Imagine that there really is a supreme being

UPDATE:  See An Email from David Rolfe to the Shroud Science Group

This silly letter, along with an appeal to subscribe to Free Inquiry magazine, has been received by at least one university library, a seminary and the residents of a retirement/nursing home. The seminary library already has a subscription to the popular Atheist magazine.

RICHARD DAWKINS, FRS
OXFORD, U.K.

Dear Friend,

Just for a moment, imagine that there really is a supreme being who created all things, including the human race. Would he (or she or it) give you such a highly developed brain and then punish you for using it?

Would the most advanced life-form in the universe devise such grand concepts as DNA, nuclear fusion, and quantum mechanics and then spend all eternity fussing about whether you regularly sing to him, vote against gay marriage, or accept on faith that Earth is only 6,000 years old when there is a mountain of evidence to the contrary?

Frankly, I don’t believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful creator. But even if I did, I’m certain he would want us to think for ourselves and eschew such claptrap.

He would be committed to the application of reason and encourage scientific discovery and the cultivation of moral excellence. He would want us to be more concerned about living a valuable life than enforcing arbitrary rules to avoid a vindictive punishment in an afterlife.

And in my opinion, he would undoubtedly want you to read FREE INQUIRY. Why? Because let’s face it … a guy that smart wouldn’t want to spend eternity with anyone dull enough to blindly believe in him!

So maybe, just maybe, FREE INQUIRY is your ticket to salvation. If not spiritual salvation in a mythical afterlife, then certainly intellectual salvation in this life.

Sincerely,
Richard Dawkins