Once upon a time, God created the heavens and the earth

[matthewdaly]

I've got no large complaints against the Freedom From Religion Foundation*, and absolutely no beef against atheists and agnostics themselves. Atheists have to put up with their share of aphorisms that are as insensitive as they are ignorant. Moreover, not everything that everyone says deserves to be dissected. The only reason I don't say something stupid every day of my life is that I don't speak every day of my life.

But if you're an organization that takes it upon yourself to promote a slogan that you evidently feels would promote you and your cause as wise and witty, it seems fair to respond that the mark has been missed. Such is the case here. Not only is there no causality evident between Mr. Darrow's two clauses, there is not even correlation. Belief in a higher power with some level of interest in our moral and interpersonal affairs is quite independent of the belief that the majority of our fairy tale tradition came from a single literary source. Moreover, Mother Goose damned well did exist; Histoires ou Contes du Temps passé didn't publish itself, and even if the stories themselves "evolved" through oral folk tradition through the ages, the process of collecting them and distilling them into a unified written form with an author's unique voice is unquestionably an act of creation. I respect Mr. Darrow's right to believe differently, but I don't think that it makes me the only kooky one between the two of us.

* This is actually untrue now that I've seen their nominees for the next bus sign, half of the witticisms being based on the belief that Islam was responsible for 9/11. I will endure cheap shots at Christianity in the United States; it's part of the price of being a hegemony and I occasionally find it illuminating in perhaps the same way that a Shakespearean king would find his fool to be useful. But cheap shots at religions that are not as well understood or defended in our society drift have the same downsides of being harmful, painful, mean-spirited, and simply wrong but without any corresponding benefit. Throwing rocks at someone bigger than you makes you a crusader, but throwing rocks at someone smaller than you makes you a bully. FRFF is hitting below the belt here even in suggesting semi-privately that these slogans belong in the public space, and they should be ashamed of themselves atone for the harm caused by their actions grow up.