Lots of theists are amateur psychologists

I think just about every atheist blogger gets unsolicited emails from amateur psychologist theists. We also get mail from nasty theists as well who tell us where we are going and many tell us why there is a God, some of these theists are nasty, some aren't. What bothers me mostly about theist to atheist email is that if the theist has such great convictions, why not just leave comments on my blog?

I'm going to make this post simple. Theist email, followed by my thoughtful reply.

Dear Beaj:

Do you ever read your own stuff? I came across your blog, quite by accident. You were taking take a strip off Rabbi Gelman for saying atheists are angry. Then you spend the next four or five paragraphs telling everybody why you're pissed off. Go figure.

As a believing Catholic, let me tell you a true story.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was walking into Westminister Cathedral to attend mass on a cold rainy Sunday morning, in the city of London. Out in front of the cathedral was a guy with a sign saying: "THERE IS NO GOD." Archbishop Sheen walked passed him and said "glad to see you believe in God." The man looked at him incredulously and said;"You damned fool! Can't you read the sign?" Sheen responded: "Of course I can read. But a true atheist would be indifferent, at home in a warm bed on this cold Sunday morning. He surely wouldn't be in front of this cathedral, holding a sign saying there is no God."

Bingo.

You're pissed, no doubt about it. I don't why, and frankly, I don't care.

I have a theory that many individuals who call themselves atheists resent believers because they lack the consolation that believers receive by their faith. They would love to have this consolation, but they find it difficult or impossible to believe. However, down deep many of them haven't totally written off God. Actually, they would be utterly delighted if He showed up unexpectedly.

Atheism is no big deal. Many Jews and Christians in our society, even those who claim to believe, are for all intensive purposes atheists. Why? Because they may identify as Jews or Christians, but they behave as if there is no God. Often, but hardly always, real atheists are better people than believers are. Yet, I get so tired hearing from atheists who are always telling us what a horrible thing religion is, especially when you consider that the worst crimes in history occurred because people no longer believed in God. As Dimitri said in the Brothers Kramazov: "If God doesn't exist, all things are permissable." Then the dumb bastard went off and killed his father, just to prove his point.

Hitler and Stalin were hardly religious. The Spanish Inquisition never murdered on the scale of 20th century man. The Nazis killed more people at Auschwitz in two days than the Inquisition killed in all its history. Yet when people talk about the sins of religion, they seem to have historical amnesia. They seem to forget all the secular murderers we've had to deal with in the last 100 years.

So, if you want to be pissed at God, go for it. I just think it's a waste of time.

As Bobby McPherin says, "Don't worry - be happy."
-M

My reply:

I'm not pissed off at God. My stance is that there is no evidence God
exists or has ever existed. There is no reason to believe in God,
other than to live a lie in hoping for an afterlife.
Sounds like you are giving me a generic letter (most of it) that you
are distributing to others. You obviously don't know much about my
views. Jews are an ethnicity AND/OR a religion. Hitler didn't ask
Jews if they believed in God or not.
If I'm angry at anything, it is what religion has caused in the name
of something that there is no evidence of, and in fact something
completely man made. Wars are fought in the name of supremacy (my God
is better than your God or my God is the only God anyone should
believe into).
As far as '"If God doesn't exist, all
things are permissible." Then the dumb bastard went off and killed his
father, just to prove his point.'goes. Atheist are under represented
big time in jail. In theory, you may say that without God, we are
free to be immoral, but the reality is that atheists are as moral if
not more moral than people who believe, thinking that they can always
beg for God's forgiveness.
Your theory is not correct. Atheists have written off the idea that
the invisible sky fairy exists (again because we know that religions
are man made, and that no evidence for God exists), but most of us
would definitely welcome God and the afterlife, but then again, we
would also welcome it if one million dollars miraculously appeared in
our jeans pockets.
Hitler was a believer in God, though he wasn't a good Christian.
Stalin grew up religious, and atheism was not the reason he was a
tyrant. Again, there are millions of atheists on the planet today.
Not too many are tyrants, or even communists.

I'm going to post your letter on my blog, but I won't use your name
and email addy, unless you want me to include it.

Sincerely,

Beaj

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I was angry at Gelman because, like this theist emailer, he tried to tell me what I think, as if he knows something.


Now for a worthwhile email:

Dear Bacon-Eating Atheist Jew,

Hi I'm a blogger with a site at: http://rjjago.wordpress.com which is maybe beside the point. I'm trying to find as many atheists as I can as quickly as I can.

The CBC is doing this 'pulse of the nation' thing on facebook. It's called 'The Great Canadian Wish List' and it allows people to submit wishes for what they want Canada to be and then vote on them.

Long story short, religious people have taken it over and we atheists are getting beaten quite badly.

I've put up a wish for an atheist Canada. Right now it's just barely in the top 50 with 52 votes. The Christian ' revival of spirituality' wish is pushing a thousand. It matters because the CBC will be doing a TV special on Canada promoting the top ten or twenty wishes and I would prefer that at least one of those were mine.

I was wondering if you could:

a. Vote for that wish?

b. Promote it on your blog?

I promise, by the prophet's beard, that if you vote for this, you will get 72 virgins in heaven.

The wish can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/sgroup/subgroup.php?sub_oid=2382939609 . To support it you'll need to register for Facebook and click 'add support' in the top right of the wish.

Best regards,
R.

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If you are a Facebook member and a Canadian atheist, do the right thing:)
I would rather be voting for a totally secular Canada though. It makes more sense and might even be attainable.