Atheist Tornado Survivor Sparks Religious Debate

[Derideo_Te]

Atheist Tornado Survivor Sparks Religious Debate

Atheist Tornado Survivor Sparks Religious Debate

Four days after a more than 1-mile wide tornado ravaged Oklahoma, the media is awash with victims-standing-in-front-of-their-ruined-houses interviews. CNN's Wolf Blitzer was in the midst of conducting such an interview with Rebecca Vitsmun, who escaped her collapsing home with her 19-month-old son. After proclaiming that Vitsmun and her family was blessed, Father Blitzer said, "I guess you've got to thank the Lord, right? Do you thank the Lord for that split second decision?"

Clearly a little uncomfortable (who wouldn't be? What the hell kind of question is that to ask in an interview, Blitzer?), Vitsmun pauses and says, "I'm actually an atheist." "You are, alright. But you made the right call," responded Blitzer. The mother took the bizarre questions in stride: "We are here, and I don't blame anyone for thanking the Lord."

The awkward moment passed, but for atheists groups, Vitsmun became suddenly became a face for their beliefs. Atheists Unite, an Indiegogo community, reacted almost immediately to Vitsmun's casual assertion that she was atheist. By Friday, more than $7,000 have been raised for her to reconstruct her home, thanks to the campaign's fundraising efforts:

"It's important that our community shows that we have you back when it come out publicly as an atheist. Let us show the world that you don't need to believe in a god to have human compassion nor does all charity all under the banner of religion."​

This whole thing is kind of a bucket of weird. First off, Blitzer asking Vitsmun whether she thanked the Lord or not was rather forceful than conversational. His nervous laughter after realizing his faux pas (assuming everybody is praising Jesus, Amen) could have been handled a little more graciously, too. But let's take Blitzer's gaffe to the next level, shall we?

Enter Glenn Beck:

"I think [Wolf Blitzer] was fed some information about the guest he had on before-hand, you know, that's what producers do, given some questions that he should ask, etc. etc. Some producer who is sympathetic to the atheist plight or just doesn't like Christians or whatever it is, thought it was important to point out that in the middle of the heartland, in America, where most people are God-fearing, there are atheists there too. It doesn't have to be nefarious."​

Okay, Beck. You're sipping on the crazy juice, but it's Crazy Juice Light. I can maybe, maybe say that you have a vaguely valid argument. It was kind of a weird question. But you had to go and chug the strong stuff, huh:

"We are not fighting against flesh and bone. We are fighting the forces of spiritual darkness."​

Aaaaand scene.

Rebecca Vitsmun probably didn't state that she was an atheist as a political statement or as a way to become the face of the atheism community, whatever that is. Now she's another object, human meme, being used as fodder for atheists and believers to pontificate. At least she's getting money to rebuild her home from it?

​

Why does Glen Beck equate Atheism with "the forces of spiritual darkness"? Why should it matter if someone is an Atheist? Don't they have that freedom as a Constitutional Right? Why must perfectly normal people constantly be demonized? At what point do Atheists get to come out of the closet and have their rights recognized?

Disclaimer: Please note that this is NOT intended to be a flame thread. If you want to flame Atheists please start your own thread. The OP will not respond to any flame posts and requests that all of the Atheists posting in this thread do likewise. This is a serious question that needs to be addressed. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.​

 

[The Irish Ram]

Glen Beck isn't looking at the politics of Atheism either, but the Biblical perspective:

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

I see more atheists demonizing people of faith than the other way around. Nevertheless, demons are the forces of spiritual darkness, and without the armour of God, humans can be susceptible to the advances of the evil.

That an atheist survived, and someone else that prayed didn't, can also be found in the Bible. The rain falls on the just and the unjust.

Must we pretend that this isn't a bashing thread when you start it with a Beck bashing post?
Stomping on Jesus is acceptable, but try wearing a cross to class. Atheists aren't the ones in the closet.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Glen Beck isn't looking at the politics of Atheism either, but the Biblical perspective:

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

I see more atheists demonizing people of faith than the other way around. Nevertheless, demons are the forces of spiritual darkness, and without the armour of God, humans can be susceptible to the advances of the evil.

That an atheist survived, and someone else that prayed didn't, can also be found in the Bible. The rain falls on the just and the unjust.

Must we pretend that this isn't a bashing thread when you start it with a Beck bashing post?
Stomping on Jesus is acceptable, but try wearing a cross to class. Atheists aren't the ones in the closet.

Very well said, Ram. Putting on the armor of God is definitely important - some christians don't realize how important and don't do it. Another thing I strongly advise any christian to do is to plead the Blood of Jesus over their homes, their cars, their childrens cars, their land, draw the bloodline around your property. Cover your house. That is spiritual warfare 101. Nothing can come against the Blood. Do it every day. - Jeri

 

[The Irish Ram]

Amen.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Why didn't God just steer the tornado someplace that wasn't so populated in the first place mitigating all the death and suffering? Was he on his coffee break?

 

[t_polkow]

Amen.

This should be the law

 

[The Irish Ram]

No, no coffee break. He has been kicked out of this country that He blessed and the Holy Spirit that restrained, went with him.
We can expect the worst now.

 

[Vandalshandle]

I lived in Tulsa for a year or two. They are, indeed, the "buckle" of the Bible Belt. An athiest in Oklahoma feels about as welcome as a John Birch Society member in Berkley. If you profess to be a solid born again Christain, Okies are about the friendliest people in the country. If you are a athiest, Okies have absolutely no use for you, whatever.The society there is as black and white as it can get over religious issues.

 

[The Irish Ram]

Amen.

This should be the law

Then you should live where it is. I hear China is nice this time of year.

 

[Granny]

Nobody gives a crap about atheists and what they do or don't believe - it doesn't hurt anyone's feelings and has no bearing whatsoever on the way others live their lives and what they believe.

The animosity comes from the actions of those who what to obliterate all mention and memory of God, the Bible, or anything else of the equal right to practice Christianity ... and don't bet that these same people won't be going after Jews, too, once they get the "Christian plague" taken care of.

You can't gripe about the people hating you for what you believe when you spew out your hatred of them for what they believe.

 

[hoosier88]

No, no coffee break. He has been kicked out of this country that He blessed and the Holy Spirit that restrained, went with him.
We can expect the worst now.

(My bold)

Yes, He's sulking somewhere in the back of beyond. Either God is God, or He isn't. If He's all-seeing, all-being, the font of wisdom, all-knowing - if our definition is right, in other words - Why would He take amiss the merely human quibbles about His existence?

If the common West Civ. definition is right, He knows everything there is to know about us, collectively & individually. Where does all this Scheiss about God's disappointment in us come from, then? Does He hang on our every word? When He calls us up on the telephone, does He play the You hang up first game?

The argument is silly. Just from examining the assumptions of the logic, there's nothing to argue about.

 

[Hollie]

Glen Beck isn't looking at the politics of Atheism either, but the Biblical perspective:

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

I see more atheists demonizing people of faith than the other way around. Nevertheless, demons are the forces of spiritual darkness, and without the armour of God, humans can be susceptible to the advances of the evil.

That an atheist survived, and someone else that prayed didn't, can also be found in the Bible. The rain falls on the just and the unjust.

Must we pretend that this isn't a bashing thread when you start it with a Beck bashing post?
Stomping on Jesus is acceptable, but try wearing a cross to class. Atheists aren't the ones in the closet.

Very well said, Ram. Putting on the armor of God is definitely important - some christians don't realize how important and don't do it. Another thing I strongly advise any christian to do is to plead the Blood of Jesus over their homes, their cars, their childrens cars, their land, draw the bloodline around your property. Cover your house. That is spiritual warfare 101. Nothing can come against the Blood. Do it every day. - Jeri

What "armor of God" would that be which is definitely important?

It seems that the gods routinely whack those areas of the nation we refer to as the "bible belt".

Could it be that the gods have played a cruel joke on you?

 

[Derideo_Te]

Must we pretend that this isn't a bashing thread when you start it with a Beck bashing post?

Beck was needlessly bashing Atheists. Please explain exactly what this young woman had done to deserve being labeled as the "forces of spiritual darkness"?

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

No, no coffee break. He has been kicked out of this country that He blessed and the Holy Spirit that restrained, went with him.
We can expect the worst now.

(My bold)

Yes, He's sulking somewhere in the back of beyond. Either God is God, or He isn't. If He's all-seeing, all-being, the font of wisdom, all-knowing - if our definition is right, in other words - Why would He take amiss the merely human quibbles about His existence?

If the common West Civ. definition is right, He knows everything there is to know about us, collectively & individually. Where does all this Scheiss about God's disappointment in us come from, then? Does He hang on our every word? When He calls us up on the telephone, does He play the You hang up first game?

The argument is silly. Just from examining the assumptions of the logic, there's nothing to argue about.

True.

How can an omnipotent deity be ‘disappointed’?

That’s a human attribute.

Clearly an omnipotent deity can’t be ‘human,’ it wouldn’t be omnipotent and therefore unworthy of worship.

And wouldn’t an omnipotent deity be prescient?

Is not America as it exist today in accordance with the plan of the omnipotent deity (not that an omnipotent entity would need a ‘plan,’ of course…); does not America exist today exactly as the omnipotent deity foresaw?

There are only two conclusions, then: either there is no ‘god’ or if there is a ‘god’ then America exists now precisely as it wished it to be.

 

[Derideo_Te]

Glen Beck isn't looking at the politics of Atheism either, but the Biblical perspective:

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

I see more atheists demonizing people of faith than the other way around. Nevertheless, demons are the forces of spiritual darkness, and without the armour of God, humans can be susceptible to the advances of the evil.

That an atheist survived, and someone else that prayed didn't, can also be found in the Bible. The rain falls on the just and the unjust.

Must we pretend that this isn't a bashing thread when you start it with a Beck bashing post?
Stomping on Jesus is acceptable, but try wearing a cross to class. Atheists aren't the ones in the closet.

Very well said, Ram. Putting on the armor of God is definitely important - some christians don't realize how important and don't do it. Another thing I strongly advise any christian to do is to plead the Blood of Jesus over their homes, their cars, their childrens cars, their land, draw the bloodline around your property. Cover your house. That is spiritual warfare 101. Nothing can come against the Blood. Do it every day. - Jeri

Does this ritual involve any actual blood or is it just symbolic? How do you "draw the bloodline around your property"? What is the purpose of this "bloodline" and how is it supposed to work?

 

[hoosier88]

Glen Beck isn't looking at the politics of Atheism either, but the Biblical perspective:

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

I see more atheists demonizing people of faith than the other way around. Nevertheless, demons are the forces of spiritual darkness, and without the armour of God, humans can be susceptible to the advances of the evil.

That an atheist survived, and someone else that prayed didn't, can also be found in the Bible. The rain falls on the just and the unjust.

Must we pretend that this isn't a bashing thread when you start it with a Beck bashing post?
Stomping on Jesus is acceptable, but try wearing a cross to class. Atheists aren't the ones in the closet.

(My bold)

Alright, I'll bite: Does the Church of Latter Day Saints even have the same Bible as the other Christians? (or as Christians, since I'm not clear on whether the LDS' Bible is the same document - I assume that it isn't, or @ least that it contains a considerable appendix & annexes, etc.)

I've caught Beck's act - too much wild- & wide-eyed frothing @ the mouth for my taste, but then, I'm not LDS myself. So is the LDS Bible identical to the Christian Bible, more or less? I've heard that they're not even close, but do we have an authority in the house?

& as for atheists demonizing anyone - nope; can't be done. Atheists don't believe in that stuff - demons, etc. & so they're not going to be demonizing. Unless that's like Simonizing, something you can order up @ the upholstery store ...

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Why didn't God just steer the tornado someplace that wasn't so populated in the first place mitigating all the death and suffering? Was he on his coffee break?

Exellent point, Taz. It's because God had nothing to do with it.

Even if He exists, He is not orchestrating all this. He never intended for us to have idyllic lives free of suffering. Our suffering on this earth matters not, it is nothing compared to the eternal life we will have with God.

So whether you believe in God, or not, He had nothing to do with this. A lot of Christians or others who believe in God have a very hard time with that. They think He should be saving us from pain and suffering all the time, making our lives easier. Not so. It's only our everlasting soul that matters in God's big picture.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Nobody gives a crap about atheists and what they do or don't believe - it doesn't hurt anyone's feelings and has no bearing whatsoever on the way others live their lives and what they believe.

The animosity comes from the actions of those who what to obliterate all mention and memory of God, the Bible, or anything else of the equal right to practice Christianity ... and don't bet that these same people won't be going after Jews, too, once they get the "Christian plague" taken care of.

You can't gripe about the people hating you for what you believe when you spew out your hatred of them for what they believe.

Yeah, well, I am often heard blasting the hypocrisy of most Christians. That's what bothers me about most Christians, they want to preach to others, are convinced they are superior and the chosen ones, but they don't even live by the rules Jesus gave them. The spew hate, judge others and scream for people to be put to death. And if you call them on it, they get very, very nasty. Not all, but MANY.

Now, that said, I don't have a problem with Christianity. I was raised a Catholic. What a wonderful world it would be if people actually lived the way Christ wants them to live. But they don't.

That's why I can't go to church anymore. The hypocrisy offends me.

As for atheists, I don't really perceive them going around persecuting Christians. I don't think they really care until the Christians start forcing their views on everyone else in inappropriate venues...such as schools and government.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

atheists need to stop pushing their beliefs on the rest of us

 

[JohnL.Burke]

Nobody gives a crap about atheists and what they do or don't believe - it doesn't hurt anyone's feelings and has no bearing whatsoever on the way others live their lives and what they believe.

The animosity comes from the actions of those who what to obliterate all mention and memory of God, the Bible, or anything else of the equal right to practice Christianity ... and don't bet that these same people won't be going after Jews, too, once they get the "Christian plague" taken care of.

You can't gripe about the people hating you for what you believe when you spew out your hatred of them for what they believe.

As an atheist I'm going to have to agree with you. It's getting to the point where I'm embarrassed to label myself as an atheist because of all the devout atheistic zealots who want to push their values on other people. Atheists who want to destroy every cross in a town square or remove the ten commandments from a courthouse seem a bit demented to me.