Hi, I’d like to pass a few thoughts of mine your way.

As a precedent for the words that follow, I am not here to slander you or your faith. I believe a faith or the lack thereof should be one chosen by an individual who is fit of mind, rather than through societal pressure or blind judgment. Therefore, I shall simply share my musings in hopes we can both gain something from it.

Second, I admire your steadfast dedication in defending your religious beliefs. Unfortunately, I respectfully do not agree with your statements regarding the “extremely arrogant, disrespectful and rude” atheists.

Reading a few stories on your blog today, I see how one could form such a conception that all atheists (or agnostics like me, I suppose) are intolerant of the Christian faith. The story of poor Margaret in particular is quite a shock to me; no human should be subject to harassment, especially one as severe as the situation described.

However, I know plenty of wonderful Atheist and Christians in my life; the same extends to the Jewish people, Agnostics, Mormons, Hindus, Muslims, and the odd Wiccan or Buddhist alike. I know just as many, if not more, people in my life who are bigots, chauvinists, or simply terrible humans. Who are these people? They are Atheist and they are Christian. They are the Jewish, Agnostics, Mormons, Hindus, Muslims, and the odd Wiccan or Buddhist. Regardless of race, gender, political alignment, or religion, many people are, simply put, assholes. We just have to surround ourselves with the positive sort.

Perhaps it will be important to bring up the fact that I am still a junior in High School. Yes, I am young, still learning about life; that I will not deny. However, are we not all still learning? The pursuit of education is the essence of the human spirit; study and rational thought forms the heart of theology, philosophy, and science…

Let us not forget important humans such as Socrates, who influenced much of western philosophy and subsequently politics, religion, and science; equally important is Aristotle’s contemporary Peter Abelard, who is famous for Sic et Non (Yes and No,) a paper meant to apply logic to theology; even John Locke, a thinker of the Enlightenment, reasoned for boundaries between faith and reason despite being an adherent of Protestantism himself.

Perhaps I shall also mention even the founding fathers of our country recognized a need to separate religion and state. Because of our forerunners of contemporary western thought, all those Platos and Adam Smiths and Mary Wollstonecrafts, we now live in a country where we are free to believe in the things we want to believe in. Our diversity is our strength; women are equal to men, all races stand shoulder to shoulder, and democracy, rather than singular theocracy, stands triumphant in America.

On a tangent, I should mention I witness this every day. My fellow peers are evidence that diversity is positive. These young men and women utilize their differences to their own benefit in collaboration; the gears of the Socratic Method turn smoothly and silently in the background. Perhaps it is because we are academics, humans who pursuit knowledge in AP courses and debate clubs. If the situation may be so, it is a good thing; a truly egalitarian society may be born from the ashes of the old, a place where humans can live in mutual harmony…

But I digress. Perhaps this response is idealistic; for that, I apologize. I guess I would like to assert my main point: please don’t make a sweeping generalization of an entire demographic of people based on the most egregious, most flagrant of offenses caused by them. I plead you to please think of this in the future, and perhaps post these thoughts so I may hear your cordial response. I would like to end this post with a particularly favorite quote of mine, courtesy of Benjamin Franklin:

“Men differ daily, about things subject to Sense, is it likely then they should agree about things invisible?”

Best regards – AJ

All I can say is that I agree with most of the points that you made. Diversity is obviously positive in society.

I can’t say anything in contrary to what you just said!