From the atheists side

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Dear Sir,

I feel “called” to reply to Mr Kokoski’s letter printed Saturday, July 21, about the New Atheists.

Mr Kokoski says that we New Atheists are taking a more aggressive approach than our predecessors. True, we are no longer agreeing to stay quiet, shut up, or stay in the closet, to borrow an apt metaphor from another minority — also actively oppressed by Christians — particularly in Bermuda!

Yet our so called aggression pales next to the genocides against infidels and blasphemers in the Old Testament or the commandment to go out and “spread the word of Christ” in all the world; essentially telling non-Christians that their ancient religions, traditions, morals, and ancestors are, all wrong and they must convert or suffer eternal damnation. How aggressive is that? Careful Mr Pot, Ms Kettle is taking pictures and posting them on the web!

His closing remark: “Atheists have no one to really love. Since there is no one to love they never think of the love of God. Their life is tragic indeed.” This claim is so wrong and indeed insulting as to remove all credibility from that which preceded it. Atheists love and are loved by their families, their children, their spouses (of the same or opposite sex); we love our communities, neighbours, friends, etc.; who all are REAL beings, present in our lives. And, quiet as kept, this is true even in Bermuda! We are not so addicted to being loved that we must imagine and invent a lover, a parent, a constant friend in our emotional psyches to love and be loved by, to make us feel safe, secure, and good about ourselves. Our lives are not tragic; they are, rather, liberated and real, reasonable and happy indeed. Reality is better than you might think. Join us if you dare.

I will close with a quote from one of my favourite American Freethinkers, Robert G Ingersoll: "When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world, not even in infinite space. I was free free to think, to express my thoughts free to live my own ideal, free to live for myself and those I loved, free to use all my faculties, all my senses, free to spread imagination's wings, free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope, free to judge and determine for myself ... I was free! I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously faced all worlds."

Robert Green Ingersoll, "Why I Am An Agnostic"

And, as the atheist Mark Twain said about Bermuda: "You go to heaven ... I'd druther stay here."

Steven LOWE

Washington, DC

Frequent visitor to Bermuda, a.k.a. Paradise, or Heaven on Earth

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