IN RESPONSE TO THE NEWSLETTER

This list is a utopia and FIRST OFF does not reflect the attitudes of all UUs. UUs are not just Christians, as an atheist I attended a UU church myself.

Secondly, while it is nice to feel like you are being listened to, there are some OF ANY LABEL whom, no matter what you say or do, or no matter how nice you try to be, fear your existence and won't listen.  Nor do I think it is reasonable to make blanket statements about tactics as if one tactic will work in every situation.

The only thing I can agree on as a human, is that neither being polite or being in your face are absolutes, WE CAN and should as a species, learn to accept our emotions and express them without violence. It is a utopia to expect 6 billion people to always say nice things about you. I don't like everyone I meet, and some individuals I hate. If there is one thing I cant stand more than bigotry, is the idea that suppressing emotions and forcing political correctness on society is the way to solve it.

Hate is a normal emotion. But just like all emotions, we should not ignore them or pretend we don't have them. WHAT WE ALL HAVE beyond our emotions is our ability to control our own actions as individuals. What we have is the common ground of not wanting to be physically harmed.

We are all going to bitch about something in our lives, EVERYONE of EVERY LABEL does it. Instead of trying to suppress a natural human action, why not simply agree as a society not to physically harm each other. That way no one on any given side of an issue has to shut up, and no one has to fear their neighbor or their government.

Where did you get this source? Those might be reasons amongst other reasons for SOME atheists, but you are not dealing with laymen atheists at this site. There is only one core reason for accepting or rejecting a claim. EVIDENCE.

I am bitter, not in the sense that a magical sky daddy exists, but bitter that I was sold such an absurdity and bitter about such claims persisting today.

"Sin" is a vacuous word and meaningless. Morals are not magically given to us. "sin" is what an atheist would call merely "degree of error". We don't believe that human's brains are magically manipulated by a battle between a man in a white robe vs a man with a pitchfork. People do good and bad all the time an there is no magic to it.

"Pride"? Thats funny coming from a club that goes around claiming "proudly" against scientific fact, that virgins can magically get knocked up via ghost sperm.

Peer Pressure? Not at all. Growing up when I did most of my stupid crap before I became an atheist, the peer pressure I feel for was at a time when I did believe in a god. I am NOW, at the age of 43, a minority in my family and amongst my co-workers. Peer pressure is not a credible rebuke of atheism.

If anything religion destroys children's brains because the parents take the blank slate brain at such a young age and teach them absurdities as fact without allowing the child to criticly examine what they are being sold.

I grew up a Christian and it was despite my parents and community that I went outside the only thing I was taught and eventually decided for myself. It wasn't a rebellion, or devil worship, or stupid stereotypical bS that I came to that conclusion. I am an atheist now because of several years of deep thought and examination, nothing more, nothing evil.

I am anti-religion, but not the way you might think. Just as you'd rightfully be anti-invisible pink unicorns. No such thing exists and if you found someone trying to sell it as fact, it would concern you.

Apathy? So my apathy lead me to respond to your post. Yea, so much for apathy.

Do you have anything else besides this long list of empty stereotypes? Would you like to learn from atheists, or you simply going to falsely buy into the garbage theism sells you about atheists?

EVIDENCE is the first and foremost reason for being an atheist.  As in, there isn't any evidence for god/s/dess.

The usual response is 'my god speaks to me', my usual response is, did you take your meds today?  Hearing voices is not a sign of good mental health.

One's internal reality is real to oneself.  So if you are "hearing god" then that is real for you.  But I listened for years, and s/he/it never once spoke to me.  I have to have stronger evidence than that somebody else "hears" god/s/dess for me to buy the argument.  If pressed at this point, I will ask for angels complete with wings and flaming swords etching on the nearest wall, "CJ, God exists."  And I won't accept some dude dressed up in fake wings with a flame thrower.

The rest of it is the usual bullpucky that is easily rebutted by searching on talkorigins.org.  I have a tendency to tell anyone using the same old tired and lame pseudoscience arguments, that they have to come up with something else, I'm tired of being a grade school science teacher for people who can't be bothered to school themselves.