Atheists, Watch Your Backs

I wish that it was not necessary to write on this subject, but recent events in the news and posts on atheist and Christian blogs have made it so. Violence and intolerance, either considered, threatened or acted upon, is becoming more of a reality for vocal non-believers as the culture war in America continues to heat up.

I am going to offer several recent examples from the news, thoughts from a Christian bloggers point of view as well as a personal story of violence I have felt firsthand for voicing my views.

The first example is chilling. A Kansas professor, who was openly critical of the Kansas School Boards decision to treat creationism as science, was assaulted on a rural road. His story garnered a lot of attention when an email he sent referring to 'fundies' was made public.

The second is a video clip from a reality show demonstrating the mindset of some 'fundies' when they are forced to be in contact with non-believers.

Here is a nice little ditty composed of the meltdown of the 'God Warrior'.

The I'm The Mama blog made me aware of this next item. It is a post on a Christian bloggers site. This Christian considered causing an accident with the car in front of him when he saw that the car had a bumper sticker which read "Proud to be an Atheist". Of course, he was only considering causing the accident so as to be able to witness to the poor unbeliever. You can read the post here.

The blog owner, Mr Barlett has since done some back-tracking and apologized for his poorly worded post, which is thoughtful of him, and I am sure that he didn't seriously consider causing an accident. But the fact remains that thoughts such as he had upon seeing that bumper sticker do go through the minds of even reasonable Christians. Imagine the thoughts that go through a rabid fundies mind. I did find one other post on this site that irked me a bit pertaining to a 'prank' he pulled on a fellow worker. Not to pick on you, Mr Bartlett, but you did title the post, Is This Wrong?

And finally I want to share a personal story of what I consider to be an attempted murder upon myself and my wife.

We were returning from a business trip in Chattanooga, TN on I-75, a very busy and fast 3 lane section of interstate highway. The back of the utility trailer that we take on these trips is covered with anti-religion and anti-bush bumper stickers. A car with a lawnmower in the trunk and a Jesus fish decal passed us in the center lane then slowed and pulled in front of us. I was forced to enter the middle lane to pass him. He then sped up and entered the center lane in front of me and suddenly slammed on his brakes. I was forced to swerve to the left lane to miss him. I passed him and switched back to the center lane. A few moments later he passed us once again and again got in front of us and slammed on his brakes. I am amazed that somehow I managed to miss him this time. I nearly lost control of the vehicle. I accelerated in order to stay in front of him. As I passed him, blowing my horn continuously, he rolled down his window and flipped me off and said something - I assume he was reciting the Lord’s Prayer or the beatitudes. I did not let him in front of me again and he exited at the next exit.

I have had many other incidents with gestures or yells from those Bush lovers or Christians who don't appreciate my views, but this incident could easily have taken my life, my wife's life and the idiot believer’s life.

I offer all of these examples merely to say that we should continue to be vocal, but also careful. I will never muzzle myself in regards to my belief or lack of belief regardless of threats or attempts on my life. The reckless and moronic actions of believers will only strengthen my resolve to voice reason and to reach out to those believers who still manage to hold on to some form of dignity.

I would love to hear from some of you regarding these types of incidents or simply your encounters with annoying believers.

Tagged As:
atheism,atheist,God,
religion, chattanooga,Paul Mirecki,Kansas
God Warrior