp. 246 (1991, Madison Books, Lanham, MD) quoting letter by TJ to John Adams, July 5, 1814.)

"[...] denominated a Deist, the reality of which I never disputed, being conscious that I am no Christian."--Ethan Allen
(Religion of the American Enlightenment by G. Adolph Koch, p. 40 (1968, Thomas Crowell Co., New York, NY.) quoting preface and p. 352 of Reason, the Only Oracle of Man and A Sense of History compiled by American Heritage Press Inc., p. 103 (1985, American Heritage Press, Inc., New York, NY.))

"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."
--James Madison

"No man on Earth has less taste or talent for criticism than myself, and the least and last of all should I undertake to criticize works on the Apocalypse (Revelations). It was between fifty and sixty years since I read it and then I considered it as merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy, nor capable of explanation than the incoherence of our own nightly dreams."
--Thomas Jefferson

"The Christian god can be easily pictured as virtually the same as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of the people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites."--Thomas Jefferson

***WAS EINSTEIN RELIGIOUS?***

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
-- Albert Einstein, 1954, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
-- Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930

It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion.
-- Albert Einstein (attributed: source unknown)

It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere.... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
-- Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930

I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.
-- Albert Einstein, 1954, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

One strength of the Communist system ... is that it has some of the characteristics of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion.
-- Albert Einstein, Out Of My Later Years (1950), quoted from Laird Wilcox, ed., "The Degeneration of Belief"

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.
-- Albert Einstein, obituary in New York Times, 19 April 1955, quoted from James A Haught, "Breaking the Last Taboo" (1996)

Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being.
-- Albert Einstein, 1936, responding to a child who wrote and asked if scientists pray. Source: Albert Einstein: The Human Side, Edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffmann

I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation. I cannot do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic causality has, to a certain extent, been placed in doubt by modern science. [He was speaking of Quantum Mechanics and the breaking down of determinism.] My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance -- but for us, not for God.
-- Albert Einstein, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.
-- Albert Einstein, The World as I See It

I am convinced that some political and social activities and practices of the Catholic organizations are detrimental and even dangerous for the community as a whole, here and everywhere. I mention here only the fight against birth control at a time when overpopulation in various countries has become a serious threat to the health of people and a grave obstacle to any attempt to organize peace on this planet.
-- Albert Einstein, letter, 1954

The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all events the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left by the side of this ordered regularity for causes of a different nature. For him neither the rule of human nor the rule of divine will exist as an independent cause of natural events. To be sure, the doctrine of a personal God interfering with the natural events could never be refuted, in the real sense, by science, for this doctrine can always take refuge in those domains in which scientific knowledge has not yet been able to set foot. But I am persuaded that such behaviour on the part of the representatives of religion would not only be unworthy but also fatal. For a doctrine which is able to maintain itself not in clear light but only in the dark, will of necessity lose its effect on mankind, with incalculable harm to human progress....If it is one of the goals of religions to liberate mankind as far as possible from the bondage of egocentric cravings, desires, and fears, scientific reasoning can aid religion in another sense. Although it is true that it is the goal of science to discover (the) rules which permit the association and foretelling of facts, this is not its only aim. It also seeks to reduce the connections discovered to the smallest possible number of mutually independent conceptual elements. It is in this striving after the rational unification of the manifold that it encounters its greatest successes, even though it is precisely this attempt which causes it to run the greatest risk of falling a prey to illusion. But whoever has undergone the intense experience of successful advances made in this domain, is moved by the profound reverence for the rationality made manifest in existence. By way of the understanding he achieves a far reaching emancipation from the shackles of personal hopes and desires, and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind toward the grandeur of reason, incarnate in existence, and which, in its profoundest depths, is inaccessible to man. This attitude, however, appears to me to be religious in the highest sense of the word. And so it seems to me that science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also contributes to a religious spiritualisation of our understanding of life.
-- Albert Einstein, Science, Philosophy, and Religion, A Symposium, published by the Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in Their Relation to the Democratic Way of Life, Inc., New York, 1941

The mystical trend of our time, which shows itself particularly in the rampant growth of the so-called Theosophy and Spiritualism, is for me no more than a symptom of weakness and confusion. Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions, and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning. The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. The religion which based on experience, which refuses dogmatic. If there's any religion that would cope the scientific needs it will be Buddhism....If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge. Immortality? There are two kinds. The first lives in the imagination of the people, and is thus an illusion. There is a relative immortality which may conserve the memory of an individual for some generations. But there is only one true immortality, on a cosmic scale, and that is the immortality of the cosmos itself. There is no other.
-- Albert Einstein, quoted in Madalyn Murray O'Hair, All the Questions You Ever Wanted to Ask American Atheists (1982) vol. ii., p. 29

I would like to comment on your assertion that Atheist are all going to become Muslim Extremeists because two Atheist's followed that path.

It disturbs me that you are grouping millions upon millions of people together and are making assumptions about them based on the actions of 2 people.

If I were to do this for people of the Christian faith, I could very easily assume that all Christians are Kool-Aid drinking gay bashers that protest military funerals (and in case you are unaware of the references, I am basing my judgment by the actions of Jim Jones and Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church).

Now obviously that is not true. How do I know that? Because I am a rational person. I would like to think that most people are like me and realize that there are extremes in every faith, every race, and every walk of life. Unfortunatly, you do not seem to be one of those people.

"The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms�this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness."

"My religion," he says, "consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God."

Dr. Albert Einstein

Yes, all humans can be wrong, even atheists. Only God is infallible.

SO, is Schrodinger's cat alive, dead or both?

Hey Goon,

Why do you need so many back up quotes? These must be kept handy for whenever you are challenged, right?

Why the desperate need to prove there is no God?
OMG, I typed GOD....is that allowed?

"Why do you need so many back up quotes? These must be kept handy for whenever you are challenged, right?"

Nice try. Stop trying to dodge the facts.

CarpeDiem: I guess I ought to elaborate. You didn't actually offer any counterargument. In fact you ignored the huge pile of evidence I presented that America was not founded by Christians or on Christian ideals, and that Einstein was in fact nonreligious.

All you did was insult me like an upset child because you couldn't argue with the quotes.

America was founded on secular enlightenment principles by the founding fathers, who were (for the record) deistic/agnostic freemasons. It is not a Christian nation and never was; the references to the Christian god found on our money and in our pledge were put there during the cold war in an evangelical attempt to redefine America as inherently Christian in order to differentiate us from the "godless commies".

America is not a Christian nation, but it is also not an atheist nation. It's for all men and women of all colors and faiths. We're not stealing the nation from the Christians, because it was never theirs: We're simply intent on putting an end to the preferential treatment that Christians enjoy due to relatively recent evangelical corruption of the goverment.

This was intended to be a country for everyone, and we intend to see to it that America returns to that ideal.

Foolproof test of whether someone's an atheist or an anti-theist: When they mouth off all angered for any reason, pause for a moment, look 'em gently in the eye (maybe put your hand on their arm), and ask:

"Have you let the love of Jesus Christ into your heart today....?"

An atheist will shrug it off as a light-hearted joke ("Ha-ha, very funny" etc.).

An anti-theist will get even angrier at you. One guy I know blows up every time. Never fails.

Foolproof test of whether someone's a theist or an anti-atheist: When they mouth off all angered for any reason, pause for a moment, look 'em gently in the eye (maybe put your hand on their arm), and ask:

"Did you know that God is just an made-up being that doesn't exist?"

A theist will shrug it off as a light-hearted joke ("Ha-ha, very funny" etc.).

An anti-atheist will get even angrier at you. There seem to be lots of those in this thread...

Debbie, you are a bigot. End of story.

While you may like to think that a person is evil, just because of a lack of relegious beleif, that is what most people call ignorance, for one an Athiest (like myself) would not become a terrorist because of a conversion to muslim mainly because it is the lack of relegious beleif that made them athiest in the first place (some one without relegious beleifs isnt going to kill someone for extreme relegious beleifs), that or that most of us use a little thing called LOGIC and decided that blind faith in a book written 2000 years ago by people who thought the earth was flat and that it was the center of the universe is most likely MADE UP to explain what they dont understand (just like the greek and roman gods, HINT HINT). If you think about it a strong christian person is more likely to kill someone over their beleifs than someone who has none (remeber the crusades anyone). So next time you want to point fingers at some one, try not to slander people(its illegal). And please attempt to use a little common sence, and if its not to much to ask know what your talking about first

you are an ignorant cunt. cunt cunt cunt. ban me if you want you cunt faced shit eating shmegma. GO BUTT_FUCK YOUR FACE!!!!!!

ROTFLMAO. I just can't get my head around atheist hate mail.

What are they going to do - damn you? No belief in God, no damnation...

Tell you to go to hell? No heaven, no hell...

And you have to wonder, atheists don't believe in God so why would they care what Debbie, a mere mortal, says? Are we sure this isn't a Geico commercial?

Amazing. Sad commentary on the lack of reason present in the public discourse. How on earth you can argue that a great preponderance of athiests end up as religeous fundimentalists (based on two cases? are you serious?) is beyond me. I was raised in a fundimentalist household and ended up agnostic. Does that mean that all Christians will become agnostics? I think not. I realize your and your ilk's brand of yellow journalism might enable you to rake in the dough, but ultimately you do yourself and your country a great disservice.

GOON,

I'm not upset, I'm laughing my ass off at you atheists!

lol y's everyone so bent out of shape? hows about, we all decide that we have more interesting things to talk about. Anyone getting this upset over cable news is missing the point. Everybody breathe, no ones trying to make anyone do anything. Just relax

God, I love the hypocracy of the Fundies. They go to church every Sunday and prattle about loving their neighbor, but the moment they get out in the real world and run into someone who doesn't think exactly like they do, they go apeshit.
Just look at some of the lovely examples of Christian "compassion" popping up in this thread:

"That atheist is an idiot."

"amply evidenced in her soulless choice to embrace the dumb religion of atheism."

"wabi, you're an idiot and an enemy of the West."

"Man…I look at atheists and I am just laughing.
Long before YOU atheists rejected us…we rejected you!
MAKE NO MISTAKE atheists…Catholics and other Christians, and Jews for that matter, want nothing to do with your aimless, wandering and worthless lives"

"BACON EATING ATHEIST JEW:
YOU are really FAT, and BALD, and UGLY!
I saw your ridiculous video snorting pepper. What a fool you are. You are just gross. Been eating too much bacon I see.
Ok, loser you prove nothing in that video except that you are disgusting."

I guess all that "golden rule" stuff is passe now that Jackboot Christianity is on the march...

The fact that I'm Jewish just makes me hate you that much more. I hope people don't get the impression that all Jewish people are fanatic morons like this bitch.

Just so you know, I'm also Atheist. And I'm sure you won't be able to understand that -- "OMG HOW CAN HE BE BOTH JEWISH AND ATHEIST?!" -- but there is an entire world of intelligence out there ready for your bastardization. Maybe soak some in while your at it?

I emailed CNN yesterday because I saw the video WHICH WAS POSTED ON THE NET, and I was fucking pissed at what I saw. I didn't email you, I emailed CNN. And I wasn't told by anybody to email, I did so because I am an individualist and I am an American who believes in the CONSTITUTION.

I have the utmost doubts that you actually understand our Constitution or our Bill of Rights, or what our founding father envisioned for this great country, so I'll spare you the lecture that will just go over your useless head.

Instead I'll just say that I hope you realize ignorance is the #1 threat to America, and you are only contributing to it. I hope you realize this before it's too late.

I think most of your points have been very well refuted already, but I also take offense to your statement that atheists "don't believe in anything." Obviously if you had bothered to consult a dictionary, you'd see that atheists simply have a little problem with the idea of an invisible man in the sky. We do believe in some things--Some of us believe it's unfortunate the web gives every uninformed loudmouth a platform. People say there's no such thing as bad publicity, but I think in your case, your ignorance on the subject comes through quite clearly.

Well I suspect as your in showbiz you love all this noise-heck i cant imagine any other reason that i would end up reading your blog. Its OK - i dont blame you for your comments - it is obvious that this is what it takes to be on top - to be heard as a women in 'news' and I am cool with that. Heck Stern says all sorts of stuff that I am certain he cracks up about later knowing that the masses are churning it into butter. You are very well educated and I imagine laughing to the bank. All of this chatter above- all of the anger in all of the different directions = money! You are an American and our religion is capitalism and you are doing well :) Me...I have traveled to 38 different countries in my life and met so many good and some bad people. I have been stabbed by a group of Muslims in a Bangkok (long story) but they were mad bout the first war in Iraq and took it out on me ;) I have made Muslim friends in Egypt less then 2 months ago and of course have many many Christian friends as well as about any/every other believer you might run into. One thing is certain for me - people everywhere all love their children and most people really just want food, water, health and a little luck in life-and perhaps cable tv...
Keep up the good work - your Brand and marketing machine is churning this into gold and a book will easily follow. The extreme born agains, the angry atheists and the Islamic fundamentalist all share one thing- they are all sure that they are right-well they cant all be right...now how does
a white upper middle class guy get a few million angry people to hit his web site....I can only dream :)

@CarpeDiem:
"Why the desperate need to prove there is no God?"

Because, as I see it, belief in God often causes people to do crazy things which can be from annoying to dangerous.

"OMG, I typed GOD....is that allowed?"

WHERE are some theists getting the idea that atheists want to make it illegal to be religious, or even say "God"? Where? THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT WE ARE AGAINST. No one should be forced to believe or not believe ANYTHING, or say or not say anything. That is why we get upset and send "hatemail" when people talk like it's ok to silence minorities (or anyone). We're not saying it should be illegal to say what you're saying, we're just saying we think you are very, disturbingly, wrong.

But as always I'll defend your right to say it, regardless.

Debbie,
I would like to respond to some of the comments you have made on tv, whenever it was aired. I do not believe in the need for obscenities nor threats. I believe that everyone has a right to believe what they want to believe in. This goes for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and many other religions that I don't have room to mention. I am not against prayer in school for any religion. I just am against an adult leading any kind of prayer in school. To me, an adult leading prayer is telling all students that this is what you should believe. Every child should be able to make up their own mind on religion and not have to give in to peer pressure from a teacher or adult about what the "American Religion" is today.

I also would like to comment on you saying that "America is a Christian Nation." Since the day whites first began to colonize the "new world," there has been a melting pot in this nation. It was mostly British to begin with, but then many other European nation immigrants came to America. We also had African-American slaves in past times. We are very much still a melting pot nation today. If we are telling all these people it's ok to live here, why do we want to force them to believe in a Christian god? Is Buddha not a good enough god? What about Jesus? What about Mohammed? I think it is unfair to label the American nation as a Christian nation even though it is the majority in this day. We are potentially leaving out many influential citizens of this great country.

I would also have to disagree with atheists being grouped with Muslim Fundamentalists. I believe it's important to remember that it is the Muslim Fundamentalists that do not like America. Many Muslims love our nation and have nothing against it. Just because we(atheists) don't believe in any higher power doesn't mean that we don't have any morals. I would never harm anyone. I can't hit an animal let alone a human being. I just want peace, but to have that we all must learn to except each other's beliefs.

Finally atheism is not a religion. It is a lack of any higher power at all. We look at the science behind evolution and other science facts and find it very hard to disprove them.

I do hope you take the time to read this so that you understand that not every atheist is an angry hypocrite.
Lisamarvy

A popular atheist-leaning philosophical discussion board (includes discussions on religion): http://iidb.org

(I'm am a non-theist - I don't believe in a god)

(Can I also apologize for all the "hate mail" you've allegedly received. That's really unfortunate. But Atheists [not me, though] are claiming you did hate speech about them. I don't agree with their assessment [i view YOUR opinion on this to be a poorly formed political opinion, at best-no offense])

(And yes, there is the temptation to accuse somebody who doesn't agree with you of hate speech)

(Just because I disagree with you, don't mean that *I* hate you, or anything. I just believe you have mistaken beliefs, and I have no doubt that you would feel the same way about me.)

-------------------

Quote to think about: "We are all atheists. I just believe in 1 less god than you do."

Another quote: "When Christians 'attack'.......it's called Evangelizing"

-------------------

Debbie, my parents tried to indoctrinate me into THEIR version of Christianity for no less than 15 YEARS, since earlier than I can remember. During adolescence I realized that I didn't believe in ANY of the supernatural mumbo-jumbo they tried to convince me of. So now I call myself a non-theist, because I don't believe in a god.

If you could only know 1 think about Atheists, know this: An Atheists' views (should) always be subject to change. Atheism wouldn't exist if religion didn't, it would be redundant. Atheists DON'T know everything, Atheists have QUESTIONS, that religion has never been able to satisfactorily answer.

Debbie, your case of "When Atheists a/k/a Future Muslims Attack" is poorly made at best. You said as much on the CNN panel. I think I speak for Non-theists and atheists alike, when I say that us non-theists find your views on this to be very offensive, and ridiculous. How would you like if I called all CHRISTIANS as being FUTURE MUSLIMS? You would find that offensive, as well, wouldn't you?

Do you not realize that Muslims' view of Atheists is just as worse as their view of Christians? The Quran tells them to kill Atheists and Christians alike.

As far as I know, Atheists generally view Muslims as Neanderthal cave-dwellers. Atheists generally view Christianity also as superstitious cave-dwellers, but admittedly Christianity's stance on many issues do make it a much more logical alternative than Islam, if one had to be chosen (Christianity is the lesser of 2 evils, ironically). Christians are dwelling at the MOUTH of the cave, perhaps, heh.

I myself have debated on an online forum AGAINST a Muslim from the United Arab Emirates; this Muslim kept on trying to convince everybody that the "Eternal Happy Place" exists.

Do you believe in an "Eternal Happy Place", Debbie? Most Christians do. Seems to me that is is CHRISTIANS who are a/k/a FUTURE MUSLIMS.

So, now I've said it.

CHRISTIANS are a/k/a FUTURE MUSLIMS, and they are ON THE ATTACK (ie, EVANGELIZING). RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!

It doesn't seem to take a lot of deep thinking and personal agony to look around, see only what you'd like to see, pronounce God dead and carry on with a life of hedonism and arrogant condescension toward those with a spiritual view of the world.

Do you have a right to live in denial? yes.
Do you have a right to be respected for worshipping yourself and (insert vice)? No.
Should you be respected for your shortsighted willful ignorance disguised as freedom and enlightenment? No.

Interesting those who would destroy the nation and replace it with Godless communism quote Jefferson as though he was anything other than a rich white slave owner. As usual, the gluttony of the self important shines through, wanting it both ways.

Shame has vanished from America in many ways.
Blind leading the blind in endless vain imaginings, ever seeking the truth, but never coming to an understanding.

There are old atheists, but way more young, stupid ones.

Thank you, xtheists.

With your sick, twisted, hate filled posts here you have just proven every thing Debbie, me, and others have said about you is 100% correct.

You xtheists are no more interested in freedom of thought or belief than anyone you rail against.

hi,
Not an atheist, but truly saddened. How many young Christians turn from the faith when they see public Christians acting un-Christ like? How many other religions do you inflame by claiming you should have your right to a public Christmas at the expense of others rights to Yule, Chanukah and Kwanzaa? What about the Rabbi in Oregon that demanded a menorah next to the Christmas trees at the airport? Or the Pagan widow fighting for her husbands right to have a pentacle on his military headstone? How many people of different religions are being oppressed by the Christian right? How long do you believe this will continue?

This country is a Republic to prevent the majority from trampling on the rights of the minority. That is the way it was intended to be set up. It is not a Democracy, a Republic. Take pol 101. The WHOLE reason a president can't be popularly voted into office, is to keep the rights of the minorities secure. What you propose is the opposite. You claim it is a Christian Nation and we should get used to it. While yes, the majority of people are Christian, the government and it's structure was supposed to keep the non-Christians safe from this non-sense...or rather the minorities. What happened in the Republic is a mess, one party took control of all three branches and over rode most of the protections implemented in the Constitution, and to add to it the Democrats didn't even raise an eye brow in opposition. Now we have a polarized, religious, holy war in the media for all the ignorant to rant about. A nice distraction so the politicians, Democrat and Republican, can sell us all out fiscally and morally. They have turned this country into a despot with religion as the spear head and righteousness or lack thereof reason to turn on your neighbor, attack your co workers, deny service to the young and weak, deny jobs for those that are different. THAT is Un-American. Divide and conquer, and be damned the way they do it.
LOOK. We are all in the same boat. We all have to live here. Stop making it unpleasant to live here and start thinking this way...What if in 100 years a new religion came to power? What if a new Church rose from this crisis state and took a firm reign on the despot the politicians have made this to be? What if, heaven forbid, it was Scientologists, or Pagans, or anything you truly hate? By making it easier for your majority status to impose the rule of law, well one need only convert enough people to take control..no Senate to over run with political leaders, no uniformed contract with America, etc...all that sect would need to do is get a president and a public majority to take over. How stupid. The whole country was ruined for the sake of greed and left defenseless by the very people supposed to protect it. Now all the deluded run around screaming at each other because the media says there is a culture war. The war is made up BY the media and politicians. As a result people are openly ridiculed in AMERICA for their beliefs. Disgusting.

What ever happened to "What would Jesus do?" The one who spoke to prostitutes...the one who never hurt a soul...the one most of these zealots CLAIM to worship. Do you really want to meet Jesus in the second coming? Could you honestly stand before him and NOT be afraid?

Think, speak, and be like Christ if you are a Christian. If you are Jewish, act more like it. I have NEVER met a Jewish person SO discriminatory before. Most are sweet people. MOST are thankful to have their family escape oppression from the hands of Hitler. Most remember the Holocaust and the damage intolerance of a religion can cause. MOST are mindful of Gods will...and not a hateful monster. Maybe you and God need a long talk.

.
.
Debbie, I'm an atheist and not a future muslim, or any other religion for that matter. You'd have to be a moron to make such a generalized assumption.

Regardless, I hope more people become atheists because that means there'll be less chance that religious nutcases like you will exist.

Just to make sure I go to 'hell'(hah) - I deny the existence of a holy spirit.

Have a nice day.

mod, that was not helpful at all :(. All you managed to do is cover up a lot of the discussion, make atheists look really stupid, and feed into the Christian Persecution Complex. Please stop, thanks.

Well, I have ti respectfully disagree with you.

Even though you are intentionally attempting to incite us atheists (and judging from this page, you have done that well) and even though your pointless rantings are hate filled, I fully support your right to express them.

I believe when you rant and rave you support our cause more than we ever could!

I saw the CNN video on youtube, the link if you would like it is:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fPHnXrU5JzU

For the record, I am against Christianity and Islam, as well as any other religion that claims a supernatural origin to the universe. I believe in the separation of Church and State. (Not only to keep religion out of the government, but to keep government out of religion.)

Enjoy your few minutes in the spotlight! I wish you the best!

-Jim Stryker

At the risk of sounding biased, I have forgone any comments beyond the first ten. Except the spam. I'm not sure what 'mod' hopes to accomplish, but couldn't someone ban him or at least trim his posts to a non-spammish level?

Anyhow, Ms. Schlussel -- I can't seem to take you seriously. Your entire rant has been a circus act, and I congratulate you on gathering so much traffic and publicity from it. You are truly the Paris Hilton of the blogging world right now. I just wish you could find a more positive outlet for your childish attention mongering behavior.

Any claim to ignorance you once had is gone in the day and age of viral marketing, wherein a single comment can spread to millions of people through the internet. To claim that the atheists hounding you are sheep is just to be unwilling to accept the fact that you have angered so many people with your bigotry. It is akin to saying something to the effect of "Just because the Anglicans demanded Protestant subservience, the Protestants are ganging up on the Anglicans like sheep." You attempted to single out an entire spectrum of people following a set of ideals. You succeeded. Don't be surprised when you find they all stand against you with a single voice...

You know what? Forget it. I'm not going to further assist your rise to Republican Champion. I made a rather bold (and quite probably erroneous) assumption that you actually read what other people have to say.. but then we wouldn't be here. The best way to deal with people seeking attention is to ignore them. So sit back, oh so confident in your superiority, and have fun with your own personal 15 minutes.

Wow Debbie, you indeed stirred a hornet's nest by calling a spade a spade! The atheists showed how low they can degrade when they throw out G_d from their lives. Look at the filthy racist posts by 'mod' and the meaningless ultra-defensive posts by other atheist retards.

These atheist morons are fighting with the moslems for the WE_ARE_THE_BIGGEST_ASSHOLES award. I think we should call it a tie and let both the terrorist groups share the award.

Hi Debbie,

Your site was linked to from a very tech oriented social news site whos members tend to be very young and immature.

I just wanted to say that I regret our "belief" is so accessible to such hateful individuals.

After reading your blog I did come to the conclusion that your own commen