**Further response not included in the email:
I wonder about people who say things like, I don't know why I'm bothering talking to you; it's clear you're just a closed-minded "whatever." And then, to tell me maybe you're writing to thank me, but no, actually you're not. And then say you're writing just because you're bored. And finally the obligatory: I won't bother reading your site anymore, but please respond to me anyway.

Gee thanks. (Did I ever put that unbelievable conversation I had with some wacko from facebook on this site....? I need to find out. Talk about bizarre. She started the "conversation" by telling me exactly how I would respond to her abuse. It was mind-bogglingly crazy. And all because she had some preconceived notions of Libertarians. And she was an atheist! You'd think she'd know what it's like to be judged by a label! God I hate stupid people.)

To be self-proclaimed is nothing. It just means I use a particular label. I often wonder why people use words like "self-proclaimed" and "self-avowed" when they talk about atheists, as if to be an atheist is something that few people should actually admit to. How often do we hear about self-proclaimed Christians? Or self-proclaimed Jews? Never. But self-proclaimed atheists, self-proclaimed Satanists, self-proclaimed vampires. It's as if the speaker is saying we aren't "really" atheists, because...come on; we just call ourselves atheists.

As to being self-assured, when did I ever say I was self-assured? Now, I suppose I'm certainly confident in atheism. I'm a rationalist, after all. But as a human? I don't know. I suffer most of the foibles of humanity everyone else does: envy, fear, anger, sadness. I get frustrated and hurt just like everyone else. I'm no "self-proclaimed" saint.

I don't have any "beliefs" regarding the universe. But if more than half the population genuinely believed there was a teapot orbiting Saturn and expected me to believe it too, and if I didn't, they thought something was wrong with me, and they continually asked me stupid questions about it, I'd get angry once in a while and snip at them.

I don't think you've read my site very long; if you did, you'd know that I get snippy.

Okay, first, I'm against god because the character of god in the bible is despicable and because when people believe in god they become stupid and ask really stupid questions of people who don't believe what they believe. I hate his bad teachings, like slaughtering entire tribes of people, except for the virgin girls, of course; or murdering a guy who only tried to steady the ark; or sending bears to maul young people to death for teasing some bald guy; or saying you should kill your family members if they don't believe what you do. And I really despise the whole Christian scenario in which this bi-polar, vengeful god creates mankind, tempts him into sinning, and then punishes him by sending him to an eternity of torment. How disgusting is that?

Yes, many of his teachings are bad. Yes, I have believed in Jesus. If you want to know why I stopped, buy my book and read it. But the short answer is this: I started THINKING.

No, nothing bad happened in my life to make me mad at your god.

The point of this site is self-expression, education, and enlightenment. Now, I have some questions for you:

Your answer is that he made a law? What do little children do to break a law for which the punishment is torture, murder, and agonizing, painful death?

What kind of a god do you worship, nj?

2. The Civil War happened. Atlanta exists. Slavery existed. Robert E. Lee and Sherman existed. But that doesn't mean that Scarlet O'Hara existed and married Rhett Butler and lived in a mansion in Atlanta.

3. I do not have to prove to you that Scarlet O'Hara is NOT real. You would have to prove to me that she did indeed exist and everything in the book, Gone with the Wind is fact, not fiction, if you were gullible enough to believe such a thing.

4. Millions of people pray every day for their loved ones to be healed. And their loved ones DIE. You don't think the families of the children abducted, raped and murdered were praying to you god to bring them home safe???
So, if yours didn't die, and if your rent got paid, it's a coincidence. If prayer really worked (like it says it does in the Bible) it would work for EVERYBODY EVERY TIME.

5. You just keep NOT worrying about it, then. Stop going to work. Why bother? God will provide the money for your rent and the health care for your children. And don't bother taking them to the doctor, either. God will diagnose and heal them.

6. And if the rent does not get paid and your child gets sicker and sicker, well, then, you can say, "sometimes the answer is no."

You haven't answered the question at all. WHY? Why would a god who loves his/her creation put CURSES on children for something someone ELSE did? That's disgusting. And if you were HEALED, NJ, why won't your god heal babies dying of cancer? Why won't he save little girls from being abducted, raped, and murdered? Why YOU?

I wouldn't command my children to cook me breakfast. They're CHILDREN and shouldn't use the stove. (Okay, I admit that mine are grown now, but I'm trying to show the analogy between what humans must be like compared to an all-knowing supreme being.) And then again, I wouldn't put curses on my children for something their great, great, great grandfather did, or let them be murdered when I could stop it.

I really have no clue what you're saying about "someone having to believe" the light would turn on. What does that mean? What does this mean: "Because it is not possible that the light will be blown out?" Can you please explain exactly what you're trying to say?

What does the definition of "fact" have to do with my expectations of a light turning on when I flip the switch?

As to your more important comment, I do not fight hard to prove something does not exist. And I do not have to prove gods don't exist. I'm just expressing myself, my frustration with religion, with stupidity, and with sloppy writing skills. I don't really care what you or anyone else believes, as long as you don't try to tell me and other people that it's factual, or even sensible.

There's nothing at all wrong with fighting for reason, clarity, logic, truth, and honesty. Nothing wrong with that at all.

As to the second part of your comment: It matters because there are really stupid people in the world trying to control the freedoms of people who don't believe what they believe. There are Muslims murdering women because they don't live by a ridiculous religious code. There are people in government thwarting the rights of freethinkers and attempting to impose a Christian theocracy on us.