Most Christians know that we atheists are incarnations of the devil who just hang out waiting to ensnare their naive little souls, so it probably came as some surprise that one of us would take the time to tell them how they can best avoid most of us:
She could join an organization that does not admit atheists, e.g., the Ku Klux Klan, the Mafia, Christian militia groups. She could join a God-fearing terrorist group that blows up abortion clinics and high-rise buildings (Oklahoma City, World Trade Center); or she could restrict her friends to those spewing venomous hate upon individuals the Bible says should be put to death, e.g., non-believers and homosexuals.
To be on the safe side, there are havens of atheism that she should avoid: Ivy League universities; the Nobel laureate laden National Academy of Sciences; organizations concerned with the environment or civil rights; and Scandinavia, where the percentage of atheists is at least three times that of the United States.
She should stay in the Bible Belt with the highest religiosity (and highest violent crime rate) in the country.
The absurdity of religious myopia was exemplified after the 1997 school shootings in Paducha, Ky. In defense of the young killer who somebody called "godless," his pastor at the Lutheran Church said, "Michael Carnael is a Christian. He’s a sinner, yes, but not an atheist."
I wonder if that made his victims less dead or the crime less wrong.
David N. Miles
Orange Beach
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