8of9

Harumi, I linked to the letter -- here it is again. It's kind of funny that they tacked on the letter right after mine -- it's so much more in-your-face and short and sweet. Like an after-dinner mint.

Every infidel I meet gives me new hope for humanity.

Harumi

Oops. Sorry, I didn't know. I thought you had meant an actual newspaper, not an online one. Heh. Silly me.

Meeting infidels brings new hope for the world.

Meeting a fundie religious nut makes me lose it.

ZiprHead

I would very much like to be more involved in atheist activism. Other then letters to the editor of our local newspaper (wrote 12 to 15 over the last few years), I tend to remain low key. My mother is a devout Lutheran and knows I am an atheist. I know she's dissappointed in my atheism and I try to keep low key about it in defference to her. She's getting on in years though and I plan to become more involved after she passes.

Godstopper, congrats on your appointment by AA.

8of9

OH, but it IS an actual newspaper, printed tabloid format, and distributed weekly to all Montgomery County, Md ("Home of Chief Moose") residents. They're just nice enough to also have an active web edition with archives and everything.

The print edition ran my letter just below the paper's own editorial for the week (it ran about the same length, too), and I'll bet a few people read it without realizing their minds were being targeted by a freethinkin' atheist.

Too much fun ... I can't wait to strike again!

Harumi

I wish I had the courage to write something like that to something so public, but I'm not very confident on my writing skills, and since a lot of this rests on being able to argue well, which I can't do either, I just talk to others whom I know are already leaning toward atheism.

I tried to argue with my teacher once. He said in class that atheism was a religion, to which I told him that if that was the case, then baldness is a haircolor. He shrugged, and told me that it was a belief, therefore a religion.

I wonder then, based on that leap of logic, if you believe that McDonald's fries are the best out of all the fast food chains, if that is a religion too.

Defiant Heretic

Let's see...

I wrote a letter to the editor supporting the pledge ruling and submitted it to several newspapers. I'm not sure if it was published in any of them; I couldn't find it on the web, and I only subscribe to one.

I attended the march on DC in November and I ran off some copies of the news story and put them in the hotel lobby for people to take.

I challenged my high school chemistry teacher to a debate after he tried to attack evolution in class (I was at a public school, by the way), and corrected as many of his errors as possible while he was delivering the speech.

And I always mark off "In God we trust" on my money (the bills, anyway), and if anyone asks me why, I explain exactly why its unconstitutional.

Harumi

What's the real US motto anyways? I've always thought that it was "E Pluribus Unum" (or something like that), but I was talking to some people who took Latin, and they said that it means "One of Many".

Doesn't sound very great to me. Unless they're wrong that is.

Toto

The original motto was "E Pluribus Unum", meaning one (nation) out of many (states or people). It's a perfectly good motto.

P.L. 84-140 was approved by President Eisehower on July 30, 1956, declaring IN GOD WE TRUST the national motto of the United States (details here .)

DMB

Yes, the important thing is that "E" in "E pluribus unum" means "out of" or "from", rather than "of".

Harumi

Ah I see.

Now I can tell my Christian friend to shut up because it is a perfectly deep and good motto!