It's a clever enough symbolic act, but ultimately it has no real
meaning (any more than baptism itself does).<br>
<br>
Now, find a retrovirus that deactivates the "belief in God is a
beneficial trait" gene (if there is such a thing), and you might have
something...<br>
<br>
Joseph<br>
<br>
Gregory Jones wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:809693.83441.qm@web81508.mail.mud.yahoo.com" type="cite">
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<div>Why didn't we think of this?</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/17/atheists-reportedly-using-hair-dryers-baptize/?test=latestnews">http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/17/atheists-reportedly-using-hair-dryers-baptize/?test=latestnews</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>American <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="mailbox:///C%7C/Users/Joseph/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/9ord16pv.default/Mail/mail.josephbloch-1.com/Inbox.sbd/Bills.sbd/Websites?number=7425830&part=1.3&type=application/x-message-display&filename=Re%3A%20%5BExI%5D%20atheists%20de-baptize%20unbelievers%3A.eml#" target="undefined"><font style="position: static; font-family: arial,sans-serif; color: blue ! important; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400;" color="blue" face=""><span style="border-bottom: 1px solid blue; position: relative; background-color: transparent; font-family: arial,sans-serif; color: blue ! important; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400;" class="kLink">atheists</span></font></a> lined up to be "de-baptized"
in a ritual using a hair dryer, according to a report Friday on U.S.
late-night news program "Nightline."</div>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">
</p>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">Leading
atheist Edwin Kagin blasted his fellow non-believers with the hair
dryer to symbolically dry up the holy water sprinkled on their heads in
days past. The styling tool was emblazoned with a label reading "Reason
and Truth."
</p>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">
</p>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">Kagin
believes parents are wrong to baptize their <a id="KonaLink1" class="kLink" href="mailbox:///C%7C/Users/Joseph/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/9ord16pv.default/Mail/mail.josephbloch-1.com/Inbox.sbd/Bills.sbd/Websites?number=7425830&part=1.3&type=application/x-message-display&filename=Re%3A%20%5BExI%5D%20atheists%20de-baptize%20unbelievers%3A.eml#" target="undefined"><font style="position: static; font-family: arial,sans-serif; color: blue ! important; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400;" color="blue" face=""><span style="position: relative; font-family: arial,sans-serif; color: blue ! important; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400;" class="kLink">children</span></font></a> before they are able to make
their own choices, even slamming some religious eduction as "child
abuse." He said the blast of hot air was a way for adults to undo what
their parents had done.
</p>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">
</p>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">"I was
baptized Catholic. I don't remember any of it at all," said 24-year-old
Cambridge Boxterman. "According to my mother, I screamed like a banshee
... so you can see that even as a young child I didn't want to be
baptized. It's not fair. I was born atheist, and they were forcing me
to become Catholic."
</p>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">
</p>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">Kagin
doned a monk's robe and said a few mock-Latin phrases before inviting
those wishing to be de-baptized to "come forward now and receive the
spirit of hot air that taketh away the stigma and taketh away the
remnants of the stain of baptismal water."
</p>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">
</p>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">Ironically,
Kagin's own <a id="KonaLink2" class="kLink" href="mailbox:///C%7C/Users/Joseph/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/9ord16pv.default/Mail/mail.josephbloch-1.com/Inbox.sbd/Bills.sbd/Websites?number=7425830&part=1.3&type=application/x-message-display&filename=Re%3A%20%5BExI%5D%20atheists%20de-baptize%20unbelievers%3A.eml#" target="undefined"><font style="position: static; font-family: arial,sans-serif; color: blue ! important; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400;" color="blue" face=""><span style="position: relative; font-family: arial,sans-serif; color: blue ! important; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400;" class="kLink">son</span></font></a> became a fundamentalist Christian
minister after having "a personal revelation in Jesus Christ."
</p>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">
</p>
<p style="font-size: 13px;">"One
wonders where they went wrong," he chuckled to the TV show.
</p>
<div><br>
</div>
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