To the editor:

Responding to Richard Dorshorn’s “Loving God” letter to the editor, I would first point out that Hitler was not an atheist, although Christians love to claim otherwise. Stalin was an atheist, but the mass deaths in the Soviet Union were due largely in part to his dogmatic Marxism, not atheism. In fact, there have never been mass killings in the name of atheism, but rather some faith-based ideology, whether that be religious or otherwise. People need to understand that atheism is a lack of belief, thus one cannot commit a mass killing in the name of something that does not exist.

I cannot begin to describe how insulting it is to be told that as an atheist, I share something personal with Hitler and Stalin. Do all Christians have to share something personal with every Christian mass murderer, civilization destroyer, and persecutor of the advancement of science? Shall we judge the truth of a belief by the actions of its followers, both past and present as Dorshorn tries to do with atheism? Or are we smart enough to recognize that every group of people has those who do things that do not represent the whole?

It may also be prudent to point out that quoting scripture to people who reject the Bible as an authoritative source is both a waste of time and an insult to the intelligence of the secular community. Most of us have read the Bible, and we’ve read a little more than just a few lines out of the Gospels.

Andrew Stangl,

Lawrence