In a message dated 6/9/2005 1:16:08 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< At the Tulsa Zoo it is not the Hindu deity Ganesha with whom the 
Creationists want equal time, because they, like every other atheist, do not believe in 
that god's existence.  It is, rather, the science of evolution with which 
they want to compete  -- doesn't that seem somewhat ironic?  Creationists fear 
Evolution, which they portray as an atheistic philosophy -- but they do not fear 
Hinduism, about which the Creationists are, themselves, atheists. >>

Sorry, but I don't think this is a useful explanation or perspective.  As far 
as my dictionary and I can see, an atheist is one who believes in no gods 
whatsoever, not one who denies some gods while believing in another or others.  
Atheism is absolute, not comparative or relative.  When the Romans called 
Christians atheists because they did not accept the Roman pantheon, they were being 
sloppy with their terminology.  You're searching for a word to describe 
someone who believes in the "wrong" gods, and I don't know what that word 
is--although Christians usually call people who believe in the "wrong" gods "pagans," 
not atheists.  Incidentally, educated Hindus often claim that they are 
monotheists, not polytheists, and that the many gods of the Hindu pantheon are simply 
mythical manifestations of the one God; many Hindus would agree that their god 
is essentially the same as the God of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  
Atheists deny the existence of any god, including, presumably, Mammon.

David Haberstich

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