From: "Jennifer"
Subject: Re: Atheism
Instead of addressing the issues I put forth to you, you simply ignored them and instead looked for any and every way to discredit my views. I imagine that is because you are simply unprepared, as I assumed from your writings, to address the issues because of lack of experience.
Here we have Jennifer's responses to my comments about something she sent me before. They are very interesting.
First, she alleges that I "looked for any and every way" to discredit her views. In reality, I didn't have to look for any and every way to do this -- her views were easy to discredit because there was no real substance to them.
Perhaps the most important reason for this was her misrepresentation of me claiming "that separation of church and state allows for freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion." Anyone who really reads anything here will see quickly that I argue just the opposite, that freedom of religion requires freedom from religion. Over and over I tried to explain to Jennifer that if she could so badly misrepresent such a simple point, what use was there in taking anything else of her's seriously? Never, though, did she ever respond to that -- instead, she simply resorts to personal attacks, like saying that I am "unprepared" and "lack" experience.
I wonder what Jennifer says to students who obviously haven't read the material she assigned them? If one of her students tried to criticize something they obviously hadn't read, what would she do? I doubt that she would give that criticism much consideration.
It's common sense: you can't offer constructive or relevant criticism without having read the material in question. Since she clearly didn't read what I wrote, then it isn't possible that her criticisms were constructive or relevant (except perhaps through random chance, but I find that implausible). So, what reason could I possibly have for giving those "criticisms" any consideration?
I hope that you will consider the point of my e-mail to you. Again, I say, in most basic terms, that you have no idea what you are talking about. As for my teaching abilities, I dare say that you again have no idea, since you have had no experience. I invite you to my class at your earliest convenience.
Coming from someone who hasn't read the material they are criticizing, this is amusing. I'd wager that I know more about the Christian Right in America than Jennifer does about my writings. She did not, for example, identify any specific errors or failures in anything I wrote -- no surprise since, as far as I can tell, she hasn't actually read what I have written. Instead she just reacted on an emotional level because she didn't like what I have written.
Well, I didn't write anything to please her, personally. Not liking what I have written is a far cry from being able to point out problems. If she can ever identify specific errors, she should let me know some time.
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