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<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Greetings:<br><br>
Because of family obligations I was unable to see the second showing of
<i>My Town</i>. I wanted to make sure that I got clear in my mind
what Wilson & Co. actually said, and I also wanted to hear the panel,
particularly Roy Atwood. Assuming that what I heard second hand was
accurate, I would like to make the following comments:<br>
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<dd>·<x-tab> </x-tab></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">From
what we know about the structure of a conservative Calvinist church,
Atwood must be wrong to say that Doug Wilson does not speak for his
church. <br><br>
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<dd>·<x-tab> </x-tab></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">When
Atwood said that he did not attend Christ Church he should have also said
that the pastor of Trinity Reformed Church is under Wilson’s authority.
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<dd>·<x-tab> </x-tab></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">Atwood
must not have been paying very close attention when the camera caught
Wilkins answering a clear, unqualified “Yes” when asked whether he
believed that only propertied males should vote. Wilson and George
Grant nodded their heads in agreement, and then Wilson told his joke
about democracy, the coyotes, the lamb, and their choice for lunch.
No historical point about what the Founding Fathers believed; rather, a
strong contemporary point about what these proud men of the chest
believe.<br><br>
</dl>Then there was the comment about me and how Wilson did not have to
take me seriously. In a previous post I’ve already listed all the
attempts that I’ve made to engage Wilson & Co. in serious dialogue,
but let me mention those that involved Atwood and repeat a few
others.<br>
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<dd>·<x-tab> </x-tab></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">In
April, 2000, Atwood was in the audience in the Nuart Theatre when I gave
a presentation on Confucius to NSA students and faculty. Atwood
would have remembered the good exchange of views that followed and my
congratulations to Wilson on the success of his college.<br><br>
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<dd>·<x-tab> </x-tab></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">My
invitation to Atwood for his students and faculty to attend the 2003 AAR
and SBL meeting held in Moscow. No one showed from NSA.<br><br>
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<dd>·<x-tab> </x-tab></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">My
response to Atwood’s letter to the <i>Daily News</i> in which he claimed
that NSA was an accredited institution. I asked him to send a
follow up letter to explain that NSA was only a “candidate” for
accreditation at the low level Transnational Association for Christian
Schools and Colleges, but he refused. With BAs and BSs still
teaching many NSA classes, NSA is still a long way from
accreditation.<br><br>
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<dd>·<x-tab> </x-tab></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">In
an e-mail dated Nov. 26, 2003, Atwood promised to answer my page by page
response to the slavery booklet, but he never did. And two days later he
wrote to me saying that he would never correspond with me
again.<br><br>
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<dd>·<x-tab> </x-tab></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">Let
me just repeat the serious and productive exchanges that I had with Doug
Jones on the Trinity, the good exchange that I’ve had recently with Peter
Lillback, and the lack of response from Dale Courtney on my serious
attempts to engage him on the question of Christian
“libertarianism.”<br><br>
</dl>At the risk of sounding presumptuous, I would to propose that the
shrillness of Wilson’s, Atwood’s, and Courtney’s responses is directly
proportional to the direct hits that I’ve scored on their thin
armor.<br><br>
Nick Gier<br>
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<font size=2>"The god you worship is the god you
deserve."<br>
~~ Joseph Campbell<br><br>
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