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Fluffy, on Jan 25 2009, 06:34 AM, said:
I have the feeling that terrorism is making atheism grow in America, is this nonsense?
I doubt anyone gives up a religious belief because of the actions of some who commit terrorist acts in the name of religion, but I can give a concrete example of a somewhat related effect.
I once lived next door to a guy who had gone to jail for his part in the bombing of an abortion clinic. He was no longer, I hope, doing such things but he was a minister with a following and an agenda. It would be true to say that if some one in his group schose to bomb something, this would have pleased him. After 9/11 his flock dwindled substantially and he eventually moved out of the area. It seems possible to me that watching the twin towers collapse brought at least some people to their senses on the subject of bombs and religion. I doubt any of his flock became atheists. I would like to think they decided bombs were not the way to the Kingdom.
Incidentally, the house across the street was, for a while, rented out to a couple of young guys. The neighborhood assumption, joking but only sort of joking, was that the young guys were FBI agents.