Even More Mail!
What can I say? The e mail received has yet again outstripped webspawner's ability to handle it. No surprise there! Here is a new crop of letters.
Subj: Response to your website
Date: 11/26/1999 7:44:13 PM Pacific Standard Time
From:
To: Lisfan2666
What is YOUR explaination for the beginning of the universe?
Would it make a difference to you? No, I don't think it would.
What is interesting about this one line letter is not so much what is said, but the philosophy behind it. This is the old idea that if one can't recount every second/example of _________ (the blank could be the creation of the universe, evolution of animals/man, and so on), therefore you don't really know everything, therefore goddidit. The god of the gaps, reborn yet again.
I find it amusing that the idea of an unchanging god that relents, an all knowing god that can be fooled by men, a supreme, omnipotent god that creates the universe and all of its physical laws who needs to rest, is somehow a good explanation for the universe. Heck, that's not a good explanation for anything.
Subj: hello!
Date: 11/24/1999 3:28:05 PM Pacific Standard Time
From:
To: Lisfan2666
God loves you and so do I. I will pray for you and will hope that you see the truth before it's to late!
In Christ,
Golly. Your prayers didn't work. I'm still an Atheist. By the logic you woo woos use, that should be proof that there is no god.
I guess I should emphasize the good here. At least you didn't resort to the standard hackneyed arguments. Of course, you didn't try to prove your case at all either. Oh well.
Subj: Athiesm
Date: 11/21/1999 8:12:04 PM Pacific Standard Time
From:
To: Lisfan2666
Dear Webmaster,
Your website is very interesting. But why not include all religions. Atheism is a belief in no "god." I am an atheist. My parents gave me the invaluable gift of not brainwashing my young mind with any religous dogma. I have two sisters who were given the same gift. All three of us chose to learn about religion (all kinds of religion) during adolescense and adulthood. All three of us, independently, rejected all religion or the existence of any god or gods. We have found the most treacherous people are the fanatical devout of any religion. The least offensive are those who keep their beliefs to themselves and do not attempt to ram their dogma down our throats.
Most offensive to us are Christianity, Judiasm, and Islam. Why? Because these philisophies rely on brainwashing, fear, rules, and the subjugation of women. Studying these belief systems as adults who were no previously brainwashed into them, we find the stories even less believable than fairy tales. Further, especially Christianity, essentially gives permission to individuals to commit crimes by teaching that all that is necessary for "salvation" is "belief." We also abhor Islam's position that one's suicide or killing in the name of Allah will guarantee a good life in the hereafter. After studying mythology, we realize that all modern religions are merely upgraded versions of ancient pagan beliefs--which existed as a form of control and explanation in the face of total ignorance.
My belief: The human being is an animal. Our major limitation is that our evolution has left us stuck with a reptilian brain through which our cerebrum is hardwired. As animals, our instincts are to (1) survive, (2) procreate, and (3) have some degree of control over what happens to us. If the entire existence of Earth were compressed into 24 hours--man entered the scheme of things at two minutes to midnight. We are still attempting to emerge from the jungle. Our cerebrum has allowed us the ability to question our purpose and the meaning of our lives. Our superstitions and "magical thinking" (which children naturally do until they develop cognitive thinking at age 10 or so) are the major hinderances to our development as a species. Man created god, not the other way around. Religion seeks to prevent us from understanding our true nature as animals. Further, there is no "hereafter." The millions of years of evolution which gave me life resulted in an end product. I have but one life to live and it is up to me to decide which purposes I pursue with that life. Religion fosters hypocrites, and I am thoroughly sick of hypocrites. (Example: The United States of America was founded on the genocide of the American Indian--yet our government feels it can tell everyone else about human rights).
Lastly, I think it is time for athiests to become a political force and a political voice. There are millions of us out there and, until we wake up, the religious fanatics will foist their laws upon us. The brainwashing of defenseless children, to me, constitutes child abuse.
If such organization exists, please tell me how to contact it. If not, please help me found one.
Thanks for your input. Your letter covers a lot of the basics of atheism quite well. There's really nothing more I can add.
There was an organization called Fundamentalists Anonymous, but from what I have read, they have become as bad as the religious types. Oh well.
Heck, get a web page together, and start something. That's what is nice about the net: money is no impediment. You can get your ideas out to a lot of people for free.
Subj: alex
Date: 11/19/1999 1:03:38 PM Pacific Standard Time
From:
Reply-to:
To: Lisfan2666@aol.com
It’s interesting that Alex seems to think that people “believing in god” in the face of tragedy or death is some kind of proof that god exists. All that really proves is that people are afraid of death and hope for an afterlife, or in times of crisis wish there were some higher being to support them. I don’t think people in that situation are suddenly better at making such judgments.
I was an agnostic for years because I believed you couldn’t prove that there is no supreme being. After years of listening to christians I’ve come to the conclusion that these people never learned to think logically. From all the crap I’ve heard from these people I now find it much more reasonable to conclude that there is no supreme being.
Ask these people if they believe in extraterrestrials. They’ll say no. Then suggest that if “god” created the earth then he must be from somewhere else and is therefore an extraterrestrial by definition.
Another good one is that if god created man in his own image, where is his partner of the opposite sex?
We have good reason to spend energy debunking christianity and other faiths.
They spend a lot of time and energy making the rest of us miserable.
As the “guess who” once said. Too many churches and not enough truth.
Thanks for writing! I appreciate your input. I get the impression that the christians don't bother reading much past the first page of this website-- perhaps wandering to the guestbook before writing their letters. At least, that's the only explanation I can come up with. Why else would they keep repeating the same tired, long discredited arguments?
Subj: Craig.
Date: 11/19/1999 2:09:55 PM Pacific Standard Time
From:
Reply-to:
To: lisfan2666@aol.com
I had to write again. It’s nice to see some good debate on these issues, and to have a chance to participate.
Craig goes on about how vast the universe is and makes statements like the one about evolutionists can’t explain why the earth spins. Ultimately he is saying that since reality is so vast and hard to understand it has to have been created by a supreme being. Pretty shaky logic there. Also, where did cole zinc etc. come from. etc. I have a pretty good understanding of the theories behind a lot of that. One. Friction is a result of matter against matter. Space is a vacuum.
Secondly the elements were created from Stars. Astronomic observation has revealed the life of stars ( which varys from star to star ). Generally, they begin with hydrogen burning due to gravitation and pressure ( the proton proton process ) once the hydrogen is burned they expand to become a red or blue giant burning helium. I suspect heavier elements at the core. Then eventually they collapse on themselves forming heavier elements and either explode as a supernova spreading the elements in question or become a white dwarf or a black hole.
That’s all very general but not too far from a reasonable explanation.
Just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean you have to make up stories about magic or supreme beings.
I am reminded of how cholera was judged as god's will. When bacteria was discovered, suddenly god's purview shrank a little bit. It's called the god of the gaps-- that is, the idea that god is always just beyond our understanding. Apparently god is a mobile god, always having to keep just ahead of science.
On the UFO “woo woos”. I would like to submit that in my experience there is a lot more supporting evidence for the existence of UFO’s than there is of a supreme being. This is not to suggest that they exist, but that it is not as unsupported by evidence as “faith” belief systems.
In 1972 near Panama City Beach Florida I saw an object a little bigger than a baseball that flew silently and amazingly fast. This was at night, within 50 feet of me, it was illuminated and from a dead stop near me appeared to take off covering a mile in just a couple of seconds.
The point I’d like to make is not that it was some extra terrestrial thing but that after giving as accurate accound as possible to people, they invariably dissmissed me as a nutcase. I suspect that if there were such a thing and someone was actually abducted, no reasonable person would believe them.
So I have to keep an open mind on that subject. But I also have to point out that there are as many fanatics who want desperately to believe in such things, who’ll believe most anything.
I am reminded of a car accident I had some years ago. If you had stood by my side and asked me immediately after the accident: "Were you thrown forward in the car?" I would have said, "No. I was in my seat the whole time."
But here's a funny thing. I noticed a scab on my knee a few days later. My knee had hit something. I went to my car, and saw that my CB radio mount was bent. I scrunched myself in my car seat until my knee was where the CB mount was. From the position I had to get into, it was obvious that I had been thrown forward in the car, despite my seat belt (without it, I would have been injured, and perhaps thrown out the window). Yes, I'm also one of those people that likes to lecture to others to wear thewir seat belts. :)
Here's the point. At the time of the accident, if I had been asked about being thrown forward, I would have said no. And I'd have been telling the truth, as I saw it. It was only after doing some investigation that I discovered what had really happened.
How many "true" UFO cases are out there where that extra bit of investigation wasn't done? It makes me wonder, it truly does.
Go to the next e mail page
Go back to the second mail page
Go back to the first mail page
Go back to the ALISF main page
 WebSpawner Page Machine |
Send E-Mail to: lisfan2666@hotmail.comCopyright © 2000 Ferb Ferble. All Rights Reserved