Atheist Author Cancels Seattle Appearance After Receiving Death Threats by "God's Little Helper"

[rug]

courtesy Horus Gilgamesh

Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 4:30 PM

This weekend, the Atheist Alliance of America is hosting their 2014 national convention in SeaTac. Prominent atheists, including Stephen Pinker and Rebecca Goldstein, are headlining a full docket of panels and banquets and field trips. One author, who publishes under the pseudonym Horus Gilgamesh, was scheduled to attend the convention in support of his new book Awkward Moments (Not Found in Your Average) Children's Bible, a study of the Bible's most contradictory and cruel episodes intended for adults, but presented in the guise of a children's book. At the last minute, Gilgamesh canceled his appearance at the convention after receiving two death threats in the mail this week.

On Monday, Gilgamesh opened the mailbox at his Washington state home to find a letter addressed to both his real name and his pseudonym. The letter, which arrived with a Tacoma-Olympia postmark, began "Do I have your attention now? You think your (sic) so safe to hide behind a fake name to spread lies about God and attacking Christians? You aren't." This is followed by a lengthy quote about putting idolaters to death from the King James translation of Deuteronomy 13. The verse warns that if anyone you know "serve(s) other gods," you should "surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death." The letter ends: "I'll see you up in Seattle next week. You wont (sic) see me." It's signed "God's Little Helper."

Gilgamesh writes about receiving the letter on his blog. He immediately reported the letter to local police and the United States Postal Service. Over email, Gilgamesh tells me he also notified the organizers of the Atheist Alliance convention, who "began working with the event site and arranged for private security from off-duty police officers." Gilgamesh then received a second letter in the mail from what appeared to be the same person—"police have the second letter and I have been asked to not reveal any more details about the case for the time being," he tells me—and he ultimately decided to cancel his appearance at the convention. He notes that atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris often travel with a security detail due to death threats, but says, "I'm just not comfortable with the idea of a stranger putting themselves in harm's way—all because of my lack of belief."

Why, out of the dozens of speakers at the convention, was Gilgamesh singled out for death threats? "I have a feeling that other (atheist) authors/speakers have similar situations," he says, but "[it's] new to me, so we weren't really sure how to handle it." Gilgamesh's book has been near the top of Amazon's atheism bestseller list since its publication about a year ago, so he's become a higher-profile target in recent days. The fact that Awkward Moments looks like a children's book might inspire more outrage among Christians than a more traditional book.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2014/08/08/atheist-author-cancels-seattle-appearance-after-receiving-death-threats-signed-by-gods-little-helper

http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=5dacd08a841a00bcfb31ab554&id=9d15079482

http://www.awkwardmomentsbible.com/death-threats-from-christians/

https://m.facebook.com/AwkwardBible/photos/a.313077238706379.94952.313075568706546/891500537530710/?type=1&refid=17

I wonder how he knew his name and address.

[Demsrule86]

1. Find Him

Track 'God's little helper down' and throw his butt in jail for a long time. He is no Christian and quotes from the old testament not the new testament. He will surely burn in hell for his threat but hey he deserves justice on this plane as well.

[ck4829]

2. I don't want to point fingers, but...

This review of the Awkward Moments Children's Bible really sticks out, I'm not saying it's this guy, but they probably share the same ideological wavelength. Also note about how concerned he is in his belief that parents might buy the book in mistake.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3J3SKHOXC2372/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg1?ie=UTF8&asin=149217744X&cdForum=Fx3V7K2451BN0CX&cdPage=1&cdThread=Tx1X5MG3PAE0C97&store=books

[rug]

3. He hates Thrustmaster too.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2TEPLHJLP95UK/ref=cm_cr_rdp_pdp

You should join MIRT.

[longship]

6. But he apparently likes handgun holsters.

And Mark Levin books.

And military games.

The guy's something else.

[longship]

4. A Christian response to atheists.

As always, Jesus kind and gentle.


One gets utterly sick and fucking tired of fundamentalism and their wacko followers.

[Htom Sirveaux]

5. I hope the police find this person.

This person needs (among many other things) to pay more attention to the "God is love, love your neighbor as yourself, love your enemies, do good to those that hate you" portions of the Bible, and less to the "go smite your enemies in the name of God" portions. That's the problem with a literalist, "all passages are equally authoritative" treatment of the Bible: you end up picking and choosing anyway, only now you're denying that you do it. Much better to openly state that you're favoring some passages over others, and then explaining why you're interpreting it that way.

[okasha]

7. I suppose he skipped over that bit that says

"He who hates his brother is a murderer in his heart."

[Mariana]

9. If you take this guy at his word

he's not worried about being a murderer in his heart. He aspires to be a murderer in reality.

[cbayer]

8. I suspect that this is not all that uncommon

and that every person who puts themselves in the public spotlight is are risk for this.

Hell, some people have been threatened for posting on DU.

Finding someone's name and address is pretty easy these days.

Anyway, it's too bad that he feels unable to attend. I hope they find this person.