God who?

As I've said a million times here, I don't give a shit who, what, or how you worship, as long as you don't proselytize to me and don't try to make your beliefs government policy. I don't believe in God, at least not in the form of some guy sitting up there, keeping score of whether I'm fucking around on my wife or kicking my dog (I don't, in either case, but I only think it counts to hypocritical guys in funny hats and dresses).

That said, being it's America and all, how come the Jesus freaks are all pissed off over a documentary about people who don't believe?

Conservative Christians are criticizing a plan by Public Broadcasting Service stations to begin showing later this week a three-part television documentary series on atheism, calling it "demagogic and propagandistic."

...

Janice Crouse, director of the Beverly LaHaye Institute for the conservative group Concerned Women for America, told Cybercast News Service that "airing the program gives credibility and cohesiveness to individuals who seek to undermine the beliefs and values on which democracy and the American dream are founded."

...

Let me say, I'll put my 'atheistic' values up against those of any 'Conservative Christian' any day. I'm willing to bet large amounts that in practice, I'm far more moral, tolerant (okay, so maybe there could be an argument in this case), and compassionate. In other words, Jesus would probably like me more than them.

Sorry folks, if your religion is so strong and you're so convinced of its 'rightness', a single TV show shouldn't do your cause any harm. I get the feeling though, that most Americans would probably see God more the way I do than the Jesus freaks do.

I don't want to undermine anyone's religion. If worshipping your god gives you peace, more power to ya. My family on both sides is devoutly Roman Catholic (two of my aunts are missionaries; nuns in Brazil), and I know some of the good works the Catholic Church has done (the town that is my ancestral home in Germany could not have been rebuilt after WW2 without the partnership between my grandfather, who was the mayor at the time, and the local church), but part of being tolerant is allowing others their own peace.

I've been called 'the Devil on Earth', a 'heathen', an 'infidel', and a whole host of names by people who were supposedly 'godly', let alone how the American Conservative Christians have painted all 'non-believers' over the years which, I think, has done more to undermine their religion than anything a buncha atheists could do to an institution 2000 years old.

And, as I said, this is still America. If the Congress can invoke the Lord before their sessions, I have the right not to.

Great thanks to C & L for the links.