From: Gene McAloon 

On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 10:46:24 GMT, John Beckett
 wrote:

>"Antti Kurenniemi" 
wrote in message
>news::
>> As an atheist I could easily take offence of that, but I'll let it go by
>> replying that religion is just an excuse that weak people use so they don't
>> have to take responsibility of their own actions.
>
>Uh oh! Are you allowed to say that on a US newsserver?
>
>I'm actually coming to the view that Gary B must be trolling. Either that,
>or he wins the Gullibility Award for 2004 and possibly the 21st century.
>
>John

While to most people Gary Britt's views on atheists might seem absurd, they
are in fact common among the religious right to whom all things must come
from god, including morality. Since atheists don't believe in god, they
have no logical basis from which to devise a moral system except on an
individual basis. Therefore there can be no universal moral system
acceptable to all atheists. That is a common view among religious
conservatives and not at all unique to Gary.

It is easy even for most religious people to argue against that view, but no one
is going to convince the religious right of anything. Their ideas are too
simplistic and therefore easily held to and believed in with fervor. To
most of us people like Gary seem like fanatics, religious fanatics, and
indeed they are.
But then as they see it, it is just faith and you either have it or you
don't. Atheists don't and are therefore beyond the pale. You can say
anything about atheists and it is acceptable to the like-minded faithful -
if not to the rest of us.

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