To the editor:

I am almost always interested in hearing what people think about religion, so naturally I scan through the opinion page to look for key words like “God,” “Bible,” “Religion,” “Religious Right,” etc.

Thursday I came across Dan Johnson’s column and read it hoping to hear some kind of rational argument supporting his claim.

He gave a few interesting comments, but unfortunately there seemed to be no single premise.

Nor were there any real supporting arguments. So his column appeared to be nothing more than an armchair conversation.

Next, I looked at Keith Twombley’s letter to the editor.

It started out all right, but when he got into his speculations as to whether or not God existed, I was turned off by his unsupported arguments.

It may be possible that he has some kind of rational argument as to why he believes that God does not exist, but from his letter you wouldn’t be able to tell.

So where am I going with this? There seems to be an attitude on campus that all Christians have to be totally ignorant in order to believe in Christianity.

But many times, the people saying this are ignorant of the facts themselves.

This is not only prevalent among atheists and agnostics, but also among many religious people.

Some have adopted the view that, in order to believe in God, you have to give up your rational faculties.

This is just not true.

Dan Johnson does not explicitly claim this, but I would not be surprised if he felt this way. Keith on the other hand is a bit more forward on this point.

He states that this country needs “more thinking and less religious dogmatism.” I actually agree with him, but I would say that what this country needs is not just more thinking and less religious dogmatism, but rather we need less dogmatism period.

Christians are not the only dogmatic people on the face of the earth.

Some of the most dogmatic people I have met have been atheists and agnostics.

I am not saying that all atheists and agnostics are dogmatic, only saying that some of the ones I have met have been quite dogmatic.

Here are a few examples of illogical thinking on the part of those who “bash” Christianity:

1. Those who think that just because they can “beat” Tom Short in an argument about homosexuality or evolution, they have somehow demolished the entire Christian belief system.

2. Those who think that the first premise of the cosmological argument contradicts its conclusion.

3. Those who think that because some Christians are fideist, all Christians must be fideists.

4. Those who think that Christians are the only ones that have biases and therefore conclude that any attempt at a rational justification of Christianity is a result of one’s desire to justify an unjustifiable belief.

I have heard people with a secular world view who commit a great deal of logical fallacies and then conclude that they are correct.

Similarly, I have heard Christians make many logical fallacies and assume that they are correct.

So if you have talked to a Christian who cannot give a rational justification for their belief, please don’t assume that there isn’t one.

And if you are a Christian, please take the time to understand an argument before you pass it off.

This may seem like common sense, but practically speaking, it is rare for people to actually listen to the other side before trying to refute their view.

Matt Graham

Senior

Sociology