Atheists: Get off of our country!

Written by anonymous_banker on May 8th, 2007 | Trackback URI |

atheists

I received an anonymous tip from an acquaintance living on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska in the form of the above clipping from the Kenai Peninsula Clarion, the region’s daily rag. I’ve done a little research into the area, and other than the occasional moose attack (which makes the front page of the news) it seems like a normal sort of area.

bear attack

Which makes me wonder which of the local heavy metal bands has taken the newspaper hostage. Not only have they printed one of the most misguided and inflammatory letters I’ve ever seen regarding the role of religion in our county, but they’ve omitted any sort of hints of what lies beyond in the title. I almost expect to see the word strong in italics or quotes. Reader voices “strong” opinion on atheists? It was probably Korupture or Tainted Sanity.

I understand this actually did garner some response letters for which I was too lazy to register to the Peninsula Clarion’s website to read, but the fact that this sort of hate-speech made it into the printed edition boggles the mind. There’s a reason radio stations have dump buttons (for people like Don Imus), but newspapers are different-. It’s as if the editor made up a likely sounding name from the remote town of Soldotna to further his twisted religious agenda.

It seems everyone here has dropped to the same level of intelligence, since the second letter seems to want to keep on fishing until all the ….. ? Till all the fish are gone?? Sounds like a wonderful plan. Because Jesus was a fisherman, right?

21 Responses to “Atheists: Get off of our country!”

  1. J-Ro says:
    May 13th, 2007 at 11:24 am

    I agree with you here! Someone in their office went through the trouble of editing that letter, formatting it, and putting it on the page. It’s not even like she made a real argument either, that I would understand. Glad I don’t live in Alaska, that’s all i’m saying….

  2. alec says:
    May 14th, 2007 at 4:06 pm

    The argument is clearly that America is meant for the freedom of Christians, not the freedoms of crazy religions for brown people or the unbelievers — unless of course they can make textiles or trinkets and don’t mind getting paid less than 5 dollars an hour.

  3. thecaretaker says:
    May 17th, 2007 at 12:52 pm

    She’s the stooooooopidest person i’ve seen EVER!!!!!hahahaha

  4. JoeC says:
    May 18th, 2007 at 7:30 pm

    And nevermind that “In God We Trust” didn’t appear on U.S. coinage until after the American Civil War, or on U.S. paper currency until the 20th century. So, the author of that letter can’t exactly attribute that to the founding fathers’ decision to make religious freedom one of the cornerstones of the country.

    Unfortunately most of us who grew up in America are pretty ignorant of real history, and as Jefferson noted…

    “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” ~Thomas Jefferson.

  5. Maronan says:
    May 22nd, 2007 at 4:18 pm

    I’m going to print out that letter and show it to people who try to justify some minor establishment of religion (such as a 10 Commandments monument) by saying: “Well, it doesn’t really matter. It won’t affect anyone.” Small establishments of religion will later be used to justify larger infiltration of religion into public life, and maybe even oppression or atrocities eventually.

    Incidentally, “freedom of religion” basically means “freedom from being forced into a religion you don’t want to join.” Freedom from religion is necessarily included in “freedom of religion.”

    Wait, is that a real letter? I think I’ve seen something like that before.

  6. The Strong Atheist says:
    May 22nd, 2007 at 7:32 pm

    Thanks for emailing that to me alec. I can only speculate what it must be like in a country where atheism is frowned upon. Here in the UK, we have Darwin on our £10 notes, and no mention of God! I hope religious bigots like this will soon suffer the same fate as the KKK, and no longer be taken seriously.

    SA

  7. Slut says:
    May 22nd, 2007 at 9:56 pm

    Here in the UK, we have Darwin on our £10 notes, and no mention of God
    Strong atheist, you’re making me cry.

  8. alec says:
    May 22nd, 2007 at 9:58 pm

    Haha. I want to go by ’slut’ from now on. Or floosie or harpie. I need to reclaim the words that tarnish my wonderful image.

    And Strong Atheist, I can tell you what its like. I once heard people in my college saying ‘how can anyone believe we came from gorillas?’ in the midst of a philosophical conversation. I am not kidding.

  9. Slut says:
    May 23rd, 2007 at 12:37 am

    Hey Alec, work your own deal. :) I suggest “sanky panky” LOL

    Guess what, the entire thing was a hoax! Someone sent this in apparently as a joke or research project. The paper printed a retraction. Search the paper’s website or see my blog for more.

  10. Rob says:
    May 23rd, 2007 at 8:02 am

    True, atheist, we do. But then the £20 does have that notorious god-botherer Edward Elgar, and an image of Worcester Cathedral. Ah well, small steps…

  11. Asator says:
    May 23rd, 2007 at 8:04 am

    So it’s not ok to hate on atheists, but its ok to hate on metal? Talk about double standards.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m an atheist but Metal is way more important to me.

    AMON AMARTH!!! \m/

  12. lordrunningclam says:
    May 23rd, 2007 at 10:23 am

    Sometimes the meanest thing an editor can do to somebody is to publish their letter. I recall one particular instance when one published a letter from a moron unedited, with all the grammatical mistakes intact. It was hysterically funny and more than a bit cruel.

    I sincerely hope that’s the case here. Either that, or they just don’t get that many letters.

  13. alec says:
    May 23rd, 2007 at 11:04 am

    Clam: I’m thinking it’s that they don’t get many letters.

    Rob: I’m going to start referring to people as god-botherer’s.

  14. KevinR says:
    May 23rd, 2007 at 4:46 pm

    I hope this letter was hoax to show how crazy and hateful religion can be when it is constantly called a peaceful and loving religion. I dunno about you people but a religion (Chrisianity, Islam, etc.) that allows for slavery, is racist, sexist, homophobic, and wants to kills infidels, is not a religion I want to follow.

  15. Kai says:
    May 24th, 2007 at 4:42 am

    This is obviously satire, written by someone who is piss tired of the religious climate in America.

  16. Jesus H. Christ says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 1:49 am

    Alice, you ignorant slut…

  17. alec says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 9:54 am

    Don’t call me Alice.

  18. Addie says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 9:57 am

    It’s not exactly a hoax… but that “Alice” person didn’t write it. It was written after 9.11 and published in a (shocking) southern paper. Whether it appeared in print or only online seems unclear…

  19. Thumbsucker says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 11:57 am

    This has been going around the internet for a while. I believed it was real until recently when I realized how easy it would be for someone to have made it up. Now I’m not sure. I will say that I havent heard of it coming from the South before.

  20. UngodlyCynic says:
    June 1st, 2007 at 3:38 pm

    I found this at Peninsula Clarion. An excerpt from a letter sent to the editors by Alice Shannon.

    “While I’ve been thoroughly entertained by the overwhelming number of passionate responses to my January 29th letter, it should probably be noted that, as at least one writer speculated, it was a complete joke. I think it has run its course and at this time space in the Letters to the Editor section should be reserved for more important issues.”

    http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/030907/oped_0309ope001.shtml

  21. Why Atheists are not Americans | Philosophy 101 says:
    October 5th, 2007 at 11:59 pm

    [...] to the editor are always a treasure trove of logical and coherent arguments. I got this paper clipping of one from a friend (thanks, Chris!). Who would have thought that there are still good arguments against [...]

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