Soon after Rev.

Brewster of Mount Zion Baptist Church commented in regards to the shooting death of local youth Tyler Winstead appealing to God to stop the violence in this community and talking about employ[ing] the weapon of unconditional and radical love for humanity I called these comments vapid and a failure because they did not offer earthly solutions to earthly problems. As an atheist -- and more specifically a humanist -- I view these comments as contributing nothing to combat very real problems of violence that ought to be addressed by human action. Humanists and atheists like myself -- and many readers, believe it or not -- don't look to 'supernatural solutions' for earthly problems, but rather look to earthly solutions for earthly problems. Real action from people on their feet rather than those in prayerful kneeling -- we understand -- is required for change. We find no good reason to believe that prayer solves any problems or that any gods -- if they even exist, which is extremely doubtful -- intervene in human affairs. It is wonderful that Rev. Brewster has recently taken action by holding community meetings in conjunction with the Building Bridges initiative. It seems that many in this community including Rev. Brewster have realized that prayer is not sufficient to deal with our earthly problems. Rev. Brewster and his vast congregation -- in addition to so many prayerful people in NEPA and elsewhere -- who resort to prayer have been unsuccessful in employing the proposed 'weapon of love' and invoking supernatural intervention. For those who believe that God only helps those who help themselves, it seems evident that people helping themselves can't be distinguished from God helping people...and we all know which one is the more reasonable explanation. Justin Vacula Co-organizer, Spokesperson, Board Member NEPA Freethought Society www.nepafreethought.org Blogger www.justinvacula.com