Hey Rich, it's great to hear from you.

The verse is Matthew 15:4, but your response is good.

I hope everyone sends them more messages and posts them on here.

Does anyone have a direct email address to the show's comments section?  I've tried sending my response but the form either isn't taking new letters or it doesn't like my 3-pages-in-Word complaint.

Yeah, you're definately right on that.  I just had that three pages of disgust and outrage that had to go somewhere... now its a file on my computer.  I'll see what I can narrow it down to.

Compressed... here's my message... I hope my chop shopping it didn't lose my intent

 

 

I have just finished watching the special report on discrimination against atheists in America, and after watching the panel of "experts" and the way the discussion was handled, I can easily say that you have just proven that discrimination does exist and that this show was only made to enforce it.  I have had to suppress outrage and anger at what I saw tonight in order to voice a letter of complaint.  What your show has done harkens to a vision of discussing African American Rights by inviting David Duke, George Wallace, and Strom Thurmond.  You cannot seriously expect the atheists in the public to believe what your show has done was unbiased after having not a single atheist or even a non-theist like a deist or an agnostic to speak for the side of the alleged oppressed.

 

Instead, two Christians and a Jewish woman treated us to a regurgitation of propaganda.  Only Steven Smith said anything in our defense, but his disagreements were weakly squeaked forth through his apologetics and rhetoric.  The bias of this "debate was very well summed up here...

 

Paula Zahn: "Are any of you going to defend them here tonight?"

Karen Hunter: "No, I agree with her one hundred percent."

 

We were told that Atheists believe in nothing, which is trite and false.  I hold to beliefs that were fought for and had blood shed for them by men and women of all creeds, colors, and heritages.  I am an American and I believe in the rights my great country affords me.  I hold to the moral code of humanism.  If I see a person suffering, I am called by my belief to help.  I believe that since we cannot know if there is a life beyond this one, we should do all we can to make this one right and good.  If that is nothing, then yes, I stand for nothing.

 

Two of the panelists claimed that we are a Christian nation out right.  If we are a Christian nation, explain why the constitution has no mention of God or Jesus or the Bible and why allow the first amendment, which allows a person to worship any god they want, which clearly breaks the First Commandment of having no strange gods?  If we are a Christian nation then why does article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli state "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;"?  I find it odd that people constantly claim what is not true, and do so even though we in the Non-Theistic community have pointed this out numerous times.

 

Then we are told that Atheists just need to go get our own Hallmark cards.  How dare an issue of oppression be trivialized into Hallmark cards!  Even reading that line again causes my ire to well up.  I guess there should have been more Black People cards in America during the 50's and 60's, I bet then the black community would not have felt so left out.  We are the target of discrimination, and this "expert on the issue" trivializes us to paper holiday greetings.

 

Finally, the most erroneous statement... one that I feel will soon be disproved.  Karen Hunter claims that atheists are weak, and that this is a good thing.  I can only guess the numbers of atheists that have written in angry at this debacle and I can only begin to imagine the public outcry we will make in our forums.  We are not weak.  We stand up for what we believe and we will not be shamed by a horrible biased report!  Atheists are no longer quiet and the Theistic world is doing everything it can to try to shame us underground again.  Well, we are not going to go away.  We are out here, and we are going to stand strong.

 

Does anyone know when this aired?? I'm looking through transcripts of the show and I see absolutely nothing on the topic of Atheism.

 Ironically though, she does seem to have something about racism in America nearly every single show. So being judgemental and stereotypical about race is bad, but to say the same about a religion is A-OK?

I e mailed them now:

Your segment on discrimination against atheists was awful and something I'd expect from FAUX News rather than CNN - you didn't include an atheist and 2 of the 3 people were very anti atheist. If the segment was on discrimination against African Americans would you have had as a panel David Duke, The Grand Wizard of the KKK and an average white guy? Or for discrimination agaisnt gays Fred Phelps, Pat Robertson and an average straight guy? And why didn't anyone counter the nonsense about the US being a Christian nation? I was offended as a non-supestitious person.

Hey, folks --

 I was so infuriated with the piece that I personally wrote Karen Hunter, the first commentator asked about her opinion on the show.

 My original email:

Thank you, Karen, for reminding us of the real spirit of bigotry.  You’ve inspired me to become more of an activist for my naturalistic philosophy (which necessarily entails atheism).  Your turn on CNN will be aired fifty years from now with the same effect that much KKK propaganda footage from years past has now on us.

To adopt a particularly Christer-ish phrase – burn in hell.

 

Of course, it seems a little caustic now.  But that CNN piece really burned me up.  Here's her reply (from two separate emails):

Thank you. Enjoy.

And then,

and that burn in hell part...hmm...how does that make you any different than what you accuse me of?

Of course, by this time, I had regretted the tone of what I originally wrote, so here's the reply that I sent back just minutes ago:

First -- thank you. Sincerely, without reproach. From my heart, thank you for reading my email and replying.

For far, far too long now atheists, humanists, freethinkers have been pushed, threatened, berated, spit upon, and hated by a dominant theistic society. My reply to Paula's story (and your comments on it) is a reply to hateful and ignorant rhetoric (read: vocalizations bereft of any sort of knowledgeable content or civility).

If by your reply you mean that the measure of vehemence I've written you is no different than what you and your fellow commentators have shown us -- then I wholeheartedly agree. That's the point.

But there is a strong difference. My reply is a retort, an unadulterated return upon a caustic mischaracterization made by you.

The difference is that you and others with the same backward mindset push....and push....and push...

And now we're only pushing back. For our freedom to participate in this wonderful society built upon Enlightenment ideals ensconced in the Constitution, and for our civil rights as a minority.

Thanks for your time and consideration.

 

I just think it's important to not only reply to injustices, but inform others of the continuing battle.

krinu

Due to restrictions I can't watch the video's myself, but I can't say this bothers me too much either. Maybe if CNN was a credible news organization it would, but the world knows they are merely american propogandists and that even al jazeera is more credible.

I am going to need a couple of days to calm down from those responses... My non-existant god man... What these people are doing only reinforces what we are saying.

Karen responds in a fasion that trivializes our issues again.  We weren't born atheist?  No I came out praising Jesus and following the Catholic church.

 I can't even read Debbie's response all the way through, as she spouts her anti-islam rhetoric using atheists to further her hatred of a theistic enemy.

 But both make the big point.  When they want to push theism, its okay, its their right to do this.  But when we just want the right to be free from theism, we are intollerant and just need to shut up and deal with it.  So she hasn't heard of anyone being killed for their atheism?  She obviously isn't aware of the countries where apostacy is still punishable by death.  And why should we be quiet and keep our beliefs to ourselves?  They don't have to, so why should we?  This is just like any other civil rights issue, and they want us to be quiet and accept their place for us in their world.

This whole ordeal has raised a thought in my head.  A scary thought.  We've had our representatives on their shows now and each time their only recourse has been to pull the pundit equivalent of sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"  They haven't won a debate with any of our people and only manage to make themselves look like the winners by the use of editing and taking scathing callers after our reps are off the air.  Now they've decided to leave us out of the discussion and I can only wonder if this is the new way things will go.  They can't win the argument when the atheist expert is actually an atheist, so they make the experts theist and then they can win hands down.  Anyone else see it too? 

I genuinely cannot believe what I just read in Debbie Schlussel's article.  Atheists are Muslims in waiting etc? 

This woman is either so full of fear and hate it's warped her mind or (possibly worse) she doesn't really mean most of it and is trying to make a splash for publicity purposes.  What's most disturbing is that exactly the same accusations towards Muslims of national takeover, enslaving the world etc that she is spouting were levelled at people of Jewish background within living memory!!! Meshugah or what?

I just hope there are no left-handed, black, gay atheists out there - they must be wondering what they need to do to catch a break...

Wow.  I just woke up and looked at this thread for the first time.  What a hell of a thing to wake up to.

Actually, Representative Barney Frank is a left-handed, gay, Jew, so that's getting pretty close.

I forgot about being jewish. 

Yep. It's called media marketing. Dont think it is limited to so called news organizations. Marketing is merely telling the buyer what they want to hear so they'll give you money.

"Journalism" as sold to day is not journalism. Reporters worth their weight report on a story, they dont editorialize or offer opinions. CNN's Paula Zaun is trained just like Sean Hanity and Neil Bortz and Howard Stern.

There used to be unbias journalism in America, but that is fading fast and it seems the only way to get both sides of a story these days is by using the internet. I just hope coorperate goons and goverment dont seek to distroy that too. 

I don't think I'll be able to tune in. Think you can post the emails here? 

If you haven't already, follow the link below and contact CNN's "Paula Zahn Now" and tell them what a shitty job they did on selecting a panel to talk about Atheism (really would have helped to have an actual Atheist on there, no?)

<a href='http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?11'> E-mail Here</a>

And if you want to direct your anger to the panelists themselves, here are their emails:

Stephen Smith (the sole voice of reason (sorta) - [email protected]

Debbie Schlussel

[email protected]

Karen Hunter

[email protected]

Here are my emails each of the panelists:

----------

Dear Mr. Smith,

I am among the 3 million Americans (roughly 3% of the nation) who
identifies themselves as an Atheist. I will try to keep this short as
I'm sure your inbox has been flooded with emails for the past several
days. While I appreciate how you stood as the sole voice of reason
(albeit briefly) on Paula Zahn's panel discussing Atheists, I am at a
loss regarding why Paula Zahn felt you were an appropriate and qualified expert for such a panel. As far as I'm aware, you are neither an Atheist, nor do you hold any degree in Theology, Philosophy, or any related field for that manner.

But to get to my main point, I, like many Americans who watched the show, felt hurt by the prejudicial words spoken by the panelists on that program, especially when the panelists denied persecution of Atheists even occurred mere minutes after that very show covered a story about one such case of persecution. Again, I know that you tried to draw a line when you realized your fellow panelists went too far in their bigoted words, but the Atheist Community and I still feel that we are owed a very public apology as Atheists are frequently represented in the media in a negative light. I hope that, as a member of a minority group yourself, you will sympathize with our cause to be treated fairly and will do the right thing. Thank you for your time.

Your friendly neighborhood Atheist,

Michael

Dear Ms. Schlussel,

I am among the 3 million Americans (roughly 3% of the nation) who
identifies themselves as an Atheist. I will try to keep this short as
I'm sure your inbox has been flooded with emails for the past several
days. I am at a loss regarding why Paula Zahn felt you were an
appropriate and qualified expert for such a panel. As far as I'm aware, you are neither an Atheist, nor do you hold any degree in Theology, Philosophy, or any related field for that manner.

But to be brief, I, like many Americans who watched the show, felt hurt by the prejudicial words spoken by the panelists on that program, especially when the panelists denied persecution of Atheists even occurred mere minutes after that very show covered a story about one such case of persecution. The Atheist Community and I feel that we are owed a very public apology as Atheists are frequently represented in the media in a negative light. I hope that you will sympathize with our cause to be treated fairly and will do the right thing. Thank you for your time.

Your friendly neighborhood Atheist,

Michael

 

Dear Ms. Hunter,

I am among the 3 million Americans (roughly 3% of the nation) who
identifies themselves as an Atheist. I will try to keep this short as
I'm sure your inbox has been flooded with emails for the past several
days. I am at a loss regarding why Paula Zahn felt you were an
appropriate and qualified expert for such a panel. As far as I'm aware, you are neither an Atheist, nor do you hold any degree in Theology, Philosophy, or any related field for that manner. But as a Journalism professor as well as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, you more than any of the other panelists must be held to a higher standard. Impressionable, young minds look to you to provide a compass for fair and balanced journalism. Now I think if you are honest with yourself, you'll agree that your behavior on Paula Zahn Now was anything but professional, fair, and balanced.

But to be brief, I, like many Americans who watched the show, felt hurt by the prejudicial words spoken by the panelists on that program, especially when the panelists denied persecution of Atheists even occurred mere minutes after that very show covered a story about one such case of persecution. The Atheist Community and I feel that we are owed a very public apology as Atheists are frequently represented in the media in a negative light. I hope that you will sympathize with our cause to be treated fairly and will do the right thing. Thank you for your time.

Your friendly neighborhood Atheist,

Michael

Atheism is a choice kind of like how rejecting the claim 2+2=5 is a choice. Knowledge is like fashion. Today I believe 2+2 is 7, tomorrow it's 9. It's all a choice, and we should respect all choices!

This woman is a mockery of the Pulitzer prize, not that I held it in that high a regard to begin with, but it still at least meant something. 

Everyone is born Atheist. You are taught about God through your parents and society. And since when have Atheists thrown signs in people's faces? There have never been Atheist movements in the United States until now. The only reason we are becoming vocal is because there are finally enough of us to have a strong voice and we are getting sick of being spit on and look down upon because we refuse to believe in something that is the equivalent of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. 

I have yet to receive any response from her, but then again, I only wrote her last night. But it baffles me that she won a pulizer. Fuck, what's the world coming to when even O-Reilly has two Polks (not that that's prestigious at all). The one thing I do have in common with O'Reilly though is that neither one of us has a Peabody.

I like the CNN pic, Ophios.

Has anyone received an actual response back from CNN? I've gotten 3 automated responses about the follow-up show being postponed, but nothing that addresses my concerns.

I got nothing but the automation.  Maybe they plan to incoperate the letters into their ramp up on the great controversy they stired up with their previous brodcast (using liberal editing to convey only that which they need to make us seem like snarling attackers).

How do you know it wasn't for unbiased reporting?

 It looks like the Karen Hunter winning the Pulitzer prize denigrates the Pulitzer committee to a hackneyed level.
However, it appears that Hunter has never achieved anything on her own merits. She is listed as a CO-author. Was she the typist?
And what exactly was her contribution to the 7 member editorial board? Did she make coffee for everyone?It is not about morals. It is about truth and accuracy.

Richard Dawkins handled the situation wonderfully. The two Christians Karen Hunter and Schlussel were angry and very negative. Dawkins talked about how one should appreciate and recognize the beauty of life. He was very calm and spoke intelligently. He wasn't telling Christians to shut up.

As for the new panel. While it was nice to have an atheist on it, I don't think she was qualified enough to make a difference. Rachel Maddow was much more helpful, though her religious beliefs or lack of were not made clear. She brought up that American is a secular nation, a point that I was worried would once again be left untouched. However, I really wish someone would bring up that our founding fathers were not Christians, that some of them had very negative things to say about Christians, and that this country was not founded as a Christian nation.

I'm glad that they once again brought a theist aboard whose only goal was to spew negative comments about atheists in an attempt to raise the level of distrust higher than it already is. That brings our total of angry, hate spewing theists to three.

Plus, thus far only one guest has any respectable credentials and was qualified to speak on the subject: Richard Dawkins. Whether or not Hunter deserved the Pulitzer she has is questionable and Schlussel is an angry far right winger with an insignificant blog. We also have a sport announcer and a Reverend.

OK, maybe the Reverend is qualified to speak on the subject. However, personally I don't find his credentials respectable.