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\f0\fs24 \cf0 This is Dave. You've not yet met Dave, but he seems like a normal-enough
person. There is something you need to know about Dave, though. I heard from Becky that
Dave is an athest. Now, you may be tempted to think, "Okay, Dave doesn't believe in a
god. So what? No big deal." But make no mistake: it is a big deal. It is a gargantuan deal,
because when Dave says that he doesn't believe in God, that's only because, deep down, he
hates God. Dave hates God So much that he denies God's very existence. It's likely that
when Dave was nine years old, his pet gerbil died, and it was at this point that he blamed
God for all of the pointless suffering and death in the world and committed himself to
a lifetime of deep, boiling hatred. He spent his adolescence neglecting his studies to
practice witchcraft with his similarly maladjusted friends, but he eventually figured out that
an even better way to torch his relationship with God was to deny God's existence altogether.
Because Dave knows that if there's no God, there's no moral authority, and if there's
no moral authority, there's no right or wrong, and if there's no right or wrong, then he
can do anything he wants! Lie! Cheat! Steal! Shout profanities at children! No God means
no rules! He'll deny it, but he's probably into some pretty sick stuff. I bet he has,
like, a fake mustache fetish or something. There's a hole in Dave's heart--a hole that
can only be filled by God. And Dave struggles to fill it--not with God, but with sex, drugs,
and rock and roll. And I don't mean wholesome, uplifting rock and roll, either. No, I'm talking,
like, horrifying death metal. But nothing can take the place of a healthy relationship
with God, and this is why, when Dave isn't busy being a pompous, intolerant jerk, he
is a sad, angry, amoral, spiritually vacant train-wreck of a human being. Or, how about
this. Meet Dave. Dave really is just a well-balanced, normal guy. His atheism doesn't spring from
a deep-seated hatred of God, but from an honest, open-minded assessment of the evidence and
arguments available. You may be convinced that a god or gods exist, but Dave is not.
Simple. Dave isn't sad or angry, and he cares deeply about living a moral and spiritual
life. He's seen the benefits of religious faith--the comfort it gives people, the sense
of purpose and community, the concern for one's fellow human beings--and he appreciates
those things. But he's seen the dark side, too--the holy wars, the oppression of women,
the dogmatic hostility to science. He's seen what happens when religious faith leads people
to do terrible things. If Dave can lead a rich, purposeful, compassionate life without
God, then why can't we all dispense with the religious convictions that cause so much confusion
and suffering in our world? Long story short: Dave doesn't fit the stereotype. People hear
that he doesn't believe in God, and they assume the worst. But the fact is: Dave's an atheist,
and he's A-OK.}