As an atheist I feel I must respond to the recent flurry of letters, the most recent by Mr. Halperin, attacking atheism, as well as to Mr. Demangone's column about the GOP's habit of moralizing, as it also attacks atheism. I am tired of seeing attacks on atheists such as these go unanswered, and have a few questions for the religious people out there who can't accept that there are people like me who reject religion and are perfectly happy.

First of all, I would like to ask Mr. Halperin and Mr. Demangone to get off their high horse. How does believing in mythical beings make one person better than someone who doesn't believe in mythical beings? Does believing in Yahweh (whom most people refer to as "God") make you more moral than someone who doesn't? Would believing in elves make me a more moral person? Does a belief in angels make a person better? How about centaurs, nymphs, giants, Titans, demons, dwarves, talking serpents in gardens, Hercules, Samson, Achilles, or any other mythical figure?

Athiests don't believe in such myths. We may enjoy mythical stories and fables, but we don't bow and scrape before any of them. We don't make complicated choices based on a 2,000-year-old fairy tale. We don't kill others for not bowing before the same idols as we do. And most importantly, we don't buy our moral codes at the local bookstore.

Is the Bible the wellspring of good moral values that people would have us think? Everyone seems to forget that the Bible has been used to justify wars and slavery for thousands of years. The Bible explicitly condones slavery (Ephesians 6:5, Collosians 3:22, Tim 6:1-2) and nowhere denounces the practice. The abolition of slavery was a striking example of how the morality of man has surpassed the morality of the Bible. The Bible was used to justify the divine right of kings for centuries (Romans 12:1-6), do Mr. Demangone and Mr. Halperin believe in divine right? I hope not.

Is the Bible reliable at all? Not really. It is full of contradictions and errors. In Matthew 27:5 Judas hangs himself in grief for what he has done, yet in Acts 1:16-18 Judas dies by falling over and exploding. The two genealogies given for Jesus are very different as well. I suggest that interested people should read the Bible for themselves, you would be surprised what your Sunday-school teacher intentionally left out of your Bible studies.

I would finally like to address other atheists such as Mr. Fleckenstein. When you make assertions like "Christianity condones slavery" and "The Bible wants you to be a mindless slave" you have to back them up with references. People are NOT going to take your word for it. Make sure to point out where in the Bible it says these things. But hey, who am I kidding. Even when faced with proof of the reliability of the Bible and the poor morals contained within, most Christians just shut their eyes and ears to close out the truth.