God Bless America? Comments

I have been reading your site for the last couple of years, and having been associated with the Church for many years, it has been of interest to me. I have been grateful for the site as I have learned much about the Church that I didn't know before, but I tend to skip over the articles in which people just whine and complain and feel sorry for themselves, or just try to be sarcastic, and write mostly unfunny things that serve no real purpose. I have been a victim of the Church, too, but I've been a victim of many other things and people in my life, as we all have, and there is nothing we can do but take it all as a learning experience. The world can be a harsh place that's just a fact of life.

I am writing in regard to your latest article regarding the WTC attack. I live in New York City, and although I wasn't in that area when the attack happened, I experienced enough of it to know just how horrible and incredibly evil it was. The whole city is reeling from having looked evil right in the face. Your thesis seems to be that we are all fools for looking to God to help us get through this horrible event. You say if he was to bless us, he shouldn't have let it happen in the first place (I refuse to refer to God as IT). I assume you will only believe in a loving God if there is no suffering in the world whatsoever. The only way that can be is if God takes away everyone's free will. Every time someone picks up a cigarette, drives a car too fast in the wrong conditions, drinks too much, does anything that will cause harm to himself or others, God would have to step in and stop them immediately. Would that be a loving God? Is that how you define "blessing?" You know as well as I do, having been on this earth for a good number of years, that most of the evil in the world is caused by people their greed, their selfishness, their hate, any number of things that are condemned in the book you hate so much the Bible and by God himself. Do you really believe that living by the guidelines of the Bible loving God and loving your neighbor would only cause more evil in the world?

Yes, there are natural disasters that cause great harm and death. But there is also much beauty and goodness in the world. You must have watched a sunset in your life, listened to a bird sing, heard your children's laugh, just sat down and enjoyed a good meal with those you love where do you think all those things come from? Who gets the credit in your view? Do you give yourself credit for those things? How do you look at the wondrous way in which the world is made the beautiful way in which everything works, and then rail against God for allowing bad things to happen? What exactly does God owe us? He gave us this beautiful world, and then gave us guidelines on how to live with each other and how to take care of all that we have been given. Is it his fault that we have not done so, and thus have brought great suffering and destruction upon ourselves?

We have been living in very prosperous times, and people in this country for the most part live, in a material sense, very good lives. This nation has not felt a need for God or anything outside of themselves. But a few weeks ago we experienced evil on a scale that most of us had never experienced before. People instinctively turned to something outside of themselves, because they had no answers within. We turned to the one who created us, the only one who can truly give comfort. I'm not sure how someone who believes as you do gets though things like this. People know God was not responsible for this evil it is evil men who caused it. It is true that God did not stop them, but how often have you done things you knew would cause harm to yourself or others. If God had stopped you, would that really have solved anything?

I don't know if it's going to last, but right now New York City and the rest of the nation are looking for something bigger outside of themselves they are realizing we do not have all the answers, we can't solve all the problems. People are feeling pain they didn't know they could feel. You seem to feel you have all the answers you need within yourself the rest of us do not. You are not helping anyone by hitting them when they are hurting so badly and telling them they are all fools. People are finding comfort in God, whether you like it or not.

Because of these horrendous events, we know there are mad men in the world who must be stopped, who cannot be allowed to carry on with their hateful and murderous ways. Yes may God Bless America while she fights such evil.

Mary, How nice of you to write.

YOU WROTE:

Your thesis seems to be that we are all fools for looking to God to help us get through this horrible event.

REPLY:

I don't think that I said that but I will not disagree with it.

YOU WROTE:

I assume you will only believe in a loving God if there is no suffering in the world whatsoever.

REPLY:

I will believe in a loving God if I can see ANY evidence of IT. I am 58 years old and I'm still waiting.

YOU WROTE:

The only way that can be is if God takes away everyone's free will.

REPLY:

Ah, yes, the Free Will Defense. The defense Christianity uses to attempt to excuse God for all the evil that He/It is responsible for.

The Free Will Defense (FWD): "God chose to create a world with evil in it because he valued the moral autonomy of humans, which He knew would lead to evil, higher than pure goodness."

First of all, the FWD fails entirely as a way to free God of responsibility for non-moral, often called physical or natural, evil, since this type of evil is independent of any actions of men. Men do not cause tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, landslides, lightning, hurricanes, etc.. These are called by insurance companies, Acts of God. They recognize that there are things that God has control over and chooses not to save us from. In these cases alone, you find a God that is certainly different from any human father who would in most cases, seek to save their children from these "Acts of God." Or, how about all the carnivorous animals that inhabit our planet? God, supposedly created them that way. God did not have to create such a hostile world for us to live in and so we can see from the start that there is evil that IS attributable to God. God is therefore responsible for a lot of suffering, deaths and evil.

The FWD can only, then, be used for moral evils, those that men do themselves.

If you believe the bible teaches "Original Sin," as it certainly seems to do, then you have to believe that all those born after Adam and Eve are under a curse from God. If we are under a curse because of someone else's sin, we do not have free will. God made this decision to curse mankind so God is responsible for the evil that is caused as a result. By God, causing us to act or react in certain ways that are sinful, or really in any way, our Free Will has been taken away from us.

The Christian presumes that God is perfectly good (this while ignoring all the evidence of this God's evilness in the Bible), all knowing (if HE is all knowing, he would have known all the evil and suffering that would be caused by HIS decision to do things this way, and should have chosen a better way), all powerful ( if He could not have done this a better way, HE is not all powerful.). If He is all powerful, he could have created a world where humans would freely choose the good. This is the ideal that Christianity looks forward to in the "Kingdom" or in Heaven. Why all this suffering and pain before the ideal can be obtained? (I know the "building character defense" but show me the character that a little child is building suffering from some horrible disease.) Why would God curse us with the nature of wanting to choose evil? God, being all powerful, could have done this a different way, but God didn't. Therefore, God is responsible for the evil that we see, not Free Will.

Let me just say that I have never said that I do not believe in a god. I see the evidence of a Creator all around me. My wife and I spent almost three weeks touring the Pacific Northwest this past Summer and we were constantly in awe of the beauty and majesty of the world we live in. I just do not believe in a god that cares about mankind. I base that on what I can see, read and have experienced. I would be interested in ANY evidence to the contrary.

It seems to me that I believe more in Free Will than you do. I believe that we are on our own, that, if there is a God, IT is not intervening at all for any of us. Those passengers in the hijacked airplanes were surely praying for God to save them or to stop the hijackers, but God did not help. God allowed the evil people to do what they wanted. Do you think that the people rushing to get out of the WTC were not praying to God for help to escape before it collapsed? Those prayers were not answered for many people. Do you think that the people jumping off the WTC, having to choose between fire or jumping, were not praying to God for just a little help? God did not answer, or He answered NO.

Just what do you think is going to happen when you say "God Bless America?" Is god expected to make a difference? If God does make a difference, then he is sparing some people from suffering, death or pain, physical or mental. Why now? Why not before? What happens to our Free Will if God blesses America now, rather than before? If God even just gives comfort, God is intervening. God is meddling with a person's free will to be sad or depressed. He is changing what would otherwise be. You can't have blessings and answered prayers and still have Freewill. Any blessing that God gives forever changes what the future will be not just for the "blessed" person, but for everybody else, because we are all interconnected. See my article on the Consequences of Answered Prayer. If you want to believe in Free Will, you have to forget about prayer. Forget about blessings. Forget about God helping you at all. And that is exactly what we have right now and what we have always had.

YOU WROTE:

Do you really believe that living by the guidelines of the Bible - loving God and loving your neighbor - would only cause more evil in the world?

REPLY:

I have no problem with people loving their neighbor, as long as that includes letting him live his life the way he chooses as long as he is not hurting anyone else.

Loving God is a problem though and that is what has led to so many people being killed in the name of God. I suppose the Crusaders had a great love for God as they went about their killing. I suppose that the Inquisitors had a great love for God as they tortured and killed and helped people get right with God. Etc. Etc.

Presumably, all Christians are living according to the guidelines that they find in the Bible. I don't have a problem with that as long as they are not affecting my and other peoples' liberties and rights.

Yes, I really believe that this would be a much better world without ANY religion.

YOU WROTE:

You must have watched a sunset in your life, listened to a bird sing, heard your children's laugh, just sat down and enjoyed a good meal with those you love - where do you think all those things come from? Who gets the credit in your view?

REPLY:

I guess they must come from a God that truly believes in Free Will.

YOU WROTE:

the beautiful way in which everything works, and then rail against God for allowing bad things to happen?

REPLY:

Where did I do that? I rail against the ministers that make merchandise of weak people and mislead them into thinking that there is a god that cares about them in the face of so much evidence that there isn't. I do not rail against God, if there be one. If there be one, it seems to me that He is being perfectly fair about this whole creation/life experience thingy. As I have said before, the only fair way for a God to act would be to keep hands off entirely. If He intervenes AT ALL, he takes away Free Will from all of us. That would be completely unfair and changes the future for all of us and all of our descendants. We are on our own. That is not railing on God; that is accepting the obvious.

Oh, I might add that I do rail on the God of the Bible, which I do not consider to be any god at all, because that god is an obviously EVIL being. But that really doesn't count because we are talking about a work of fiction here. There is no proof at all that the Bible is holy or written or inspired by any god at all. The evidence is exactly the opposite. I am answering from the perspective of there being a REAL god somewhere who may be very sad at what is religiously done in his name.

YOU WROTE:

This nation has not felt a need for God or anything outside of themselves.

REPLY:

That would be good if it were true. Unfortunately the fear of death makes many people turn to religion, which purports to have answers to the mystery of life and death, when, in fact, it doesn't. This gives religious bloodsuckers the opportunity to ruin these weak persons' present lives by giving them a false, unprovable hope for life after death.

YOU WROTE:

People instinctively turned to something outside of themselves, because they had no answers within.

REPLY:

They turn to superstitions and fables and fairy tales and they still have no answers.

YOU WROTE:

We turned to the one who created us, the only one who can truly give comfort.

REPLY:

You turned to a drug. You will get as much help from alcohol or marijuana, or cocaine. What good is "comfort?" I would like a god that would DO something for me. At least the god of the OT got out and kicked some ass for his people. Or, was it just that they justified all their killing by saying that "God made them do it?" Well, all I know is that it is in that "holy" book.

YOU WROTE:

I'm not sure how someone who believes as you do gets though things like this.

REPLY:

It is a little scary to not have this invisible god looking out for me anymore but I will probably have a better chance at survival now that I realize that I have to be looking out for myself and my family rather than trusting a god that promises to help but doesn't deliver. It is very comforting to have guns, lots of them.

YOU WROTE:

If God had stopped you, would that really have solved anything?

REPLY:

If God had stopped the hijackers of the airplanes that were crashed into the WTC and the Pentagon, would that have solved anything? Well, I guess about 6,000 people would be alive today, we would not be at war, we would not be spending billions of dollars, the ordinary people of Afghanistan would not be in stark, mad fear of being bombed. What would it have taken for God to have just made it possible that these hijackers would have been stalled in a traffic jam and somehow have been exposed because of all the material evidence that they left behind? But no, God did nothing. So now, God has this big ass job answering prayers by running all over the world and having to comfort all these people who suffered a loss in this horror that He didn't have the desire to prevent..

YOU WROTE:

- they are realizing we do not have all the answers, we can't solve all the problems.

REPLY:

Well, we would all be better off if we did not turn our brains off when we have so many problems. We might be able to find the answers.

YOU WROTE:

You are not helping anyone by hitting them when they are hurting so badly and telling them they are all fools.

REPLY:

All I am saying is: wake up people. Throw the drugs away and start working things out for yourself. The drugs haven't helped. If we are going to continue to exist as a nation we have to realize that we are on our own. There is no God protecting us. We have to do it ourselves. If that makes people feel like fools then it is just because religion, in its many guises, has been making fools of all of us down through the ages.

For more information destroying the Free Will Defense click on the link below:

Does the Free-Will Defense Constitute a Sound Theodicy?

Editor

Many people are now wondering why God didn't do something to prevent the catastrophic terrorist attacks on September 11. Some are angrily accusing God of indifference to human suffering. Some might even lose their religion over this. Wouldn't that be a terrible loss?

Well, I'm here to tell you that God did do something. And we ex-WWCGers should all know what it is.

We used to belong to a cult that taught us that we had been especially chosen to be in God's one-and-only, true end-time church that was going to warn the world of the horrors to come and give all people their last chance to repent and be spared from the hideous events prophesied in the book of Revelation. Our leaders assured us that God cared about the world, because (1) He gave His only-begotten Son for us, and (2) He raised up this end-time Work to warn the world. Surely that is clear proof that God cares about all human life. Then why did He let His one-and-only, true end-time church fall apart before it was finished warning the world? Isn't that enough proof that something is wrong with this picture? We can't know God's will. We can't understand God. All we have is our pitiably primitive human reasoning, which is subject to all our human weaknesses and passions.

What did God do or not do? Those of us who were in the Worldweird Cult of Fraud in the 1960s know the answer. We heard God's messenger Garner Stud tell us on the radio over and over again. God created the world, created humanity, gave us minds, gave us all free moral agency, and commanded us to choose the way of life or the way of death. He tried to use ancient Israel to show the world how to live, and ancient Israel rejected Him. Then He stopped trying to use them as His chosen people to show the whole world the way towards life. I heard Garner Stud say this dozens of times through the 1960s and most of the 1970s, until his own filthy lust and a petty power struggle in God's true end-time cult caused him to be thrown out.

Why should God have done anything at all to stop the World Trade Center holocaust? After all, He didn't stop World War II from happening, and that war cost 25 or 30 million lives. How many tens of thousands were burned horribly by bombs or flamethrowers or crushed to death when buildings collapsed on them during World War II? He didn't stop Stalin from killing 40 million of his own fellow citizens before, during, and after World War II. We all know that the powers that be are ordained of God, and that God sets up the rulers of this world as it pleases Him, picking the basest of men to be in charge. How do I know? The Bible tells me so (tra la la). So it was God's will that Stalin rule over the USSR for 30 years. It was God's will that Adolf Hitler rule over Nazi Germany's Third Reich for 12 years. And it was God's will that Mao rule China for 30 years, during which time Mao caused tens of millions of Chinese to die.

To find out how many people have been murdered by their own rulers throughout all recorded human history, check out political science professor Rudolph Rummel's website at http://www.freedomsnest.com/rumrud.html. There has been so much killing of people by their own leaders, all of whom God set up over them, that Professor Rummel had to coin a new word for it: democide. This means the deliberate murder of people by their own government.

The World Trade Center was a drop in the bucket compared to these other recent atrocities. Why didn't God do something? He did, if we can believe the Bible account. He told us to do whatever the hell we want on this planet. And that's exactly what we are doing. We now have hell on earth.

I hope God starts letting us pick our own leaders for a change. We couldn't do much worse than our benevolent God has.

Boy oh boy. The terrorists that struck NY and Washington D.C. on September 11 are the greatest thing that have happened to Garner Ted Armstrong since the Six Day war in 1974. Check out his website: He's dusted off those hoary WCG chestnuts from years long gone by and trotted them out for another round. What the hell is wrong with these people that they can't wait for the end of civilization? I'm speaking rhetorically, of course, because it doesn't take a genius to know that there is gonna be money rolling in when people are scared into thinking that the end is near. What amazes me is that this old goat has any credibility with anyone, anywhere.

Yeah, religion is mind boggling. There is a sucker born every minute, according to P. T. Barnum. If the sheep are there, begging to be sheared, is it wrong? They feel so good when you give them what they want.

With our country under attack and the fear of war and death, I find myself just a little depressed at times, knowing that there is no evidence of any god that will protect us or even care about us. It was very comforting, way back when, knowing that, whatever happened, god would work it all out. It was stupid and naive, but comforting. It is tough knowing that we are absolutely on our own but it sure helps you to be prepared when there are so many bad people in this world.

At least we have someone in the Whitehouse that is willing to fight to defend our liberty. I wonder what would happen if Osama bin Laden and Garner Ted Armstrong were put into an arena to fight it out and all Garner Ted could take with him were his Bible. Who would win? I guess I know, just being realistic here, who my money would be betting on and it isn't with Garner Ted Armstrong. "And the God that answereth by fire, let him be God." And, just to be perfectly clear, I would like to lose that bet. I would like to find some evidence that there is a god that cares about us.

Show me your god, Garner Ted Armstrong. Show me something other than his curses.

Where was God when this disaster struck our Nation? Was he at an Arab owned 7-Eleven, buying coffee in order to awaken himself from a deep slumber?. A slumber like one of a drunken sailor? Where is God when the innocent suffer horrendously? Is the dwelling spot of this God we have all worshiped at some time in our life too distant from mankind to perform a miracle? It is as we are "the fly in which a coke bottled, freckle faced kid pulls the wings off. A cruel child in which we all are victims to be experimented with, much like a science project."

Yes things could have been consequently deleterious to a degree beyond imagination, but keep in mind :"Time and chance happen to all." We have been fortunate so far! Have faith if you will, but revenge will dwell in you. It is only natural. May G.W. Bush have the wisdom to defeat and finish the task at hand! May resolve be the corner stone of this Great and Prosperous Nation!!! May those heroes who fought off the terrorist in flight, the brave and Valiant Firemen and Police Officers of N.Y. City be commended as the heroes of our Republic! However I have a thought to ponder.....

Religion has been a source of strength for some, Karl Marx saw this as the "opiate of the people." (Think that statement thru to the finale realization) But keep in mind that every religion has it's Crusades. This time it may be America's time to suffer thru this scourge! The words of John Lennon's song "Imagine" spells it out...............

No god works in some mysterious way that causes untold suffering to his creation! Do YOU who claim to be made in GODS image treat your offspring in such a manner? Of course not if you are of a sane mind! In conclusion, it is inspiring to find fortunate missteps in life where someone's life is spared by circumstances. However to praise a god that allows such injustice to exist in the world, is indeed disconsolate at best. I'd rather take "Time and chance."

As usual, I've gotta get into the fight. Actually, I'm echoing the theme of "God Bless America?" As dead Herbie would say: "Please read this TWICE.." And there's a reason for this. "Religion" - so called - has produced nothing over the last godzillion thousand of years. Their antiquated idea of "God" lacks common sense and logic. It makes NO sense to an invisible "Big Guy" in the stars who favors some and lets others perish. Please refer to : ACTS OF GOD. Common sense, and logic conforms to "God" being an impersonal energy the permeates the universe - all life, seen and unseen. But most of the world's thinking hasn't evolved from the beginning of time.. Many still want to do the equivalent of bowing down to the sunrise every morning. "God" conforms to all life - seen and unseen. It's the fundamental basis of all thot, and doesn't give a damn about any of us (or our needs) personally. Hasn't thousands of years of human suffering proved that? God is Infinite energy. That's all. What we do with it, is up to us.

"God" bases down to pure thot. If we can find a method of harmonizing with it, we'll flow. I'm still learning too. Other than that, like the "God Bless America?" article covers . . . life is time and chance, and there's no invisible Big Man in the sky that rushes to fulfill our needs. The Twin Trade Center towers proved that. Like Joan Baez said from Bob Dylan's song: "If God is on our side, He'll stop the next war." So where's God?

This country was built on the courage on gutsy men and women who would die to defend their rights and freedom. The foundations were on three principles: (1) The Constitution of the United States, (2) The Bill of Rights, and (3) the Declaration of Independence. Nowhere on Earth has ANY country have such documents on which they lay down their fundamental rights. So now, I have to wonder why so many, well paid, political lawyers are now chipping away at these documents, in order to get around the principles for the profit of their monetary masters - whoever they may be.

How many of us learned the principles of the three main documents mentioned above while we were in WCG? Were these cultmasters simply ignorant, or didn't they care?

As far as our country goes, it's true. We live in the most blessed and productive country in the world . . . if the government didn't own most of the productive land, and leave the rest of us plebs to fight and barter over the scraps that are left over. Our forefathers set the principles, so where's God now to back us up?

As far as religion goes, it's always been an addiction concocted by salesmen. If they can keep a membership ignorant, then they can instill "fear" into anyone. Since these members were genuine folks, then why didn't God BLAST these money-grubbing crooks from their pulpits? The next church a fleeing member will try, the cultmaster will surely tell them: "But you were in the wrong church. And now, you're home."

I've often said that all these blood-suckers should be duct-taped to the side of the next space shuttle, and sent to a galaxy: "Far, far away." Let the aliens have them.

It's easy to start a church and reel in the suckers. Check out CHURCH CORPORATIONS. In California any dingbat can do it. Dead Herbie did, and look what he raked into his coiffeurs. He was a total phoney, but his bullying salesmanship got him through with the underlying theme of "fear." He was a nobody. His only three products were bullying, relying on people's ignorance, and fear.

I personally think that from Billy Graham's comments that he doesn't need an audience for his rhetoric. He needs a psychiatrist. I've never heard so much crap. We won WWII for ONE basic reason. We were the stronger nation, and we had the manpower, the weaponry . . . .and the A-Bomb.

And now, here's Jesse Jackass offering to go to "negotiate" with the Taliban. He must be as nuts as they are. Other than personal glory, what's he wanna gain? Is this man anti-American? They'd only use his visit in propaganda against us anyhow. So what's this guy doing?

There are two types of people on this planet. First: Those who are redeemable with training. Second: Those who will NEVER be convinced, no matter what logic you put forward. Their minds are in an epoxy mold. The latter applies to the Taliban and all their supporters. As a Jewish buddy of mine said: "Some men are born simply to fill a grave." For these terrorists, I'd suggest the "duct tape" scenario.

Most of us are born into our religions. Many of the children in WCG or + will be brainwashed with the plagiarized teachings of dead Herbie. Those children grow, always being told that they are "right." The Taliban is much the same. They train their children to be killers of any "infidel." And Americans - according to them - are infidels. They are taught that if you die fulfilling your cause, you'll live with "Allah" forever. When they cross over, they might find a different Allah than they expected.

But religion within our country is NOT helping. It's not being practical. It's not teaching people to look at the reality of war. This war is gonna be worse than Vietnam, because it's not confined to just one country. It's global.

While religion tries to play the pacifist (and collects the bucks), there are maniacs out there who would dominate and enslave us if they could. That's the reality. They want this most precious of lands, and want the slave labor of some of the most talented people on Earth. They want a "1984" scenario.

I've always personally felt that Bin Laden was not the mastermind behind these attacks. Sure, he's the field general and executioner, but he doesn't have the battle brains of wombat. He's supposed to have $250 million, and in any war, that amount doesn't go anywhere. My personal feeling is that he is getting state support with billions of dollars behind him, all the weapons (probably Russian) he wants, and the food, clothing, and shelter from a foreign government. Bin Laden is only the executioner. Sure he and his bunch should be brought to justice and punished, but I don't feel it ends there. We must get to the core.

Who hates America the most? Who wants revenge for the bombing of their own city? Who hates what we've done to him? Who has made his plan clear. Bin Laden, I feel, is a state sponsored effort from one country. That country is Iraq, and its leader? Saddam Hussein. He has motive, the power, the opportunity, money, and the hate. There's your REAL culprit. And he'll continue as long as we don't stop him. The same thing happened with WCG. With Herbie dead, the cult dissolved, and is now in pieces.

Incidentally NOTHING of what these terrorists are doing is sanctioned in the Islamic Quran.

The topics on the site pertaining to terrorism and the events post-September 11th are all very appropriate and helpful. I wanted to give you and PT readers a perspective from a New Yorker. Living and working in a target city is not easy on the nerves, although over time one becomes desensitized to the heightened presence of police officers and security officials in midtown and elsewhere. I've had to limit myself to a few hours a day of reading and watching news in order to preserve what few shreds of sanity I have left. Otherwise, one simply cannot function in any normal capacity.

There are, however, eerie reminders of the terrorist threat, no matter how hard you try to block out what is going on. There still is, for instance, was a horrific cloud of smoke and debris that blows northward at certain times of day based on wind direction. Everyone in the city has been inhaling the fumes from the disaster, which include the charred remnants of buildings, equipment and humans. I haven't smelled anything like this before, but now I understand the essence of some of the concentration camp accounts in WWII regarding the unmistakable odors emanating from crematoriums. It's very disturbing to think about what has happened downtown. The TV accounts were sanitized . . . showing only the impact of the planes into the buildings and the escape of crowds from deadly smoke and fumes. There was mass carnage that had to be disposed of that the public was protected from seeing. The smell from downtown still lingers on even now, and we're more than 67 blocks away from it. Some of the downtown residents I know that live 10-20 blocks from the disaster had to move at least temporarily during the first few weeks in order to be able to breathe.

Dear God: Where the hell were you? Why did you allow the terrorists' god let them score a touchdown (knock down) at the World Trade Center? Now these "martyrs" are up there with their coach (Allah) high-fiving one another, popping champagne corks and the cherries of their 70 each allotted virgins, rejoicing and having a helluva ball.

If you call yourself so all-omnipotent and the creator of this universe, all humankind, fashioner of all the solar systems, spiritual beings and everything brought into existence, then why did you allow this terrible tragedy to happen to your chosen "Christian" nation?" If you are such a jealous god, then why don't you zoom over and beat the shit out of their god? After all, according to that horrible handbook you call "The Word of God" you are not the "author of confusion." Oh, yeah? Who the hell you kidding? You've got the entire civilization confused. Have had them confused since day one. And that damn bible only compounds the situation. Claimed to have been written by loonies whom you have inspired. No wonder the world is in such a mess. YOU caused it. Not Satan. You say this is "Satan's world." Don't make me laugh. Sound logic tells me that if you made this world, then it's yours. And if you made Satan, and he took it away from you, then why don't you kick his ass and take it back? Are you too chicken shit? Must be. You're even afraid to stand up to Allah.

There are a lot of other people wondering the same thing and are beginning to question "The Word of God." Herewith is a copy of a Letter To the Editor I ran across in a local weekly paper titled:

So, Mr. god, did you get the import of that last paragraph? You claim to be an "All Loving God," yet you, yourself have killed scads of first born babies, committed wholesale genocide, drowned the entire globe because you were pissed off, so who the hell needs you? Only the deadheads and die-hards who are sitting on their asses waiting to "inherit the earth" and to become "kings and priests" in your mythical coming kingdom. Meanwhile the rest of us are going about practicing what you preach and refuse to practice. And by all intents and purposes, our efforts are producing good results. So, again I ask, who the hell needs you? If you refuse to cooperate, then get your damn holiness out of our way so we can make this world a better place to live in. You've screwed it up enough as it is.

(http://www.biota.org/people/douglasadams/index.html) Is there an Artificial God?