May Jesus Forgive You
Before You See God
at the Judgement!
[too chicken to sign]

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From: “Positive Atheism”
To: [unsigned]
Date: July 05, 2003
Subject: Positive Atheism Letters Section

1.  How could Jesus forgive me? If he lived at all, he died almost 2,000 years ago!

2.  What on Earth could I have done that needs forgiveness? especially the forgiveness of somebody I don’t even know?

I mean, even when I make a mistake that inadvertently harms a human, I don’t go groveling for that person’s forgiveness! How self-indulgent! Instead, I do what I can to correct the situation, to change my behavior, to make up for losses, and to compensate for any indignity.

What kind of morality is this that you want me to worry about what another person thinks of me in the way of my actually caring whether or not that person forgives me!?

What the HELL kind of morality is that?

That’s not morality, but pure self-indulgence, a false sense of self-importance.
 

1.  How and where are we promoting atheism “like a Baptist preacher promotes his Baptist faith”? Please explain, and then demonstrate the truthfulness of your claim, showing the URL of the portion you’re talking about. While you’re at it, explain how it is that a Baptist minister promoting his Baptist faith makes him a hypocrite? I’ve heard what Baptists teach and believe and, for the most part, they are anything but hypocrites!

You know what? You can’t do it! And you know why? ‘Cause you just lied bout me, that’s why! Nobody can demonstrate the “truthfulness” of a lie!

The difference between the Baptist preacher and myself is that he promotes his Baptist faith by trying to convince non-Baptists to become Baptists (or at least Christians). I don’t even care if somebody becomes an atheist. On the contrary, we state right there in our FAQ that we don’t give a rat what people do or do not believe!

Oh, yeah! That’s right! You shot this letter off without reading a single word of what we’ve said on our Web site!

I rejoice in what I did with my faith in the Christian religion: I took my Christian faith and gave it the ol’ heave-ho” many, many years ago. For years, Christianity had prevented me from knowing who I am, from becoming that person in the fullest sense. The Real Me is not dishonest. I don’t see how somebody could possibly “make disciples” for a religious sect without losing one’s self-identity.

Because I am no longer dishonest in the “make disciples” sense, I needn’t risk putting myself through the embarrassing situation that you just put yourself through here.
 

2.  Hypocrite? How am I a hypocrite? Please explain!

What morals have I urged others to follow, that I’ve failed to carry out in my own life?
 

3.  Finally, even if what you said had been true (it isn’t), how could I be a hypocrite if I’m not someone who goes around telling others how to run their lives (like you do)?

Cliff Walker
Positive Atheism Magazine
Seven-and-two-thirds years of service to
    people with no reason to believe

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From: “Positive Atheism”
To: [unsigned]
Date: July 06, 2003
Subject: Positive Atheism Letters Section

Whee!! What was I saying on the front page (and elsewhere) about shooting off your letter without ever having read a word that I wrote? Of course! It was written by an atheist, and you don’t need any more information than that in order to judge me.
 

Can you say, “Lazy”? Can you say, “Dishonest”? Sure! I knew you could!

Your response to my challenges is the literary equivalent of jumping up and down and shouting, “You suck!” in AOL Chatroomese.

My reply carefully substantiated my claims, demonstrated that you had lied about me, and challenged you to defend your integrity. But all you have to say in response is “My writing is shorter than yours ... LOL.”

Besides, who said that I was writing any of this for your sake? You submitted a “Letter To the Editor” of a print magazine. You even clicked the link found in the “Letters” section of the web site. Thousands will read this during the first year alone. Your act of foolishness is sure to exist much longer than I will.
 

I don’t know if you’re an idiot or not. I do not have enough information to tell one way or the other. You at least know how to put a sentence together, which is more than I can say about many of the Fundamentalist Christians who ignore our clearly posted request. But I can see very clearly that you’re a bigot of the unthinking variety.

This is an online forum, in case you haven’t noticed: the point is to talk, to hold dialogues, to ask questions and expect answers. If all you do is drop a little lie and high-tail it on outta there, don’t get mad if we say a few things about your behavior, your stated religious beliefs, and how the one might be influenced by the other. This seems to happen to an awful lot of people who take their faith so seriously that in emulating the Christ figure, they acquire their very own God-complex. This done, the individual members of this awful lot immediately start blindly condemning any and all who are not like themselves — showing just how awful such people tend to end up becoming.

Unfortunately, the notice on my front page (the one politely asking folks such as yourself to leave us be) simply doesn’t work.

Have a nice life, nonetheless.

Cliff Walker
Positive Atheism Magazine
Seven-and-two-thirds years of service to
    people with no reason to believe

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From: “Positive Atheism”
To: [unsigned]
Date: July 07, 2003
Subject: Positive Atheism Letters Section

You don’t answer my questions! You won’t justify your bald claims! Nothing! You don’t even have a point!

Your goal is only to menace.

May fate bestow upon you a bountiful gift of health, prosperity, happiness, and fulfillment.

Cliff Walker
Positive Atheism Magazine
Seven-and-two-thirds years of service to
    people with no reason to believe

Graphic Rule