2009 Archive
Here’s a random sampling of email received throughout the year.
From: tmmovers123(at)yahoo.com
Subject: Merry Christmas!
prepare for eternal damnation in hellfire forever!!!
From: nicofameliaris(at)imaginet.co.za
Subject: [blank]
Keep on insulting Jesus the son of God and you will be burning in the fires of hell. You can hate God and Jesus one day you are going to face them, and what you are going to do act macho they are more powerful than you, I pray that your attitude changes. I have met Jesus and I know his power and I fear him.
Yours in Christ Jesus
Nico Fameliaris
Editor’s Note: Wow. I never knew I was macho. Cool.
From: theojank(at)gmail.com
Subject: Are you prepared to meet your Maker?
Mr. Godless “Flaming Asshole” Bastard:
I do not find your web site amusing at all. Mocking God is no joke sir. You may laugh now but I guarantee you will be crying later – for a very long time. I suggest that you get right with God while you still have a chance. There is eternal security for those who accept Him regardless of their prior transgressions. Death takes but a moment and it will come when you least expect it. Get your affairs in order immediately to ensure a place in God’s Kingdom. You have but one chance and once life is extinguished that chance is lost for Eternity.
Do not risk being wrong. You have nothing to lose if I am wrong about this. Open a Bible and start reading today then confess your Sins and give yourself to Jesus. He will never turn away from you. This is his promise. Accept him as your Lord and Savior. Peace will come and your place in Eternity will be secured.
A good place to start is by shutting down your web site now. God will see this act and take pity on your soul. God forgives even assholes like yourself.
~Jank
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
From: lowbmazda(at)hotmail.com
Subject: [blank]
I have never had such a good time reading a site. Yours is giving me more to toss back at the people who say praying to that fictitious puffy cloud guy would do a dang gum thing at all. but I have been spreading this site like a fire across my friends cause they all need a little wake up call even if it just pisses them off…then I still have done what I set out to do…so thank you again for being such a Godless Bastard…
From: [withheld]
Subject: [blank]
Love the site.
My father died earlier this year, and my daughter started asking about heaven and what happens when you die. My response was that what is left of you is your family. She is part of me and part of her mum and similar with the other family members.
So she asked me about grandad’s “soul”. I told her what made grandad grandad was the things he knew, the things he did and what he believed. So everybody who was part of grandad’s life, everybody who had known him who had learned from him and cared for him was changed by knowing him, everybody he knew would always carry a part of him with them through life and through them everyone who knows them would carry part of him afterwards. I told her that the empty feeling you get when you lose someone you care about is over time filled with the memories and the effects that that person has had on your life. Like a glass of water poured into a bath, the water still exists it has just lost its container.
I do not need feel I need religion or god(s) to ensure eternal life. I will end as my father did but all the people who my life touches will carry the effects of that contact.
From: r5preen(at)hotmail.com
Subject: [blank]
When I was 13 I had a paper route. One weekend friends and I were going to an amusement park and so I had to collect one day early. Lots of people asked why I was doing so, and when I told them, they gave me an extra tip to spend at the park…
Toward the end of the route I had to knock on the door of a religious nut-job. I had been warned about her from the guy I had inherited the route from. She told all new paperboys how several of her previous paperboys had grown up and become priests… She was the worst kind of christian, the one who sees “evil” around every corner. I was about to become the latest casualty…
I knocked on the door and stated my purpose. I was in a good mood as I was nearly done collecting and was excited about the next day’s adventures.
I immediately got the patented “stern” look that is no doubt trademarked by zealots. I was asked if I was on drugs. I was completely taken aback by this sudden and unwarranted attack. I pleaded “No” but was told that if I ever tried to obtain drug money again by collecting early I would be damned to Hell and have the cops called. In addition, she was letting the neighbors know not to pay me early.
If there ever was a case of replaying an event in your mind with the things you WISH you had said this is it. If I had been then, the person I am now, that prick would have gotten an earful…
This was around the time when logic was becoming primary in my way of thinking, and I was seriously questioning the validity of the biblical stories as it was. Bullshit like this only helped to enhance that questioning…
There is a point to the story above: The worst part of religion is when the participants of said religion assume the rest of the planet views the universe as they do. Nothing pisses me off more! I do my best to counter this (having my blog, crossing out “In god we trust” on money and replacing it with “In Science we trust”, and when someone talks about god, asking them “which one?”
My friend, you are NOT “over the top” with your writings. One must fight fire with fire at the SAME degree and intensity. One good “shock and awe” deserves another…
Your site is not only well written and organized, but entertaining and enlightening as well. Never give up the fight, never surrender…
Yours in reality…
Mike
From: fish(at)live.no
Subject: Thank you
Thanks for your site, theists happen to be just as irritating in Australia (Norwegian email addresses just happen to be shorter). From now on I’ll be happily ignoring all childish rhetoric from them. Too bad I didn’t realise earlier that nothing good comes from politely debating with them. But pissing them off, great for boredom!
all the best,
Jack
From: [withheld]
Subject: Agnostic reading
Dear (hate to say the word) Bastard,
On www.godlessbastard.com/atheism: “An agnostic (the most misused word in this discussion) is someone who believes that the nature of god cannot be known, irrespective of their personal beliefs. Therefore, a theist can also be agnostic, and many are. This is the only intellectually honest way to believe in any god.”
Maybe you want to read this. Good light reading: www.sillybeliefs.com/agnostic.html
Keep up the good work
Devy
From: saronhabt(at)yahoo.com
Subject: RE: Got Jesus?
jesus is a myth ha?!well so are you.let me tell you why you are so against jesus,deep down inside you know he is real!!and you are scared that you might be wrong!you dont mock evil because you know it has no power.you are afraid that there is some one that is more powerfull than this world we see and that some one isGOD.check your self deep down and you will see.who are you kiding?your self??
p.s i know what i blieve so please dont bother,my life is GOD.there is no LIFE more than him for me so pleas leave me alone!!!!
Editor’s Note: You’re quite a treat, aren’t you? At any rate, I covered this “deep down inside” tripe long ago. And I believe it’s you who’s kidding herself.
From: kerisha_314(at)hotmail.com
Subject: [blank]
I pray that God has mercy on your soul and that you would open your eyes one day and realise that He is the reason for everything and that you are alive…How dare you be like this…He did you nothing wrong…the person that you should keep away from is Satan and i bet he is laughing at you right now…u think that this is the right decision that u are making…then u are wrong…Jesus is the only way to eternal life…without him you are nothing…the “devil cant give you want God can and you better realise that before it is too late…God is and will forever be the ruler of this World…do u want to burn in hell for all eternity???? God bless you!!
Kerisha Went
Editor’s Note: Do I want to burn in hell forever? No. I want a blow job from from Megan Fox.
From: thesevnthwarrior(at)yahoo.com
Subject: Wow it’s true
We were talking about the history of the world’s all time losers. One person in particular kept bringing you up, but out of 21 people, no one had heard of you, and he only had the nite before..? So yes, yes…we Allll rushed our silly lil for the most part God believing selves over to the puter to check ya out.
YEP! – It’s true….whoever you are.
(this is NOT hate mail)
Luv ya man!!
Compelling Argument Winner!
From: saronhabt(at)yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Got Jesus?
oh really???may iask who gave my email address???i dont think you understand the meaning of deeply disturbed.because if you did you would know that you are!!!you dont know how great god is because god is too good for you!i would rather die than live with out jesus.oh i forgot !there is no such thing as life with out jesus.you only exist because god is mercy full!!!
P.S get a life!!!
Saron Habtom
From: ashdavis1(at)hotmail.com
Subject: Orthodoxy
Dear Godless Bastard:
On your main page, you say this: “While I see all flavors of theism as bordering on sheer lunacy, most of my commentary is directed at Christians (i.e. all followers of Christ, which includes your garden variety Christians, Born-Again Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, Mormons, non-denominational followers, etc.) as they are the most virulent offenders of proselytization and religious hypocrisy.”
You didn’t include Orthodox Christians. So, in order to be consistent, you should add them to your list. However, while your accusations of the various factions of Christianity is true to a large extent, the Orthodox Christians have quietly been practicing their faith for 2000 years. You won’t find any witch trials or inquisitions or crusades in Orthodox history.
Sincerely,
Ash
Editor’s Note: Ash, buddy. Ever hear of this thing called et cetera (etc.)?
From: nicofameliaris(at)imaginet.co.za
Subject: You should change the way you hate Jesus.
I actually feel sorry for you beacuse i know what awaits for you on the otherside,the flames the torture of demons torturing you,the devil constantly cursing at you is that where you want to be, since you know more than God the Father and Jesus his son and God the Holy Ghost they would have called in for advice,you see you are brainwashed by Satan your friend who is going to take you into hell and torture you for all eternity.Keep on doing what you are doing like your Friend Anton Lavey one of the graetest Satanists who worshipped Satan and he is there now no chance of coming back and telling us how he is suffering.
I really feel sorry for you and i pray that idiot brain changes its mind you will never beat Jesus one day you will stand if front of him and the Devil wont be able to help you
Jesus loves you and he died for you and your sins.It is sin that leads you to hell
Good Luck my friend.
You can whatever you like you are headed for hell acting macho and blaspheming against Jesus one day he will pull the plug on you and then reality starts.
Editor’s Note: About your subject line, in what way would you like me to hate Jesus?
From: cargofamegroup(at)gmail.com
Subject: Hell
When you scream and wail and gnash your teeth in the fire in hell then you will understand until start repenting of your sins because Jesus is going to put you in hell if you are against him one day you have to die and face Jesus Christ remember he was raised up on the third day when you die it is finished Heaven or Hell what you want to choose.
Nico Fameliaris
From: acheampong_agnes(at)yahoo.co.uk
Subject: Re: Got Jesus?
i just received this e-mail and am DISGUSTED by its content you have offend many with this blasphemious information
DO NOT i repeat DO NOT e-mail back again!
From: lzilbert(at)secoatech.com
Subject: [blank]
I love you!
Be blessed,
Landon Zilbert
From: kiwij51(at)hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Got Jesus?
mmm hey thanx for the email
always appreciate a different point of view
yes we sure do live in a Godless society but thankfully not everyone is so easily deceived
You may find it hard to understand why Jesus loves you but he does and when you arrive at the crossroads in your life maybe then you will question your own morals and beliefs…and ask Jesus to be the lord of your life If we are here on earth to live out 70-80 years and raise another generation to just the same and the same and the same whats the point.The day you ask Jesus to be your lord and saviour and have a peace that you cant explain thats the day the lites will come on i cant explain it its a supernatural thing really and of course our simple human minds have trouble believing something they cant see
Bless you buddy and thanx again for the thought
I appreciate you taking the time
cheers
From: [withheld]
Subject: Greetings!
Please keep my email and last name anonymous.
Your site is fantastic and enjoyable as always. I have been in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan for the past few years and can attest to the fact that there are indeed atheists in foxholes.
James
From: secureinhim(at)verizon.net
Subject: [blank]
FIRST OF ALL…
REMOVE ME FROM YOUR “SATANIC” EMAIL LIST.
“IF” I RECEIVE ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR EMAILS, I WILL REPORT IT!
Even the demons believe there is a God and TREMBLE!!!!!
OH HOW I PRAY YOU GET DELIVERANCE AND SALVATION FOR ONE DAY YOU WILL REMEMBER THIS EMAIL.. YOU WILL WISH YOU WOULD HAVE NOT CALLED ME A GODLESS B. BUT THAT YOU WOULD HAVE CALLED UPON GOD HIMSELF. HE LOVES YOU EVEN IN YOUR MESS.
HOWEVER, REMOVE ME AND PLEASE TELL ME WHO IT WAS THAT ADDED MY NAME TO YOUR STUPID LIST.
Be Blessed!
Janet Piper 
Editor’s Note: Doesn’t she sound really hot? I mean, imagine waking up next to this bundle of joy every morning.
From: phudson(at)dollargeneral.com
Subject: [blank]
U are dumb
From: jforti(at)ufl.edu
Subject: Great site- Want to borrow your ear for a second
Hey GB,
First off, awesome site. I love the humor and logic you use; I wish I could sit down and pen something half as convincing. I might suggest a little Dawkins and a brief section on evolutionary refutation of creationism, but I’ll admit your discussion on how religious folk have much more to lose from its factual basis than skeptics swayed my opinion on the necessity of such a section.
On a different note, my mom has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and is going through chemo and its hitting her pretty hard. She’s an ardent Catholic (I went to church every Sunday for 17 years of my life with her) and much of her support group (my family) is steeply based in religion. Every time I hear them speak about the “proven power of prayer”, God’s plan, etc. I cringe on the inside. What are your thoughts on my moral imperative to bring my mother into the light in such a situation? Naturally, being strangers, it would be perfectly acceptable for you to wish to not give an opinion. It’s hypothetical anyway; I could never bring myself to reveal my atheism, let alone try to convince her of its validity. You just seemed like a likable, like-minded guy. If you would share your opinion, I would be greatly obliged. If not, my opinion of your damn good website remains unchanged.
Thanks,
Justin Forti
From: hermanh(at)adept.co.za
Subject: [blank]
Very sad. The Bible says people will regret Him and the truth, and here it shows…
From: [withheld]
Subject: Bravo you bastard!
I found your site through the Dawkins OUT Campaign. GodlessBastard.com is everything I ever thought and everything I ever wanted to say about Christians and their whacko beliefs.
You have inspired me to start my own blog and hopefully others will follow and speak out. I’m beginning to think that there are more of us out there than even we know. Great job my friend. I will visit often. This is my personal email address. Please withhold. Tanks!
-Marty
P.S. The “banana rant” was fucking hilarious. Comfort and Cameron can’t help but look like straw graspers every time the open their mouths.
From: kyledude82(at)aol.com
Subject: hey fuckstick
some asshole friend of yours spammed me with your bullshit. how about i kick your ass motherfucker? maybe the authorities should know that your cult followers are harassing decent god fearing people with unwanted email? go fuck yourself. you will never understand god.
From: bcbpatch09(at)yahoo.com
Subject: [blank]
you know im a straight up christian and im not gonna back down from that but you for being an atheist or whatever your pretty wrapped up in talking about how christians are weak. you know thats pretty pathetic to me that you have to sit there and try to get people to not believe in God. You sit there and tell christians not to shove God in your face and im not gonna do that cause its up to you wether you want to believe in Him but i dont see why we shouldnt shove Him in your face when you make a website that shoves your believes in our face.. thats kind of screwed up to me. i have nothing against you id be your friend if i knew you but what im trying to get to is you say all christians are weak but id prove you wrong any day anytime. Sure i pray to my God but you know im not gonna ask Him to help me in something that i cause myself but with God on my side i feel like a different person a person with a friend by their side to help them in a fist fight that they are out numbered in. But believe what you want to believe im just saying Christians are stronger than people who are atheists.
Briar Baker
From: jaimpen(at)charter.net
Subject: Pat Condell
Greetings, O Godless One,
You’ve probably heard of Pat Condell. Please view his latest video. And also please put this link on your Web site so others may view it. Thanks, and keep up the good work.
James Barbee
Keno, OR
From: lastingforever(at)live.com
Subject: Love the site!
Have to say, Godlessbastard.com is the thing that made my day today. I enjoyed reading just the Bastards page, and I couldn’t agree more! Found your site Stumbling through Evolution topics, (Yes, I looked at your page of the Banana) and it had a link to your site! I’ll definitely be mentioning this to my friends and any of those Christians out there that would get their asses kicked!
Glad you made the site.
From: britbilton(at)yahoo.com
Subject: Quite a site
I too am an atheist and I like the in your face attitude. We all fight in our own ways. I have written a slap in the face to Islam exposing the ‘true’ history of the drunken, perverted village idiot Mohammad. This heavy handed satire is an insult and affront to our terrorist Mullah friends. As a godless bastard myself I would appreciate it if you could in any way publicize my little ‘fuck you love note’ to Islam. They HATE ridicule and my book will ruffle some camel jockeys. Thanks
THE FATWA IS COMING
Did you know that Mohammad was a perverted, drunken pimp who was “too stupid and incompetent to run a fig and cocoanut stand, never mind an army or religion”
The brand new book, available on Amazon.com, humorously slanders the purported early tenets of Islam. Many Islamic extremists and terrorists might not appreciate the lampooning of the religion (or the pictures of Fatima and Mohammad on the front and back covers of the book), but this book is a challenge to the extremist who seem to demand that American Freedom of Speech does not apply to them and that the world must kowtow to their brand of religion while they are free to trash all others.
Noor Barack, the author does wish to publicize the book; however the author must recognize that a Fatwa will be issued as soon as the book reaches the Terroristic Islamists and must have enhanced security. Therefore the author will receive email at britbilton(at)yahoo.com for a short period. If one wishes to talk via telephone please email a telephone number of a specific person to be called. Thank you, also if the book’s front cover did not transmit it can be easily seen at Amazon.com which is the only outlet currently selling “How Fatima Started Islam: Mohammad’s Daughter Tells It All.”
From: [withheld]
Subject: A video for you.
Hey Bastard, it’s been a while, but I’ve dug up another link that may be of interest, or possibly of offense, to you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM0oBuhTLRI
Crammed full of lies and hypocrisy. The “connection” between Darwin and Hitler they mentioned can be found here:
http://carnivore.mirror.waffleimages.com
Sketchy connection at best I would say, nevermind the fact that Hitler was, to some degree, correct. I wouldn’t expect a fundie to realise this however, they have a problem with the fact that truth is amoral.
To be honest, the whole concept of what they’re doing offends the hell out of me. Christian propaganda has no place being an introduction to Evolution of Species. I’d like to find some way of protesting and preventing this if such a way exists at all. Any suggestions or ideas on that note?
From: teemao36(at)gmail.com
Subject: your website
heya pig fucker, how bad did your stupid website SUCK? why no pictures on the site? r u ashamed? afraid? can’t wait to see ya in hell. oh wait…no i won’t be there.
ttfn xoxo
tee ^o^
From: xmented(at)live.com
Subject: mr. bastard
i see you are still up to your old tricks. foul-mouthed god haters like you will die in their sins. pray for forgiveness and remove your internet filth while you still have the chance to repent. hell is an awful place. do you really want to call it your home for eternity? jesus died for you and loves you even though you feel nothing but hate for him. in the end he is all you have. accept him now.
From: [withheld]
Subject: Kudos on the Great Site
Greetings and Salutation,
I happened to stumble upon your site while surfing Google, [I think I was looking up the 'Banana Argument' if memory serves] and I have to say you’ve certainly outdone yourself in your efforts to shed some light on the madness that is Religion. Kudos and keep up the good fight sir!
In fact your site has proven really helpful to me in a way. Recently I’ve been trying to sever ties with my religion Christianity, mostly because it has caused nothing but craziness in my life. While I certainly was not a Fundamentalist, remaining skeptical of a lot of Old Testament myths like Noah’s Ark, I learned to fear god like the ‘best’ of them and would often be kept up into the late hours of the night afraid of the Rapture hitting while I slept, afraid of the Mark of the Beast, afraid that I was lukewarm and doomed to the fiery pits of Hell. This fear led to unhealthy habits for me. By day I would constantly keep muttering prayers asking Jesus for forgiveness for evil thoughts and by night I would be ranting and raving in ‘tongues’ begging for leniency, even going so far as to beat myself to show the sincerity of my penance. I know it might seem a tad ridiculous but truth be told I was a real head case back then. Worst I was very subtle about my deranged faith towards god that my parents still remain oblivious… =P
Now though I’ve gotten over this unhealthy devotion to this ancient deity and choose not to waste time with Christianity, the faith that ruined my childhood. I’ll have to say my health has improved significantly as a result of going apostate. For starters I’m sleeping much better than before, finally able to get some shuteye without muttering in tongues and I can spend my free time enjoying the beauty nature without constantly muttering to myself. Its not all great though. I still find myself attached in some ways to my religion and find myself having second thoughts about leaving my faith. Thank goodness for sites like this that remind me of the evils inherit in religion and the madness I have left.
In a way you could say you’ve tossed me a hacksaw to help cut the few remaining ties that try to drag me back down again. So yeah… Thanks!
Pete
P.S. Do you mind not posting my address if you decide to post this e-mail? I already have enough hate mail from YouTube fundies who didn’t take too kindly on my opinions on Left Behind.
Grazi!
From: [withheld]
Subject: Satan will devour your soul heretic!
Disclaimer: Sorry, if the subject of this message got you all excited.. This isn’t a rant from a religious person.
The lord of hell or whatever Satan is to many people on this planet will most probably devour my soul too…or do some nasty things for it anyways. Maybe we’ll meet in hell if the Christians are right. Too bad for them that they aren’t.
It really has been a pleasure reading your rantings and I intend to check out your site every now and then. I haven’t yet quite read all and I’ve had a pause from reading your site because I just recently returned to work from summer vacation and it has been very busy. Today I finally had a moment and thought that I’d read a bit but you had gone offline! For a moment I got scared that someone had hacked your site for some divine cause. Looking forward to see the site back online.
I feel relieved that we don’t have the Christian fundamentalism at the same volume here where I live, in Finland, as you got in the U.S. Religion actually is a very personal thing to people and they don’t proselytize. Usually people in here don’t even ask why I don’t believe in god or any other deity – they just take it as matter of my own and keep their beliefs for themselves. I have heard things about American fundamentalists and read some random quotes over the internet. The most information, though, I have had from your site.
I was delighted to read that you had started to think critically at very young age. I personally rejected the existence of Jesus and other bible-fellows (haven’t read the bible so I just don’t know them all!) at the age of 6. I wish more people would go that way and the world would be a better place.
Keep up the blasphemy.
P.S. If you put this on your website I would like my email not to be shown.
P.P.S. I don’t write much in English so apologies for any mishaps. A difficult sentence is probably written in Finnish word order and I’ve missed it.
- Heikki
From: tomzx(at)diginet.ie
Subject: Keep up the good work
Hi,
Greetings from Ireland, just saw your site for the first time today and I’m laughing my ass of with every page. Love to see the “godless Bastard” logo on some merchandise, a t-shirt and baseball cap would be ideal. (Would a lowercase “g” make more of an impact?)
Anyway, keep up the good work.
From: [withheld]
Subject: Atheism
Dear Mr. Godless Bastard (not meant in any insulting manner:)
I found your website through FSTDT and found it to be a clarification on my perspective on religion and atheism. I am 14 and I’ve been raised, mainly by force, as a Catholic. Now that I am trying to define my life, I’ve been profoundly pondering on the subject of faith and divine forms. I have come to realize that religions are organizations set to control people and set an example by promising great happiness and condemning others. Also the concept of god is used too much because I believe people see it as a divine form to aspire to thus the formation of the foundation of god. That is what I’ve come to answer thus far, for myself. Yet, in my mind what I can’t answer is what happened for life forms to live? I know the religious viewpoint, but I was wondering what you or any other Atheist believe what happened. Also, do you have any advice for how to tell my mom I’m very skeptical on religions? Thanks for the website and help.
Sincerely,
anonymous
From: mike.scott.tx(at)gmail.com
Subject: Joseph Campbell and Comparative Mythology
Hi GB,
Great website – keep up the good work. (Sorry, no atheist hatin’ here.)
I noticed to refer to Lord Raglan’s scale on your site – I was wondering if you are familiar with the works of Joseph Campbell? Check out “The Power of Myth” and “The Hero with 1000 Faces”. I definitely think you will find them interesting, and can probably put the info in them to good use on your site. It presents an interesting hypothesis as to why so many myths and religions share similar metaphors.
And apologies for the redundant recommendation (I also posted this when I signed the guest book).
Have nice day!
Mike in TX
P.S. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has some really good FREE DVDs on the science of Evolution. I find they make GREAT stocking stuffers for that special evangelical in your life.
You can order them here:
http://www.hhmi.org/catalog/main?action=product&itemId=3
Also, the NOVA episode of “Intelligent Design on Trial” can be watched online here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/program.html
If you can’t tell, the Intelligent Design crowd drives me berserk, and I combat it at every opportunity. Lots of good ammo in these links against that whole line of nonsense.
From: eastlake469(at)yahoo.com
Subject: [blank]
Dearest GB,
You are my hero. It’s rare I find a website that both amuses me and introduces some new ideas and arguments. I actually like your “in your face” approach – for years we have been taught to walk on eggshells and “be respectful” of others beliefs, when the reverse is certainly not true.
Being raised in Texas meant being raised Southern Baptist. Unfortunately for them, I also learned to read. What started the whole religion thread unraveling for me was a 6-part documentary on PBS in 1987 titled “The Power of Myth” – Bill Moyers interviewing Joseph Campbell. Then I read Campbell’s book “The Hero with 1000 Faces” – I started thinking how odd it was that so many myths and religions have common metaphors.
Then I read an article in “Wired” a few years back titled “The New Atheists” – which introduced me to Sam Harris, Chris Hitchens, Dawkins, etc. I have also read a couple of books by Bart Ehrman: “Misquoting Jesus” and “Jesus, Interrupted”
Anyway, after all of this, I have came to the unavoidable conclusion that the Bible is not only NOT the “inerrant word of God”, but it is shamelessly fabricated, contradictory, and borrows heavily from older myths.
Thanks for a great site, GB – feel free to correspond if you are so inclined. It would be great fun to share thoughts with you.
Cheers!
Mike
From: jbspry(at)lycos.com
Subject: The Archangel Michael
Dearest Brother in Xst:
I enjoyed your item on The King of Pop. Just a few thoughts…
Why did you make a distinction between “The Reverend” and “The Weird”? Your shameless use of this “sacred” media riot was, well, shameless. Kudos! It occurs to me that if Michael had hated idiots half as much as you do he might not have collapsed under the weight of their disgusting and pathetic adoration for him. Anyway, Keep up the good work.
Yours ’til Kingdom Cum,
Jay B Spry
From: charlie.zien(at)gmail.com
Subject: agnosticism
hi, i got linked to your site from skepticwiki.org. i really like your writing and can identify with you quite a bit (also raised in a liberal jewish household, bar mitzvah, etc). admittedly, i did not read your entire site (there’s a lot there) but from what i did read you never brought up the idea of agnosticism. don’t you think atheism involves a certain amount of blind faith? that is to say, though the possibility of a god is unlikely, how do you know without a doubt that there is no god?
From: xmented(at)live.com
Subject: your site
someone posted a link to your news page on a michael jackson fan board saying that you had pictures from his family home. i checked it out thinking it was a tribute page of some sort and instead i found your god hating filth. pray now and ask for his grace and mercy. confess your sins and ask for his forgiveness. you will die in your sins if you don’t. shame on your for making fun of michael and disgracing his memorial with your stupid filth. he was one of god’s children. you are an ass.
Editor’s Note: Yes, I am an ass.
From: reddaustin(at)yahoo.com
Subject: Thanks
Dear Godless Bastard,
I found your website just a few weeks ago, through FSTDT, and have never regretted it since. You are probably one of the most consistent sources of logical argument against all aspects of religion that have seriously impacted us all for the worse. The stuff presented on your website NEEDED to be said by someone. Thanks for being brave enough to actually say it all; the hate mail you’ve received shows well enough what you’re up against.
Sincerely,
Stewart Austin
From: [withheld]
Subject: No more miracles?!
Hello GB
you know all about this one – the famous plane crash that was saved by…A MIRACLE! (not of course the countless thousands of flying hours of a cool headed, forty year experienced pilot etc), but A MIRACLE!!
Capt Sullenberger said, “One way of looking at this might be that for 42 years, I’ve been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience: education and training. And on January 15 the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal.”
But wait, no! @$#% that gloryhound pilot and his bravery medal – GOD was flying that plane (after the goose hit it of course).
And of course there is testimony from SURVIVING PASSENGERS who KNOW it was a miracle!
http://www.jaxobserver.com/2009/06/11/jacksonvilles-don-jones-a-miracle-on-the-hudson
When he stood at the podium, the crowd silenced as though someone touched by God was about to speak. Members leaned forward and hung on every word. The first thing Don said was, “I’m going to tell you about a story with a real happy…tremendously happy outcome. A story with really no beginning and no end. Something that took place in less than five minutes. In my experience, it was a Miracle. In fact, according to Webster’s Dictionary, it defines a miracle as an event that has divine intervention by the hand of God. Using that definition, it was a true miracle.”
BUT…
what do the “authorities” want to do now? They want to TAKE AWAY the possibilities of future miracles by mass goosicide – killing EVERY miracle potential causing goose near the airport!
What if they killed that golden goose BEFORE that fateful day of 15 January 2009?!
No goose – no collision – no miracle!
And don’t we really all need miracles to remind us WHO IS REALLY IN CONTROL OF THINGS?!
http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,25624549-5014090,00.html
Good on you Mayor Bloomberg! Let’s clean up this town! And let’s start with those troublesome border skipping CANADIAN geese interfering flight hours of the omnipresent Wunderkind In The Clouds.
And as for that AirFrance plane that crashed recently, well – miracles are reserved for god lovin’ US citizens only, thank you!
-AAC
[please withhold name - my Goose affiliations may give cause for a visit from the Skyways Shotgun Patrol]
From: godspotting(at)godspotted.com
Subject: Godspotting
i feel sorry for you…
stef juan
Editor’s Note: Thanks, Stef. Your pity carries so much weight in this world. This means a lot to me. GodlessBastard.com appreciates your ongoing support.
From: skidog456(at)gmail.com
Subject: [blank]
If I am dilisunal or whatever else you would like to call me why would you care so much about my beliefs and about everyone else beliefs. Why are you being discriminative to something you have never deeply looked into. I don’t know if you are agnostic or an atheist and I could definatly ask you some questions that would trouble you but for the sake of your time I won’t because I wouldn’t want to show you the truth. And I’m not a coward yyou are the coward who is stubborn and look and view through other perspectives and is too timid to try believing the actual Christian faith so now I shall ask your question take a look coward.
Editor’s Note: And how exactly do you know that I’m being “discriminative to something [that I] have never deeply looked into?” You don’t even know me. And how exactly am I being discriminative? Clearly, you don’t know what the word means. Typical knee-jerking Christian. But bonus point to you for calling me a coward. See, I call you a coward repeatedly throughout the site, then you get offended and call me a coward thinking that somehow it turns things around. Mmmm. That’s smart! And it’s spelled “delusional.” It’s important that you know how to correctly spell your disorder.
From: demonhawk1993(at)gmail.com
Subject: You shouldn’t let people *JUST* believe in their religion:
Let me explain. as you mentioned here: www.godlessbastard.com/meet, you said you just wanted people to not be hyporites about their religion I understand that. I just don’t respect it. Does that mean you want them to all atheists fools, and stone all homosexuals to death?
/point/
I think getting them to be hypocrites is never enough. You need to get rid of it altogether, it discourages the seeking of knowledge, and anchors our society down to one set of morals
Paul Jago
P.S. FORGOT TO MENTION: If you want me to back up my claims, reply back.
Editor’s Note: I have no clue what this guy’s talking about and can’t quite seem to decipher his crypto-talk. I’m guessing from his email address (“1993″) that he’s about 16 years old. Shocker.
From: kenja_4(at)hotmail.com
Subject: [blank]
Hello godless bastard!
Just wanted to say after stumbling upon your site that you are now one of my internet heroes. The style of your site is pretty unique and i applaud you for this. Sorry i couldn’t provide you with any interesting hate mail to laugh at, but the fact your getting a lot of that anyway only shows your site is a success.
appreciations from a fellow atheist,
J.K.
From: jon(at)gatescanyon.com
Subject: kudos
Great Site – thought about letting loose with my own thoughts, but realized you had all the bases covered already.
I always felt it would be great if someone wrote a song you could play whenever some nutcase tries to push his flavor of “if you don’t do what I say you are going hell” on you – that would make the offender’s head explode like Country music did to the Martians in Mars attacks! -
I am happiest when drinkin tequila and talking to my horse – never had a single disagreement with him.
As for what happens to you when you die – wherever my horse goes when I shoot him – that’s where I want to go – and as we all know – he don’t give a rats ass about god.
Found you by searching the word godless – you came right up.
Jon Steven
From: hulkingone(at)yahoo.com
Subject: [blank]
I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12) You stupid stupid fuck. Go on with your blasphemous ways – but you will pay the price someday and by then it will be far too late. Fuck you and your web site and your dumb ass fans. Fools are you all.
From: mattboston84(at)hotmail.com
Subject: FUCK YOU
FUCK YOU AND YOUR WEB SITE. ITS TOTAL A WAIST OF TIME. LAUGH NOW AND PAY LATER GOD HATER.
From: wormed7600(at)gmail.com
Subject: Awesome site
Hey there Mr. Bastard,
I was reading your weakness section and thought of this:
“When you’re hungry, you seek food. When you’re cold, you seek warmth. When you’re tired, you seek rest. When you’re weak, you seek strength. When you seek strength, you go to the gym.”
Ok, so suppose the Christian god exists, then god created the gym for us to use, so we’ll use it. Now, if god doesn’t exist, then man created the gym to give ourselves strength, so we’ll use it.
If god exists, we fear him enough to (hopefully) act morally. If god doesn’t exist, we (very hopefully) fear the consequences of our actions from other people enough to act morally.
Regardless of whether or not we believe in god, we should be seeking to improve ourselves and act morally.
Your arguments remind me of the Southpark episode where Randy Marsh is trying to quit drinking and he basically gives up because alcoholism is called a disease that he can’t control during the AA meetings.
Secondly, here’s my take on the ‘Believe because its safer’ argument. Besides the fact that there are over a hundred religions and gods to believe in or deny, there’s still a chance that god hates all humans that worship him, take its name in vain, or attribute to it human characteristics. Imagine if I had a class where it was rumored that we wouldn’t be having a final exam. Evidence starts to pop up that we aren’t having a final exam (the professor never mentions anything about it or posts anything online). Imagine if we weren’t assigned a final exam period because the professor, without telling us, decided not to take one. If there are still people who think there is a final exam and study, is that safer? If that were our only class, then yeah, I guess it would be safer. But we have 3 or 4 other classes, so the studiers would be WASTING THEIR TIME preparing for something that IS NEVER COMING. Let me know what you think of this analogy.
Also, I hate it when people attribute ‘miracles’ to god, but tragedies to people or the devil. God does it all or none. When I was growing up, I was raised as a muslim but I couldn’t rationalize free will coexisting with omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence for obvious reasons, but my friends just repeated the mantra that the all powerful can do whatever he wants. I found a recent article about a supposed ‘miracle’ (as mentioned in the comments). While I’m glad the woman is fine and surprised, didn’t god cause the man to die?
http://blog.al.com/live/2009/04/woman_survives_near_pointblank.html
It’s even worse when they try to steal the thunder from doctors who heal people. I’m sure you’ve read about people who use prayer to heal the sick (instead of, you know, insulin or chemo), as what happened to your friend. (If someone put their hand on my chest, I’d snap his wrist.) On a side note, your friend should apply for badass of the decade for beating cancer THREE times. At the very least, start a rubber bracelet campaign about the “Hat Trick Hero”). Children are dying because of deluded idiots who either believe that prayer is the only way to heal their kids or if they’re just self-aggrandizing bastards who use their kids to make themselves look pious.
I wonder if the siblings of the 11 year old diabetes case last year were removed from the home to prevent further abuse. I’d like to see how far faith and prayer will get the dad while getting bum raped in prison.
Lastly, I saw a really funny answer to a Yahoo question: “What is your favorite bible fairy tale?”
“There’s one theme I like, rather than a single story. An all-powerful perfect being creates the world, but he screws it up so bad, he wipes it out with a flood and starts over. Somehow, flooding it and starting over didn’t work, so the all-powerful perfect being gets himself born as a human, gets himself killed, and that’s supposed to fix things. But this all-powerful perfect screwup still didn’t fix things, so he promises to come back and blow everything up all over again as “foretold” in the book of Revelation. Will he ever get it right? Will God finally perfect his creation, or will he keep getting pissed off and destroying everything? Will there be a sequel to the Bible? Will it be made into a film?”
I’m totally going to use this when people bring up how god created such a perfectly designed world. Rough drafts, anyone?
From: joshbl56(at)hotmail.com
Subject: Good Job
Good job on the site, made my day a whole lot better, keep doin’ what you do.
From: [withheld]
Subject: Further
Hola GB
just checked your site again – congratulations on the nuptials for November [whatever a nuptial is]
don’t worry – I got married in a church too (whoever pays the piper calls the tune!) After countless centuries of graft and corruption, they actually have very good facilities – so put em to good use when you can!
[and after you get married you get plenty of opportunity to talk personally to jeebus/god etc - eg. "Jesus H Christ woman - MUST YOU KEEP BRINGING THAT UP!" etc - all good fun.
AC
From: [withheld]
Subject: uninformed decision
here’s a new idea for a brand new religion capable of encompassing all known religions and atheism, agnosticism and any other ism you care to invent, brag about, entertain, or notionlalize. virtually all religions have one thing in common – an ethereal unseen eternal higher power, be it god, jesus, mohammed, or whatever. and the key to the entrance exam is always professing undying belief and allegiance to something in the somewhere that is all powerful and chock full of gooey goodness that promises to redress every wrong you’ve ever suffered or justifies that you’re right to go out and do so yourself.
xtians, based mostly on a guy named paul who had himself hung upside down now are embroiled over changes made to their high holy book that are being refuted by ancient manuscripts like the codex sinaiticus where there’s no mention of a ressurection and it seems that that idea may have been thrown in to ‘punch up’ the story, the mooslims who wanna kill everyone that doesn’t want to go sit on mohammed’s lap. the jews who believe whatever anyone from 5 millenia ago wrote down courtesy of poppin ‘sacred’ mushrooms. and then there’s von daniken and a whole host of 2012′ers.
what i have come to conclude is this. it’s a common human condition to want to ‘believe’ that you, as a human being, are the one who is solely correct and on the right track. be it god or two dust bunnies that bumped butts in space 2 squillion years ago that created everything, the basis for all of it comes down to an act of faith, one based solely on personal opinion, a choice if you will, to believe whatever it is you have decided you’re convinced of. therefore i am making a recommendation for one world religion which will immediately adopt all other religions and make them subordinate to it as sub-chapters.
see, no one has accurate information, only snippets and tidbits and at best for proof. there is only rampant unbridled speculation. therefore all religion comes down to faith, which is by its very nature an uninformed choice (UC).
UC will now be the basis of all hokey nonsense, speculation, true belief, and sky speculation as no one exists who has actual proof, can make the miracles happen on demand, or part the sea sun, moon, etc. so join us as members of UC (actually, you already have, yes even you atheists, you cant prove it either) and become one with the universal truth that finally admits that: “we don’t know and we’re proud of it, and we recognize that no one else knows either.”
membership is automatic. there are no dues, no meetings, no websites, we don’t need your money, we’re not going broke, and every time you espouse some view on eternity and the hereafter or supernatural, you are expressing your membership in this organization to the fullest! the reason is simple, you don’t know, i don’t know, they don’t know, and none of us can offer concrete empirical proof!
so shout it from the rooftops, keep your money, and reason to some degree that as you spout your beliefs that everyone else recognizes your eternal need to feel important and larger than you are, and we applaud you for admitting it! you’ve been a member since birth and will be until you die, and that the harder you profess your undying faith in ronald mcdonald or whatever it is you believe, that you are admitting your arrogance with pride and joy because you are the only one who has got it right – just like the rest of us.
From: devix91(at)googlemail.com
Subject: life’s fun. full of surprises
Atheist or theist, i think I’m neither. I’m a little kid who believes in fairy tales, and likes to be free. I believe there is more to this life then reality or what we see, but religion isn’t the way to go.
Your website was a great read, I like to laugh & smile and the site was very entertaining. (there were moment when my brother thought i was going insane, for I laughed like an insane monkey. haha)
Just wanted to briefly say to keep it up ^_^ . Good Luck and I wish you to have a great life, filled with joy. And happiness.
D.
From: [withheld]
Subject: Congrats!
Hey Bastard,
Congratulations on the engagement! It really does suck that you will have to appease the delusional parents, but whatever; it really doesn’t matter one way or another in terms of anything other than mythical bullshit. You should definitely do something to mock the religious aspects of matrimony though. Personally, I would hire a scandalous drag queen (think Divine) to act as the priest and deliver the sermon (or whatever the fuck they “do”). Either that or press for a pentecostal tongue blathering bullshit ceremony so at least the blight on humanity doesn’t have to audibly permeate my big day. Whatever trickery you pull, and it could be fantastic, the rents will feel all holy and Jeebusly, while you and your bride can be true to yourselves! Win-win I say!
Good luck to both of you bastards!
From: royoshi2(at)yahoo.com
Subject: Great insight
Greetings,
I found your site through fstdt.com, which I found through a video about Atheism on www.wimp.com. I’ve generally considered myself to be a relatively hardcore atheist, for years now, yet never have found a resource as well put together as your site is. I do not know if you still check your e-mail, as from what I’ve read so far (you have written quite a bit, but already I am impressed) most of the items seem to be dated circa 2004. I will continue reading, but cannot praise enough the things you are saying.
I’m sure you have better things to do with your time than to pander to random people sending you mail (despite that you blatantly ask for it on the website, I don’t want to be a pest) so I’ll leave it at that. I also added you on Facebook, that is, assuming it’s still active.
As an atheist myself, I’ve actually gained a lot of insight, whereas some sites that I’ve found tend to be thoughtless – just generic hate strewn about for the sake of defying the christian god. Great work!
Royce
From: tummyrubbers(at)q.com
Subject: [blank]
The fact that U use so much of your life TIME being angry, fills me with SO MUCH pity 4 U.
Jack ‘n Rose McWain
Kelso, Washington
www.heartdachs.com
Editor’s Note: Meet the faces of pity.
From: [withheld]
Subject: So awesome, that you are.
Hello hello, Godless Bastard.
Not too keen on sharing my name on-line, no matter who I talk to, so we’ll say it’s Shoe.
Anyway, my name is Shoe, devout atheist since I was 14 (turning 19 on April 5th), and your site was a marvelous read. Also love the story about your friend who’s the 3-time cancer-survivor; something to slap in the face of those who cry, “But claspy-hand words to magic skydaddy make boo-boo go bye-bye, and doctor with machine-things no need no more!” (or something that pretty much expresses the intellect of that sentence).
My parents raised, or at least tried to raise me, Lutheran, although today only Mom is Christian and Dad ended up becoming atheist too after some looking back on things. Even way back then though, I remember having trouble buying it, which I owe to this one memory I have of Mom reading me a children’s Bible (about the beginning of the universe, and it obviously had little pictures) and all I could think was, “Is that naked guy there god?” (and I really got into trouble for that at the daycare I went to from pre-school until I was eight, which was also Lutheran).
I must’ve been pretty lucky compared to most other peeps though. Never went to church on Sunday, never been made to pray for anything, and the most indoctrination I got was the Lutheran daycares (we’ve moved around quite a bit after I turned 7) I stayed at from pre-school until I was eight (and even then, the most I got out of it was singing those dorky songs and watching cartoons like Scooby-doo or The Brave Little Toaster, maybe the occasional Veggie Tales), and most of my actual interest then was in dinosaurs and this rather large book on the mythology of different ancient cultures (when I was 9, I actually asked for a book on “What man was before he was a monkey-thing” because even as a “Christian”, evolution to me seemed the plausible way to explain how things actually came ot be, and I was at first frustrated that I got that book instead, but got into reading up on Greek and Egyptian mythology back then regardless). I also suppose that Mom adopting her next two kids from China (my siblings and I were all adopted due to Mom being sterile), also got us all into looking at Asian traditions for a bit. …Shit, that’s trainwreck to look at.
So I continued being a Christian-who-didn’t-do-Christian-things up until just before my pre-teens when I found out about gay people. People who prefer going out with people of their own sex rather than the opposite?…what do you know! (as it would turn out, I would be a self-proclaimed asexual from age 12-16, which I than came out to being gay to several friends)
But then following that, I would discover the scum that was the homophobe. And here I was, reading recounts of this bastards yelling at gay people, beating them, threatening them with hell if they didn’t either go celibate or go all the way to marry someone who’s surely a complete turn-off to them. I was especially replused by the fact that these homophobes were Christians. There are so many worse people who were probably deserving of hell, murderers, rapists, and pedophiles came to mind, but they were saying that two men or two women having consensual sex with each other and probably even devoted to each other are getting the same punishment that a murderer would according to some uninteresting book?
It would be my first encounter with a Jehovah’s Witness on Halloween, who had the galls to tell me that my favorite holiday was a one way ticket to their hell, along with the silly threats against homosexuality, that would eventually make me proclaim myself atheist to avoid being associated with them, and then the many other things I learned they were against that made me quite happy that I dropped the label. Being pro-life, yet very pro-war. The KKK. How the Holocaust was a product of fanatical Catholicism. And most especially, trying to teach intelligent design in science in public schools, a whopping slap to the face to understanding the scientific process that even a high school student like me could see.
What I’ve found the most pitiful growing up was that these people took the fairy tales that a 6-year old me could care less about as absolute fact. These people fuck up in following the rules of their precious book, particularly that “Love thy neighbor” rule which I always thought would’ve been their most important one, they force others to join them, attack those who don’t, get even more pissed about those within their groups actually reading up on other beliefs. Oh, and now they’re crying, “Persecution! B’AAAWW!” because they’re not allowed to be bigoted assholes to people who aren’t white or aren’t straight or who’re some woman who wouldn’t take some guy’s shit and instead called him out on it. These people I think are most certainly the cause of my boyfriend’s (for two years, fundy bitches!) suicidal tendencies (he’s grown up in the Bible Belt unfortunately), and will probably be the cause of the Armageddon they seem to badly want to happen.
Anyway, knowing how stupid these people are, its a pleasure to have found your site. And your Hall of Shame most especially gives me the giggles, to see Christians get owned brutally when they think they’ve found an easy target to wittle down into their sheeple group. Please keep up with this stuff. And if you’re able to ever get back into putting up rants that peeps send in, you can use everything in this e-mail besides the first three chunks of text (even if it does show that I think in hideous giant blocks of text in my rants instead of proper paragraph format) and this chunk of text and anything after it.
Hope to be seeing more, Shoe.
From: [withheld]
Subject: heavy duty thought for the day
This is an email I sent out to some friends earlier. Thought I’d pass it along in case you’re interested. It’s a little drier than some stuff, but thought-provoking nonetheless (the other person’s writing, not my own). The [italicized] stuff is the interesting stuff to me. The rest is for context.
So I’m reading a book called “The Mature Mind,” by Harry Overstreet. It’s fascinating on many levels. I’m sharing it with you now, because we’ve had so many discussions about the frustrations of evangelicalism, the sort of nationalism promoted (demanded) by the likes of Bush and Palin and other such topics. This is a broader discussion on (you may have guessed by the title) what it takes to have a mature mind – and a mature society.
Here’s an excerpt from the section titled “Forces that Shape Us:”
Three major strains in our cultural philosophy compete for dominance. In certain times and places, they engage in open warfare. In others, they exist side by side in a state of uneasy truce. In yet others, they engage in a hearty and superficial pretense that, in spite of minor differences, they all belong to one big happy family. Their warfare, their uneasy truces, and their sophistic agreements are reflected, in some measure, in the practices of our every institution – social, political, economic, educational, religious – and in the behaviors of every member of our culture.
The first strain is that of authoritarianism, both religious and political. Strict orthodoxy – whether Catholic, Protestant or of some other sort – encourages a certain type of character structure. The “believer” is rated as sincere and wholehearted to the extent that he takes things on faith and exempts certain areas of experience from critical examination. To the extent that he is thus “sound,” he leaves to some vested authority – priest, minister, or other – the major responsibility of defining his spiritual responsibility. Thus, in a double sense, he is invited to remain immature: mentally, in that he foregoes his human right to ask, as an individual, certain questions that have tantalized the mind of man ever since he became man; and emotionally, in that he accepts a basic spiritual dependence as his lifelong estate. The rewards offered him for being thus a “believer” also tend to perpetuate his psychological childhood: on the one hand, he is permitted, during his term on earth, to feel himself a member of the “elect,” different from the unregenerate crowd of people variously lost in error; and on the other hand, he is permitted to anticipate a sort of cosmic accolade that will be his private own through a perpetual and unsharing bliss…
…Patriotism has, for the most part, taken forms that have encouraged uncritical adherence to the policies of one’s own nation – “my country right or wrong” – and a blunting of the imagination as to the needs, rights, and attitudes of the people of other nations. The effect of the nationalistic patriotisms has been to discourage linkages of understanding, sympathy, and co-operation with other nations – and with the people of those nations – and to encourage the kind of exclusiveness that fosters suspicion and hostility…
…Thus the strain of authoritarianism in our culture – whether religious or political or both – has been powerful to hold the average individual in a condition of immature dependence. In the chief matters of his concern he has had to learn how to forego independence of judgment and creative initiative and be willing to accept life as fashioned for him by powers that claim his grateful adherence but deny him the right to think freely for himself. [End Excerpt]
Editor’s Note: I shortened the italicized excerpt above for brevity.
The main reason I find this discussion fascinating is the Mr. Overstreet wrote it in 1949.
Yet it remains relevant and a perfect description for so much we see today – religious zealotry, an almost fascist-style demand for nationalism. We accuse people who disagree with the (their) government of being unpatriotic simply for disagreeing with something the government has done. And we see a blending of religion and politics that demands, as the last sentence says, that we do not think for ourselves.
I suppose it was only inevitable that religion and politics would mix on this front. People who seek the luxury of feeling they are members of the elite must give over their right to think for themselves. Both religion and politics offer fertile ground on this front (in fundamentalist extremes).
It’s never been the religion or the political party that was the problem. It’s always the extremism that occurs when we let the religion or party become more important than the free thinking that began them – the free thinking that was necessary to arrive at the ideas the religion or party was first founded upon.
Well, that’s my diatribe for the day. I just thought I’d share it with a few of you. I suppose I might post it on my blog as well, but I’m not so good at keeping up with that.
Abby
From: nigeldisalvia(at)live.com
Subject: Great site.
Keep up the good work. I have read every article on your site and enjoyed them all. I found your site through FSTDT. On their homepage you are listed as a friend. One thing that was amusing was the fact that some of your links are to the EB (www.evilbible.com) site of which I am a member. The discussion forum is down at the moment due to maintenance, but when it is back up I will put in a post about your site. I know that many there will get a kick out of reading your essays (rants?)
Nigel Di Salvia.
From: 82acehigh(at)gmail.com
Subject: some support
hey you bastard,
you probably receive shiploads of mail, but after reading through your page i couldn’t help but drop you a line.
i’m somewhat tired of the theist vs. atheist discussion, as one of these two has closed his mind by default and isn’t willing to learn or at least consider alternatives anyway. but what struck me about your site is the hilarity you approached the subject with, and let me tell you, i’ve had one hell of a good laugh while reading your page. so thanks for the laugh man, and keep on going.
Cheers,
Michael from Amsterdam, The Netherlands
p.s. if you ever get over here, let me know. we’ve taken godlessness to an entire new level
From: [withheld]
Subject: entitled to our own opinions?
Lately I’ve been dealing with some people who, whenever we differ, simply try to say that people are entitled to their own opinions, or maybe we remember things differently.
I’ve been struggling with the idea that we might be entitled to our own opinions, but those opinions can be wrong. (As in the case of the Catholic bishop who has opined that the Holocaust never happened. He’s entitled to that view – but he’s wrong. He’s also entitled to the backlash – like excommunication.)
Then I came across the Wikipedia entry for “truthiness” – a lovely piece about Stephen Colbert’s development of the word. I’m most intrigued by the observation that “it used to be that everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.” Interesting observation that even facts are optional these days. I feel like I’ve been around long enough to feel this shift – perhaps why it’s so frustrating. I’m sure I could find fault with the internet if I tried hard enough, especially since facts are optional (or McDonald’s – they’re usually at the root of everything bad .
I recommend reading the whole thing, but here’s an interesting excerpt:
When asked in an out-of-character interview with The Onion’s A.V. Club for his views on “the ‘truthiness’ imbroglio that’s tearing our country apart”, Colbert elaborated on the critique he intended to convey with the word:[5]
Truthiness is tearing apart our country, and I don’t mean the argument over who came up with the word…
It used to be, everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. But that’s not the case anymore. Facts matter not at all. Perception is everything. It’s certainty. People love the President because he’s certain of his choices as a leader, even if the facts that back him up don’t seem to exist. It’s the fact that he’s certain that is very appealing to a certain section of the country. I really feel a dichotomy in the American populace. What is important? What you want to be true, or what is true?…
Truthiness is ‘What I say is right, and [nothing] anyone else says could possibly be true.’ It’s not only that I feel it to be true, but that I feel it to be true. There’s not only an emotional quality, but there’s a selfish quality.
I like this excerpt because it perfectly articulates why it’s so frustrating to make a logical argument, supported by facts and evidence, only to be told, “well, that’s your opinion” by someone who has no support whatsoever for their beliefs – they just like them. They’re conveeeenient.
All this started with a trip to Wikipedia on “conventional wisdom” – also an informative entry.
Abby
From: ilive4christ2day(at)hotmail.com
Subject: hey fuck stick ahole god hater
i read your shit years ago and your still up to the same dumb tricks. got anything new in your sad sack of LIES? you can’t win because you can’t beat GOD or his followers. we have the truth and the light on our side. what a pathetic waste of time. hope you like it hot. go fuck yourself.
Editor’s Note: Thank you.
From: [withheld]
Subject: HUH!?!?!?!?!
I just pulled this off of a Yahoo article. It made my head swim – then I laughed alot.
“Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner is a born-again Christian whose faith informs his every decision, right down to his jersey number. By choosing No. 13, Warner means to send the message that his spirituality allows no room for superstition.”
WHAT?!?!?!?!?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Chuck
From: kissedaprincegotafrog(at)hotmail.fr
Subject: Unbeliever, godless bitch, infidel – and proud of it
Love the site, it’s like a good book that you can’t put down and now it’s nearly 5.30 a.m. (an ungodly hour, if ever there was one). Thank you for reinforcing my faith – in humans.
From: forma343(at)gmail.com
Subject: Seminarians gone wild
No doubt you’ve seen this site before, it’s one of the best examples of Poe’s law on the web (Landover is too obviously a joke). Anyway, they’ve thrown some classic Christian apologetics into the mix, maybe for their Catholic readership: A Philosophical Argument for Masturbation.
I have to say it’s a good deal more convincing than most philosophical proofs of God.
Cheers,
Tab
From: harris3810(at)gmail.com
Subject: Fellow Rational Person
Hey dude, I found you site through the link on Wikipedia in the section about the bananas. Whatever, you know the one I am talking about. Thanks for the site, I think it’s awesome.
I would like to share a personal testimony with you, just like a good Christian. Since I read the Godless Bastard site, Why Won’t God Heal Amputees, and God Is Imaginary, I have had a complete transformation come over the way I view the world. Food tastes better, I am kinder to people and say more meaningful things, and the world makes more sense. Knowing that you only have so much time and just one chance to enjoy that time really changes your attitude. My relationship with my family is different, and I find myself enjoying things more than before. There is no anger or despair, and my faith in the capabilities of mankind has become renewed and strengthened. My mind is much clearer, and I have the urge to apply it to problems that before caused distress.
I read a lot of blogs, some right and some left, and I can really tell that I place a much higher value on life than people who are supposed to be religious. If you understand and accept that once someone is dead they are dead you really become aware of how utterly awesome and precious life is.
I have considered myself a non-believer, atheist, or whatever you want to call it for many years, but I realized that I still believed in a god, and I was angry at it because it never made sense. The three web sites I visited helped me finally put down the burden of anger and confusion, and for that I would like to say thanks. I have now begun to spread the same message to the people around me, not in a bitter way, but in a rational, logical way. I really feel like I am getting through to many of them. I use your site to do so on a daily basis. It’s really nice to be lead into the light of thoughtfulness.
Harris
From: agleicher(at)comcast.net
Subject: Hiya Bastard
My name is Allison and I’m 37 years old. I live in south Florida. I attended 12 years of catholic school. So obviously I’m an atheist. I thoroughly enjoyed your website. You put a lot of time an effort into it. It’s one o’clock in the morning and I have 4 kids. I gotta get up early to get the guys to school. So I didn’t get to read the whole site but you and I have almost identical feelings. Except I do feel I am angry. When I think those same things and say those same things, I feel angry. I have a lot of anger towards stupid christians in general. I have serious hatred towards them. Not sure where it all stems from but, whatever. It is what it is.
My husband (ex-jew at the age of 15) and I are devout atheists. We’re raising our 4 children to laugh and scoff at the believers. We joined the South Florida Atheists. Some good people. Ken is a super guy. If your ever in town I’m sure he’d love to have you speak at one of the meetings.
It just seems uncanny how similar, almost identical you and I both feel about religion. That was the main reason for me writing. I kept shaking my head ‘yes’ the whole time I was reading. The only difference is you saying you weren’t angry and me knowing in some way I am angry. I am pissed off. Stupid people piss me off. It must be the Irish in me. I am 75% Irish. That might have a lot to do with it. And OH YEAH my Irish catholic family just loves the fact that I’m an atheist. NOT!
Short story: One thing that irked the crap outta me was talking to a girl I grew up with. Explaining my beliefs to her (she asked). She asks me “How can you be a devout atheist?” It was like DUH?! What do you mean how? Same way you can be devoted to anything I guess. She never understood. It was so stupid. Fucking catholic retard.
I do try and convert people. I can’t stand all these stupid friggin’ jesus freaks running around. I make sure I let people know I’m an atheist. I wear it loud and proud.
Thanks for your website and all your hard work. Keep up fight.
Sincerely, Allison Palmer-Gleicher
P.S. Sorry for the babble. I am an intelligent person but it being so late and getting up so early, I do sound like a dummy but I’m not. Hey I’m smart enough to be an atheist!
From: [withheld]
Subject: Your website and a reading suggestion
You don’t need anymore praises (or hate mail for that matter, I’d imagine). But I’d like to give you mad props anyway. *thumbs up*
I don’t know if you’ve read this book: Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World, Science As a Candle in the Dark. I consider it the holy bible of atheists. Not in that it’s a work of fiction, containing sheer lunacy, delusions and insanity, but because it is the rantings of another clear mind, full of reason, logic and research. But because it should replace every holy bible in hotels. If I owned a hotel, I’d totally do it!
A chapter I really like is called The Dragon in My Garage (Google it, it’s been posted online). Basically, he hypothetically makes a claim that a dragon lives in his garage. A friend wants to see it. Seeing none, the friend wants to spread flour on the ground to see the foot prints.
“The dragon’s floating in the air.”
“Let’s spray paint him!”
“But he’s in corporeal. Spray paint won’t stick.”
“Let’s use infrared detector to see the fire that he breaths.”
“He breaths heatless fire.”
Now, what’s the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all?
Sagan writes against UFOs, abductions, ghosts, hallucinations, pseudoscience, astrology, religions, false visions, mass hysteria, etc. etc… An incredible read. I hope you enjoy it. Pardon my getting excited about sharing this if you’ve ALREADY read this.
Found your website when I was searching for Ray Comfort/Kirk Cameron’s banana argument (lol). If you decide to publish this email, you can include my name. Don’t publish my e-mail.
Best regards,
Khoa
From: [withheld]
Subject: Thanks
Mr. Bastard,
I love your site – it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside to read intelligent content after dealing with so many ignorant, assuming Christians.
If there were a god, he would add 2 more hours to the end of every day so I could have time to peruse your site more thoroughly.
Thanks,
Kristy
From: swiffersweeper2(at)gmail.com
Subject: Love Your Site
Hello,
I just wanted to make a quick point. However, I want to preface this point by saying that I love the site. Plenty of it is funny and you’ve picked some great videos and pictures to accompany the text.
The one thing I found on your site that I disagree with is the small blurb about circumcision. Circumcising little, non-consenting babies is, in my opinion, a barbaric practice. It goes against your self-made commandments about not removing someone’s life or limbs (okay, I’m stretching there, but I’m keeping true to the spirit of the statement). It is in no way analogous to making a vehicle with an additional part that you’d have to remove before the vehicle starts. The intact penis works plenty fine, if not better than the circumcised one. If you don’t believe me there is plenty of information about the issue out there on the WWW.
Anyway, sorry if you’re offended at my e-mail – I know plenty of guys are touchy about that subject. However, I wanted to point that out so that you could perhaps edit the section about circumcision and consider that the practice is barbaric at worst and definitely does not consider the individual’s right to consent to a procedure (with so little benefit for the price [we don't sew the ears of a newborn on to the back of the head because little children may not wash behind them]) at best.
Sincerely,
Amy
P.S. I found your site because a commenter mentioned it on fstdt.com.
Editor’s Note: Amy, if you go back and re-read my commentary, you’ll see that I said absolutely nothing about whether or not babies should be circumcised. Not a single word. My commentary was limited to some moron’s argument that circumcision proves god’s word. But all that notwithstanding, as a man I get to trump you (being that you’re a woman) by playing my “I have a penis” card. (You don’t have one – at least I hope not.) It would be like me lecturing you on how having a period isn’t that big a deal so stop complaining about your cramps, PMS, and all that other crap. But at any rate, I’m circumcised and I prefer it that way. I have no recollection of this “barbaric practice” nor do I remember any discomfort at all.
Having said this, I honestly don’t care one way or another. Circumcise your kid, or don’t. There are enough people on both sides of the opinion to make either one valid. But if it makes the parents feel better about it, they can leave his dick alone giving him the option to do it later in life. However, and this is where the WHOPPER of a difference is seen; he WILL have a recollection of this “barbaric practice” and will experience a ton of pain through the long healing process. (FYI, it takes days to heal as an infant and weeks to heal as an adult.)
From: [withheld]
Subject: oh yeah!
Just an email from Gilgamesh’s son…
I am an atheist and hate the stigma attached to such things. I just wanted to say merry christmas. To me it’s a wonderful holiday about family and too much food, and also bastardized pagan traditions. In other words, happy birthday jesus, but whatever, fuck that, bring on the turkey!
I love your site, keep up the good rants, I’ll be buying the God Complex when it comes out.
DusTy-D
From: gilgamesh(at)godlessbastard.com
Subject: CSE Blogs » Blog Archive » Knee-mail: Ye Shall Receive…
Check this bullshit out. Poor Ken Hovind, what a martyr. I understand the appeal he speaks of in this “knee-mail” was denied. God must of hardened their hearts. I wonder if he has joined the Aryan Nation prison gang yet?
I noticed that sixteen is the largest number of comments on any of his various blog entries. I wonder if he has received hundreds, but, being of the tenor that you or I would send, the comments have been edited for the sake of maintaining the delusion. I just checked the blog again and it says a person must be logged in to comment. I thought about going through the effort, but decided my comment would just be tossed forthright.
~Gil
From: robdude99(at)hotmail.co.uk
Subject: Brilliant Site
Having read your site a while ago, it pretty much confirmed my Atheist beliefs. And I thought you might want some laughs, I got into an argument with some woman and before I knew it, the entire thing turned into bullcrap Theist arguments, shitty Christian logic and horrible counter-arguments.
Seriously you should read this as it is [attached text file omitted]. Hilarious. There’s also some pretty decent new arguments against religion that I don’t think you have used.