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shirenomadIs anyone else as disgusted by this as I am? That piece of tripe actually made it onto the UCI newspaper editorial page. I spent three hours typing a reply, but with my luck New U will ignore it.
Mr. Makino:
First, Exxon-Mobil has the right to do exactly as you describe. They'll be ignored (or laughed at), but if they're willing to take the abuse, I certainly won't stop them. That's the First Amendment at work; people have the right to sound like idiots.
Second, your description of Christianity was inaccurate and tinged with preconceptions. A rapidly growing number of Christians accept the possibility of evolution. The hell you described is from Dante, not the Bible. No sane Christian would support stoning or incest. (You might have been sarcastic about those two.) As for the rest -- God, souls -- it's a belief. So is atheism. The burden of proof is on neither side, because the spiritual can be neither proven nor disproven. That's why it's called faith.
Third, after September 11th, there was grumbling that all of Islam was to blame. But the Muslim students didn't stop talking about their faith just because some assumed it hostile or idiotic. Instead, they had a full-fledged campaign to tell people what they really believed. If you have been honestly misinformed about Christianity, perhaps UCI needs more Christians out on Ring Road, not less.
Finally, there is already an atheist club on campus. They spent last quarter putting up posters that suggested I, as a believer in God, must be an uneducated hatemonger. They might be the first campus organization to advertise via insults. But it's their right to say what they want. Just don't blame the Christian organizations because they get the word out better.
Sincerely,
Chris Reaves
Fourth Year, ICS
Mr. Makino:
First, Exxon-Mobil has the right to do exactly as you describe. They'll be ignored (or laughed at), but if they're willing to take the abuse, I certainly won't stop them. That's the First Amendment at work; people have the right to sound like idiots.
Second, your description of Christianity was inaccurate and tinged with preconceptions. A rapidly growing number of Christians accept the possibility of evolution. The hell you described is from Dante, not the Bible. No sane Christian would support stoning or incest. (You might have been sarcastic about those two.) As for the rest -- God, souls -- it's a belief. So is atheism. The burden of proof is on neither side, because the spiritual can be neither proven nor disproven. That's why it's called faith.
Third, after September 11th, there was grumbling that all of Islam was to blame. But the Muslim students didn't stop talking about their faith just because some assumed it hostile or idiotic. Instead, they had a full-fledged campaign to tell people what they really believed. If you have been honestly misinformed about Christianity, perhaps UCI needs more Christians out on Ring Road, not less.
Finally, there is already an atheist club on campus. They spent last quarter putting up posters that suggested I, as a believer in God, must be an uneducated hatemonger. They might be the first campus organization to advertise via insults. But it's their right to say what they want. Just don't blame the Christian organizations because they get the word out better.
Sincerely,
Chris Reaves
Fourth Year, ICS
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Date: 2002-02-25 11:49 pm (UTC)Well-thought-out response though - I don't know if I could have really done anything like that, since the guy's just spewing a bunch of crap. It's hard for me to take people like that seriously enough to actually rebuke what they're saying.
And that sucks about the atheist club posters and all. Huzzah for religious intolerance of ANY kind. :P
no subject
Date: 2002-02-26 06:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-02-26 10:35 am (UTC)