Bonni Alba, a self-described "politically incorrect" researcher-writer wrote the following column decrying the placement of "In God We Trust" on the side of the new dollar coin. http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/alba/070301
However, I'm not going to even address the ridiculous assumptions she makes about how this will devastate the country. Rather, I'm going directly to the source of this type of belief: The utter insistence that our survival depends on the acknowledgement of God by the society as a whole.
Below I will present the email I sent to her:
Dear Bonnie,
I would like to address some faulty assumptions that you have expressed in your recent column.
First faulty assumption, would is that God actually exists. This seems to allow the second faulty assumption, which is that God actually somehow has influence over us, or this country. Yes, many founders did believe that there actually was a "god" or that it might actually have some influence over us. But the best learned ones had the biggest doubts of god and its influence. However, what the current right-wing theocrats like you want to do is criminalize the non-believers, or--when secular equal protection still remains for it--cast them to the fringes of society and allow the 'moral majority' to have their way with them in civil discourse, such as employment, housing, and exclusion from organizations such as charities. There are already examples of rational people being excluded simply for not believing.
I will ensure that my son will see your religion for the irrational superstition that it is. I will also provide him with the means to counter any attack, physical or verbal, that you might throw at him when he goes to school or participates in other communal activities. There is no reason why his rationality should force him to be excluded from the community or cause him to silence his objections to clear irrationality. Yes, he will be well equipped to deal with absolutists like yourself who place religious dogma above science.
Since you are politically-incorrect yourself, I'm sure you will not find any of this offensive.
Sincerely,
Markus
http://layatheist.blogspot.com/
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