Wired posting ALL e-mails responses to "The New Atheism" article

[carlvs]

While I normally stay out of the Religion forum, I thought you all might get a kick out of this. As you may already know, last month Wired magaziine ran a major article (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/atheism.html) on some of the more outspoken atheists of the day. As you can guess, they got a massive response to this piece. They were so impressed (http://www.wired.com/news/wiredmag/0,72220-0.html?tw=wn_index_3) with the letters & e-mails - both pro and con - sent their way that, instead of excerpting some of the responses in the magazine, they decided to post ALL (http://blog.wired.com/letters/church_of_the_nonbelievers/index.html) of them on their web site.

It makes for some interesting reading...

[Glen.Nogami]

Sheesh, it isn't even worth the trouble rebutting most of these. Some people get so upset over such ridiculous things.

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Cesspool of ignorance :p .

[Glen.Nogami]

We would have sworn that our November cover story on New Atheism was going to generate a firestorm of reader criticism, delivered with a side order of brimstone just for good measure. Wrong. You all just started calmly talking. And talking. And talking. We got more responses to this article than to any piece in memory. Brimstone quotient: low.

Idiocy quotient: High. Very, very, high. I find it rather upsetting that the editors of a magazine consider that reasoned and calm discourse.

[Dark Jaguar]

It's all relative. You must consider what their normal email must be like :D.

[TheAntiLuddite]

I particularly enjoyed these two:

Boyd C. Dickens

"I'm a Christian and a life member of Mensa I was surprised to learn that religion was only for the ignorant."

See, even a Mensa member can learn something new. :)

Hugh Moore

"Mr. Dawkins seem to forget both America and Canada were founded on Christian beliefs. That is why he has the freedoms he does today."

I don't recall democratic ideals appearing anywhere within Biblical doctrine (unless you count the Council of Nicaea), and I understood Dawkins to be a citizen of the U.K., not the U.S.

[Beerina]

I particularly enjoyed these two:

...

Hugh Moore

"Mr. Dawkins seem to forget both America and Canada were founded on Christian beliefs. That is why he has the freedoms he does today."

I don't recall democratic ideals appearing anywhere within Biblical doctrine (unless you count the Council of Nicaea), and I understood Dawkins to be a citizen of the U.K., not the U.S.

Nor ideas of freedom -- God is perfectly happy with you owning slaves. You just can't murder them indiscriminately.

If there are any religious folks out there reading this, read that again and think about it: God is fine with you owning slaves.

[Art Vandelay]

"I'm a Christian and a life member of Mensa; I was surprised to learn that religion was only for the ignorant."

See, even a Mensa member can learn something new. :)Such as how to punctuate correctly?

"Mr. Dawkins seem to forget both America and Canada were founded on Christian beliefs. That is why he has the freedoms he does today."This is such an offensive argument. When the KKK makes similar arguments about the country being founded by white people, they're dismissed as bigots. But implying that atheists only have what rights Christians give them is perfectly acceptable.

[Glen.Nogami]

Thanks for the thought-provoking article. As I read I was overcome with sadness for these obviously bright, maybe over-educated men. They are substituting mere existence for the full life that God has for them. Science and faith aren’t antithetical – although the church through much of its history and neo-atheists seem to make them so. If you have a big enough God, He can create science for man to discover, and enjoy watching us do so. Christianity isn’t about winning the intelligent design argument. It’s about a personal God who is pursuing a relationship with man. These men. Please don’t miss it.

Ron Merritt
Duluth, GA
Bolding mine.
Too. Funny.