“Pastor” Mike Stahl recently posted on his (now ‘by invitation only’) blog that he was thinking about creating a national atheist registry in order, I suppose, that folks would be able to protect themselves from Satan’s evil minions on earth by being aware of their neighbour’s near-criminal lack of belief in god.
Says Mr. Stahl (verbatim):
Now, many (especially the atheists), may ask “Why do this, what’s the purpose?”Duhhh, Mr. Atheist for the same purpose many States put the names and photos of convicted sex offenders and other ex-felons on the I-Net – to INFORM the public! I mean, in the City of Miramar, Florida, where I live, the population is approx. 109,000. My family and I would sure like to know how many of those 109,000 areADMITTED atheists! Perhaps we may actually know some. In which case we could begin to witness to them and warn them of the dangers of atheism. Or perhaps they are radical atheists, whose hearts are as hard as Pharaoh’s, in that case, if they are business owners, we would encourage all our Christian friends, as well as the various churches and their congregations NOT to patronize them as we would only be “feeding” Satan.
Frankly, I don’t see why anyone would oppose this idea – including the atheists themselves (unless of course, they’re actually ashamed of their atheist religion, and would prefer to stay in the ‘closet.’).
So, apparently atheists are pretty much the same as sex offenders, criminals, and devil worshipers — and need to be kept track of to limit their exposure to decent folk. Well, sign me up Mike! I am quite happy to be put on a list that demonstrates clear opposition to such a twisted world view as you seem to possess, by way of my inclusion.
I’d really love to understand how the simple non-belief in a supreme being merits such suspicion and disdain. Would pastor Mike also care to put me on a list stating I didn’t believe (despite the movie providing obvious evidence to the contrary) in Thor? I mean, come on — he’s got that funky hat and cool hammer after all… How can you not sign up to worship someone who controls the elements and once lived in city only reached by crossing a rainbow bridge? You’d think at least the gay community would be following him in droves — oh but they’re evil too… I forgot.
Frankly I don’t much care about what people use to help them get through the day and deny their own mortality. And hey, if you want to whisper to imaginary beings in hopes of gaining favour in the imaginary afterlife, fill your boots. However, I do care when I see crackpots such as pastor Mike are becoming more representative of the normal spectrum of voters particular to the United States. Any country that has a presidential debate solely on the issue of Christianity, and where the greatest smear campaign against the front-runner was to suggest he was a ‘secret muslim’, has a serious credibility deficit among the thoughtful of other nations in terms of that country’s espoused belief in freedom of religion — guaranteed by a constitution additionally seen as holy writ by its purported adherents.
Freedom of religion is fine… freedom from religion is the loftier goal, and one well worthy of pursuing.
