Thanks for the history and detail, your anger and indignation now makes a lot more sense. In the course of my work over a number of decades, it's interesting that it isn't the agnostic atheists that have the biggest problems with God's Word but those that have either been exposed to the religious attempts at Christianity or have had close friends or relatives that have been peppered with such ideas.
You see the agnostic atheist who hasn't been given the confusing picture of the 'modern' take on Christainity starts with something close to a blank sheet rather than a picture that doesn't make sense at all. So because they have bypassed all the man-made religion and are presented with the Bible itself, I have always found them to be open, reasonable and rarely inflamed on the subject; in many cases they often (as time goes by) ask for more and more information which they are happy to consider and often come back for further dialogue/ correspondance.
Now I'm not saying that they all conclude that God is real or right on all things, but in most cases they attain a deep respect for the Scriptures that they never had before, see that it contains history and science that is timeless and in no need of correction or updates.
In contrast, for most religion infected individuals, someone like me will post the investigations of
*Strobel or
McDowell, who were both nostril flaring atheists and proud of it, and the skeptics here are too nervous/ preoccupied or apathetic to give them the time of day. But you see such a lack of engagement wouldn't produce a quality newspaper article, or make a respected journalist; I'm sure you get that. Anyway thanks for sharing the detail of your family and that history, that is very much appreciated. The key reason I am sharing mainly what I do, is because I firmly believe we are all eternal beings (housed currently in these crumbling bodies), and we all need to prepare for what will be the vast majority of our existance. You may not want people like Gofer and myself to care for the eternal plight of individuals, but we just do.
* In the above clip Strobel talks about why he wrote the Book
"Is God Real?" because his researchers told him that on average
200 times per second, people around the planet are typing that question (or similar) into search
Evidence
I don't want in my opinion type stuff
Or a 6 minute clip of someone analysing something said 2000 years ago in a book
Evidence
Not hearsay