9:15 PM 3/12/2001

            Kerry sent me this interesting email today, and I thought I'd share my response with you.  My responses are in the blue text.

A Challenging thought, What are we really doing on the planet??
Last time I checked, we were here to improve mankind, to live, to grow, to survive…

In light of the recent shooting in Massachusetts and California, let's see, I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body was found recently) complained she didn't want any prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

She was fighting for the rights of the minority.  Yes, she didn’t want Christian prayer in school… it’s a violation of the separation of church and state.  Last time I checked, there were other religions that should be respected as well.  What about the Muslims, the Buddhists, the native Americans?  If we say one prayer, shouldn’t we say them all?  Doesn’t everyone deserve a voice?  Yes, they do in fact, but it should be done in private.  O’Hair was fighting for the rights of the minority.  Yes, she was kidnapped and murdered, but this seems to happen to every group of people, not just atheists.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school... the Bible that says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself.  And we said, OK.

The proper place to read religious materials is your home, your church, or someplace in private.  If we read the bible in school, it should be presented as one viewpoint out of many, and those many should be taught with equality.

Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spocks son committed suicide) And we said, an expert should know what he's talking about so we said OK, we won't spank them anymore.

You know, Dr. Spock was one voice in the choir.  Do you think hitting someone is a way to solve a situation?  Yes, sometimes that’s all a child might understand, but it shouldn’t be done ALL the time.  Yes, patience is far better than physical violence.  A lot of people should realize that.  And what does Dr. Spock’s son committing suicide have to do with discipline (it was his grandson actually)?  People do run into problems with drugs, depression, and tragedies without it being their family’s fault.  I find it pretty sad that you insinuate that he might have had something to do with his grandson’s suicide.

Then someone said teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And the school administrators said no faculty member in this school better touch a student when they misbehave because we don't want any bad publicity, and we surely don't want to be sued. (There's a big difference between disciplining and touching,
beating, smacking, humiliating, kicking, etc.) And we accepted their reasoning.

Is it their fault that we know live in one of the most litigious environments ever?  They are reacting to the rest of society.  When an old lady can sue McDonald’s because she’s clumsy, the schools have no choice to watch out about laying a hand on a student.  People can sue for anything nowadays.  Yes, most lawyers are the spawn of Satan.  :)

Then someone said, let's let our daughters have abortions if they want, and they won't even have to tell their parents. And we said, that's a grand idea.

This, of course, is a touchy subject.  It is a woman’s right to decide what to do with her unborn child.  Why should she have to tell her parents?  It should be her decision since it will be her child, her responsibility for the next 18+ years.  Isn’t the world filled with enough people who are in a state of despair, desolation, poverty?  If someone isn’t ready for a child, let them decide on their options.  Yes, people do have different moral views, respect them, but don’t inflict them onto others.

Then some wise school board member said, since boys will be boys and they're going to do it anyway, let's give our sons all the condoms they want, so they can have all the fun they desire, and we won't have to tell their parents they got them at school.  And we
said, that's another great idea.

Um… let’s see, plenty of God-fearing boys get their girlfriends knocked up because they don’t have the first clue about sex.  I actually knew someone that believed he wouldn’t get his girlfriend pregnant if he wore a condom every other time.  Other times people assume that a girl can only get pregnant certain times of the month.  Handing out condoms isn’t about encouraging having sex… people WILL ALWAYS have sex.  It has always happened, it always will happen.  Chances are, you ARE an accident.  I bet most people resulted from unplanned pregnancies.  People will not stop having sex, this is just about having it safely, trying to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, and reducing the number of diseases going around.

Then some of our top elected officials said it doesn't matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. And agreeing with them, we said it doesn't matter to me what anyone, including the President, does in private as long as I have a job and the economy is good.

Well, does it really matter?  So what if Clinton had an affair or two?  I don’t approve of it myself, but look at the results.  The economy had improved a lot since the Reagan / George Bush era.  Look at where the economy is headed now with Dub-ya in the White House… that’s results for you.  Don’t you have any problems with a drunkard and idiot such as this?  Does it really matter what someone does in private as long as it doesn’t negatively affect the people around them?  No, my moral values are just that… mine.  They shouldn’t be applied towards anyone else, and their values shouldn’t be applied towards me.

And then someone said let's print magazines with pictures of nude women and call it wholesome, down-to-earth appreciation for the beauty of the female body. And we said we have no problem with that.

Again, this comes to the privacy issue.  What does this have to do with someone’s moral character?  Hmmm… seeing a nude member of the opposite sex is alluring… guess what?  It’s built into our biology!  We have a sex drive!  Scandalous as that may be, learn to live with it and enjoy it.  Yes, the feminine form can be quite beautiful actually.  Hmm… it has to be a lot better than the intolerance-breeding propaganda of the right-wing Christians.  Let’s persecute the homosexuals, jews, blacks, Russians, Mexicans, French, etc!  It sounds like a grand idea… ug, why not learn to appreciate diversity?  Instead of persecuting differences, why not learn from them and accept them.  Since when did attacking do any good?

And someone else took that appreciation a step further and published pictures of nude children and then stepped further still by making them available on the internet. And we said they're entitled to their free speech.

Now, this is a different issue actually.  This comes to the point of accepting what other people do as long as they don’t negatively affect someone else.  This will ultimately destroy a child’s life.  It is not acceptable under any circumstances.  Freedom will only go so far to protect people… after you start violating them in this fashion, you lose your rights and you need to be removed from society.

And the entertainment industry said, let's make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence, and illicit sex. And let's record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes. And we said it's just entertainment, it has no adverse
effect, and nobody takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead.

When was the last time you honestly heard music that encourages rape?  Even the worst rap/country I have heard does not encourage this.  Suicide?  Yes, some music is about depression / suicide, but in the end, you are a sentient creature.  You decide for yourself.  If you think suicide is cool, and you kill yourself, your genes have just been removed from the gene pool… problem solved.  Satanic themes?  Well, you can chose to not listen to the music.  As far as entertainment that promotes profanity, violence, and illicit sex:  Well, just be a good parent and decide to keep your children away from this stuff until they are old enough to decide their tastes for themselves.  Stop being lazy and keep your kids away from the idiot box… it’s your responsibility to bring your children up right, not TV’s. 

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Hey now… that’s not fair.  I’m an atheist.  I don’t believe in God or Satan, but I know right from wrong.  Instead of basing my morals off of a fear of going to hell or a book, they are simply based on treating people the way you want to be treated in return.  Generally, this really works.  As far as children killing other children, that’s your own goddamned fault if you didn’t bring your children up with morals.  Stop blaming it on society every single time.  Take responsibility for once.  On the issue of suicide though… that’s really a person’s sovereign right to decide what they want to do with their life, and that includes the decision on how to end it.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out.
Yeah, I figured it out.  It’s the overpopulation… it’s the despair… it’s the people who believe that everything must be someone else’s responsibility. 

I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Boy is that true!  When you teach your kids to be intolerant and not respect other people’s values and privacy, what do you think is going to happen?

Dear God,
Why didn't you save the little girl in Michigan?
Sincerely,
Concerned Student

...AND THE REPLY

Dear Concerned Student,
I am not allowed in schools.
Sincerely,
God.
Oh come on…  think back to a time in history when God had a major influence over society.  Were we better off?  I think not!  The Puritans unjustly murdered many thousands of innocent women because of ‘witchcraft’.  This was simply a fear of the unknown, the ignorance of an entire society, and a complete intolerance for anything that was different.  Conform or die…  What about the Spanish Inquisition?  Many people were tortured because they had viewpoints that differed from the state.  What about the Roman Catholic church excommunicating Galileo because he discovered the sun and moon were not perfect objects?  If scientific progress got in the way of church beliefs, they must have been the spawn of Satan.  What about the Crusades?  God-inspired warriors slaughtered Muslims by the thousands.  Did a stricter religious code in society save people’s lives?  No, they caused more deaths and suffering.

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

Gosh, I don’t believe in either, but I do believe society is sliding down that slope…  It’s kind of sad when major churches cover up cases of their own members / clergy molesting kids.  It just becomes easier to find fault in church when they won’t even admit their wrongs and cover up for others…

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

There are some of us that question everything.  The bible is a very old book that contradicts itself while containing truth-giving stories.  Isn’t this worth questioning?  Questioning and debate are two of the keys to gaining knowledge.  Are we really expected to follow something blindly without trying to find truths on our own?

Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to believe, think, say, or do anything the Bible says.

I think that if God does exist, you are going to get into heaven just as long as you treat other people well and live a decent life.  God’s not going to care if you smoked pot, drank a little, or occasionally enjoyed life. 

Funny how someone can say "I believe in God" but still follow Satan who, by the way, also "believes" in God.

You know, Satan is the only guy who can really get a decent barbeque going around here.  Satan believes in God, according to Christian mythology though, Satan was once an angel who tried to overthrow heaven and take it over, was he not?  Yes, people will honestly say anything to maintain a status quo.

Funny how we are quick to judge but not to be judged.

You know, there are a few of us who accept responsibility for our actions.  There are some of us who refrain from judging others, but it typically is the pious religious folk who always judge everyone else.

Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Humor is a universal language, controversy is not.  You have to be careful about the humor you send too… it could offend someone.  The religious beliefs are even more offensive because religion is something someone holds close to their heart.  You cannot just start broadcasting your beliefs to everyone and not expect someone to get offended.

Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Here we go again… you don’t see lewd, crude, and vulgar passed around in the workplace all that often, do you?  If it is caught, it’s punished.  God can be just as offensive.  You’re assuming there’s only one God anyway, whose to say the Buddhists and Hindis are wrong?  What if Polytheism is correct and Monotheism is wrong?  You probably offend these people all of the time.

Funny how someone can be so fired up for Christ on Sunday, but be an invisible Christian the rest of the week.

Crazy Christians…

Are you laughing?

As a matter of fact, yes.  Christians seem to be the most hypocritical of the religious groups. 

Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.

I honestly don’t care what people think of me.  I am who I am, and I’ll be the best person I can be.  I’m posting it on my webpage…  isn’t that good enough for you?  That way, people can chose to view this, I won’t cram it down anyone’s throats. 

Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what God thinks of me.

If there is a God, he’s probably just fine with me.

Are you thinking?

Obviously I’m thinking with my head, not some quoted verses from an ancient book.

Pass it on if you think it has merit!  If not then just discard it....no one will know that you did, for sure. But, if you discard this thought process, then don't sit back and complain about what a bad shape the world is in.....I sent it to everyone on my list
I posted it for the world to see…