Atheists get off our country!

Not too long ago, I was informed by a Christian acquaintance of mine told me that the reason many Christians were more vocal was because they are being persecuted in this country. I am not aware of any specific attacks against Christians based on their belief, and no evidence was presented to me to support this view. Of course there are those of us who are critical of religion and do speak out against the ideas and beliefs and shine the light on various ludicrous actions to which these irrational beliefs sometimes lead. After all, religious beliefs are in the market place of ideas and are thus subject to the critical examination to which all ideas should be subjected. Many atheists, and quite a few theists are united at supporting the separation of church and state. But, I am unaware of any atheists in America trying to outlaw religion or in favor of removing all Christians, Muslims, or people of any particular religious persuasion, from the country.

So why then does it not really surprise me when a newspaper gets the following letter to the editor?

That fun little letter from Alaska was sent to me by a friend who found it on Digg.

Where to start? How about total misunderstanding of the separation of church and state and complete ignorance concerning the intent of the founding fathers on it. I would also like to see a cause and effect mechanism as to how exactly taking prayer out of schools has led to the ruin of this great nation. How exactly are atheists responsible for crime even if they have committed no crimes? All the atheists I know are law abiding moral citizens, who just happen to not accept that any supernatural beings are real.

Persecution against Christians? Sounds like projection. This is the sort of anti-atheist bigotry we see time and time again here.

Update: According to a commenter, looks like this letter is actually hoax, a joke actually. I’ve verified the Snopes site as well. Looks like we’ve been Poe’d. Not that there isn’t discrimination against atheists, as I’ve mentioned in other posts, but this letter is not evidence for it.

Tags: atheism, atheists