8.06.2006

When Christians Look Unprofessional: The Letter Ended "Yours in Christ"

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In recent weeks at work, I received two letters in which the authors used "yours in Christ" before their signature in place of the commonly accepted "sincerely," "regards," etc. These were both business-related letters and not personal correspondence. One of them, as it so happens, had even been notarized.

When I was learning professional correspondence in high school and reviewing these lessons in college, I don't ever remember hearing that "yours in Christ" was an acceptable way to end a business letter. I went back and checked some style manuals to be sure, and my memory appears to be correct. So, when did this become acceptable? I should probably mention that both of the letters I received were written by college graduates. It seems fairly safe to assume that both would have had at least some training in professional correspondence during their education.

8.05.2006

Angelina Jolie is an Atheist

Angelina Jolie at the Cannes Film fes...
Angelina Jolie at the Cannes Film festival (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lists of celebrity atheists abound. I think it makes sense that members of a hated minority group who continue to be subjected to widespread bigotry might be a bit desperate to find "people like us" among the ranks of the rich and famous. It may seem silly to some, but I can tell you that anti-atheist bigotry seems far sillier to many of us! Anyway, I vote for Angelina Jolie to be our celebrity atheist "poster girl." She'd be a great source of unity because anybody who can look at her and not believe that something supernatural created her must be a real atheist.

Of course, as soon as the atheist community embraced a prominent celebrity for describing their lack of belief, Christians must come out of the woodwork to challenge it. I suppose our very existence suggests that they might be wrong, and so the denial kicks in. This seems to be especially important to them when celebrities are involved. You know, because atheism something that someone might emulate because a celebrity does it. If only that was the case!

Not surprisingly, the claim that Jolie is an atheist is not without controversy. One of the more thorough attempts to trace her views on religion was provided by ReligionFacts.