hello,

i stumbled upon this site. it was funny, the whole "you're now trapped". i laughed. but again, i'm an atheist and find religion to be the beginning of the end (even though it hasn't ended yet...).

but also, I'm respectable to anybody's opinion (or lack thereof, since following some obsolete, illogical and ultimately detrimental self-beliefs kind of shows the lack of one's own opinion).

i find it even more humorous to read some people's reaction (such as forcing people to believe through means of oppression, threats, and punishment...

how ironic, it's just like the church. reminds anyone else of the crusades? "you have two choices: you're either with me or against me". hm, ok, again, sounds familiar again. how much more blood must be shed for people to finally realize how destructive blind following is.

i guess my point in the end is that i think it's great what you are doing. by answering in a calm and respectful manner. also, i love the duties of an atheist. totally agree.

and, well, the "every action is done for ones own satisfaction, and therefore there's no selfless deed" mentioned somewhere above was greatly put. i agree. it's nothing bad, but it's a fact. we are selfish-driven man-animals. our will to survive is the main reason of our selfishness. without selfishness we wouldn't get anywhere...

why is it so bad to derive pleasure / satisfaction from helping others?

sad, i know, but true, I'd say...

so, good job, and thanks for another inspiring website.

PS: atheism is not a religion....but a lack of....

I've never understood why some people consider helping others for non-altruistic reasons to be somehow evil. I recall telling someone about the thousands of dollars that an oil company was giving to a local charity, and they replied, "But they're just doing it for publicity." So what? The local charity still gets the money.

I felt the same way during the first Gulf War when some people said we were only defending Kuwait because Kuwait had oil. The implication from some of these people seemed to be that it would have been okay to defend Kuwait because they were our ally or because they effectively had no army, but that since self interest might be involved we should stay out of it. Makes no sense to me.