A few days ago, I posted about Minister David Brassfield of the Newalla Church of Christ in Oklahoma. Brassfield had given members of his church a handout proclaiming that no atheists were helping victims of the recent tornado… even though we know several atheist groups and individuals have done just that, with their money and their time.

Well, according to Kai Tancredi at Red Dirt Report, Brassfield is about to do what no one expected. Confronted with evidence of just how wrong he was, he’s issuing an apology to his church members this weekend… kind of:

Last week I printed information and deductions that were incomplete, inaccurate, and unfair. That, I freely acknowledge and I apologize for the inadequate research (two websites) that led to all of the above. There were many atheist individuals and groups that helped in the tornado relief efforts and for their work I am thankful. … Another error was taking personal observations as a final say in a matter. In this area, I adopted a method of which I believe some atheists employ: Namely, the “if I don’t see it, it doesn’t exist” attitude. If it is wrong for one to use that approach to determine the existence of God, then it is wrong for me to use it to determine someone’s involvement in relief efforts. … Being human makes us liable to these mistakes. Even atheists can be judgmental and sometimes threatening toward us (in spite of the belief of one blogger who said that it seems that atheists are the ones being persecuted). Reading some of their blogs will easily evidence that. One atheist blogger said, “I am in the camp that wishes to tear down religion. IMHO (in my humble opinion) religion does more harm than good and must be stopped.” Statements such as that one keeps me from backing down from one comment in my article; that I dread the day if these individuals become the majority in our land.

In short: “I was wrong… but atheists are still horrible people.”

Way to take the high road, Brassfield.

(Thanks to Andrew for the link!)



