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Text Birthday Messages: Group B

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1. Adrienne Critcher: Happy Birthday from Shreveport, LA

Happy Birthday!

Thank you for having the courage to challenge people's sacred delusions. Your courage has given me and my husband the courage to share our naturalistic worldview with others when the subject of religion comes up. We are also gay rights activists here in conservative northwest Louisiana--but that's actually easier than challenging religious faith!!

Have a great birthday,
Adrienne Critcher

2. Alex: Happy Birthday from San Francisco

Mr. Dawkins:

I send you many birthay wishes from california. Your tireless efforts to communicate reason over blind faith is a loud trumpet sounding for my generation (Gen X.) We are at the point in our lives where we find ourselves in leadership position throughout various industries. we are positioned to champion reason, while shaping our world through our professional efforts. Your public thoughts regarding this topic help to penetrate the mainstream, perhps effecting the lives of many, like myself, who stand at the door of cultural change. Thank you for your voice and passion.

I wish you a very happy 21st birthday! I know, I know.

Respectfully, Alex

3. Annette: Happy Birthday from Utah

Happy Birthday! I am so thankful you are out there taking the heat. I would not have even looked at atheism as a choice. I knew I didn't want to be a part of the Mormon church anymore but thought I had to replace it with something else. I am glad that I am giving my kids a chance to grow up without the confines and guilt of religion. I hope they are better for it. Keep up the great work.

4. Brian: Happy Birthday from Kandahar AFB, Afghanistan

Richard:

Your flawless logic and timely courage gave me that last little push that I needed to break away from the Christian mind virus forever. Thank you for all your work. I hate to torture the cliche, but you're my hero!!

Brian

5. Christer Nilsson: Happy Birthday from Lund, Sweden

Happy Birthday, Richard!

Evolution worked hard for a long time to make you!

Sincerely

Christer

6. Craig J. Hawkins: Happy Birthday from Solihull, England

Happy birthday to a genuine living legend. ...Have a great day.

7. Dan (The Expat Atheist): Happy Birthday from South Korea

Well, tried and hackneyed as it is: I wish you a happy birthday and hope that you experience many more in the years to come. You are true hero to me (along with Sam Harris, with whom I became acquainted through you.

PS I have thinking about setting up a website and forum for expat secular humanists...maybe I will get around to it...you know in a few short years I will be applying to Oxford for a Phd...do you have office hours when i could ambush you and get your autograph?!

All the Best,

Dan, the Expat Atheist...

8. David E. Warren: Happy Birthday from Leawood, Kansas

My wife and I immensely enjoyed your talk at the University of Kansas Lied Center. Your books are on my reading list. I also enjoyed your God Delusion video series which I have seen on YouTube. I particularly liked the Ted Haggard interview. You have excellent self-control. That guy needed slapping. I'll bet you were tempted. Anyway, Happy Birthday. We hope you enjoy many, many more.

Best Wishes, Pat and Dave Warren, British By Descent

9. David Mayerovitch: Happy Birthday from Ottawa, Canada


TO RICHARD DAWKINS ON HIS BIRTHDAY

We've been planning your party with pride,
Invitations went out far and wide.
We sent one to God,
But isn't it odd?
For some reason he never replied.

10. Derek Jones: Happy Birthday from San Antonio

Mr.Dawkins! Thank you so much for what you do! I have read "The God Delusion" 6 times! I can only imagine what it would be like to live in a world where people educated themselves as much as you do. I hope you have a great birthday and many more.

11. Dwayne Rice: Happy Birthday from Dallas, TX

Mr. Dawkins,

I just want to wish you a happy birthday and thank you for changing my life.

I read The God Delusion a few months ago and it forever changed my view of religion and god. I had had serious doubts about the existence of god for a while, ever since reading "The Elegent Universe" by Brian Greene and "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. Also because I am a gay man living in Texas, of all places. However, after reading your book, it all fell into place and I was able to let go completely. I no longer need to serach for the meaning of life or self-validation in some fictitious religious book, or any of the accepted religous books. The answers are all around me in world we live in, in the research that fellow humans have conducted and in my own head.

Since then I have also read "The Ancestor's Tale" and become very interested in Evolution. My next projects are "The Blind Watchwaker" and "Origin of the Species."

Thank you so much for standing up against religious ignorance and for becoming a strong voice for change in the world. Together with Sam Harris and many others, I hope that we can eventually change the world, even if it is only one person at a time. We have no choice if we want to prevent the human race from destroying itself fighthing over their imaginary friends.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday. I can't wait to see, hear or read what you do next.

Sincerely,

Dwayne Rice
Dallas, TX

12. Jack Welter: Happy Birthday from Fresno, CA

Professor Dawkins I lack the vocabulary to properly thank you for your work and inspiration, but I will try. I am a college student in a prestigious honors program that is inhabited largely by upperclass white Christians. I am devoting myself to be the strident representitive for our beliefs (or lack thereof) in a environment that desperately needs a voice of reason and thought. Your work and your example has helped me to articulate and persuade, and I think the seeds of doubt we have planted together are beginning to sprout. Now my fellow students are approaching me with questions on atheism, and much to my delight, they seem to be listening. Thank you so much for helping me give them a view that they never allowed themselves to consider. Please never die, Dr. Dawkins. This world needs you much too much.

13. James Kelsh: Happy Birthday from Ontario, Canada

Happy Birthday Mr. Dawkins!
I had been drifting away from religion for the last 20 years approximately ( I am now 55). I purchased The God Delusion as a "christmas" gift for my family! After readinfg it and pondering it's evidence (and lack thereof) I have finally come out of the religious closet to say, proudly "I am an atheist".
Keep up the good work.
Jim Kelsh, CGA.

14. Jamie Fox: Happy Birthday from Los Angeles, California USA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. DAWKINS!
I bet even as a zygote you were a handsome chap, well almost a chap!
Your loyal fan.
Jamie Fox
USA

15. John Koehler: Happy Birthday from Gresham, OR

Happy Birthday, Sir!

Having been an avid fan of yours and a monthly supporter of RDF I wanted to let you know that you've changed my life dramatically over the years. Allow me to rigorously thank you for writing "The Blind Watchmaker" which was instrumental in setting me free from theology. I've read all your books since, most more than once, and am very much looking forward to reading more.

As your friend Douglas Adams once wrote, "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be". For my own account, credit goes to you and your ability to articulate the concept of evolution and natural selection to the public. Since learning about natural selection (& random mutation) my favorite hobby has been to study evolutionary biology and parasitology in depth and use that information to successfully persuade many "faith-heads" of its validity. I even converted my own Godson from Christianity last month, while he was working for the TV evangelist Louis Palau (http://www.palau.org/). It helped a lot when he read TGD, copies of which I've been giving out to my Christian friends. He's now unemployed and looking for work in the secular world. His parents quite are upset with me, but what they don't yet realize is that they're next in line.

Thank you again Professor Dawkins, and do have a wonderful birthday and many more. In case Lana is jealous of the attention you're getting, please say hello to her also for me, and let her know I thoroughly enjoyed listening to you both read the God Delusion (I purchased the audio book to listen to with a friend in the car on a recent road trip).

Always,


John the Atheist

16. Judy Drake: Happy Birthday from Bend, Oregon, USA

Happy Birthday Mr. Dawkins! In our city of Bend,
Oregon, we own a townhouse where we accommodate
out-of-town guests. In the bedside nightstand
where you would normally find a Gideon's Bible in
any American hotel, we keep a copy of "The God Delusion"
for our guests' reading pleasure. Thanks for writing it!

17. Justin Jones: Happy Birthday from San Diego

Professor Dawkins,

I am still a student, but I want to become an evolutionary biologist just as you are. Ever since you made your appearance on The Colbert Report I have read most of your books and watched your documentry on religion. I hope to one day meet you face to face. Happy Birthday.

18. Kate Holt: Happy Birthday from Santa Monica, California

Birthday greetings, Professor Dawkins, from a lapsed (recovered?) christian fundamentalist.
Under the influence of some unholy spirit* in my first year at Cambridge University, I offered testimonials to fellow students and surrendered two weeks of summer attempting to save souls in Benidorm. Despite some success (for which I shall continue to do penance), I lacked the addict's zeal for dogma and leapt back onto the wagon of rational thinking before my twenty-first birthday.
I flattered myself that as an adult, I had put away those childish games for good but if it weren't for the intervention of your writings, I'd still be tippling from the agnostic's murky bottle.
Thank you for clarifying the tipsy realm between sober and sozzled. Religion is an easily consumed addictive substance whose only cure is abstention and I am proud to declare myself faith-free at last.
Cheers!
Kate Holt
*They gathered forces under the label CICCU, pronounced: Kick You.
My bruises were visible for years.

19. Louie Rodriguez: Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Richard. You've given me that last push to embrace my true feelings on atheism. I've "come out" as an atheist to several people now and I've got to tell you, it feels great!

Thanks so much,
Louie

20. Marc André St Jean: Happy Birthday from montréal

2 things for your birthday

First I want to tell you that I was a ''spiritual seeker'' for 14 years.
I was a follower of Sathya Sai Baba ! yes I know ! .....lol
After a scandal about Sai Baba I started reading skeptical material and science. Matt Ridley, Martin Gardner, Michael Shermer and you of course. You saved me ! You all saved me. Thank you so much

Second, I am starting a publishing company, here in montreal (in french) it will be books very critical of religion, spirituality and new age ( I worked in a new age bookstore for 11 years ) The first one is The Black book of gurus, the secret life of ''spirituals masters''. I hope one day to have enough money to translate one of yours in french.

We need more people like you

Happy birthday

Marc

21. Mario Tosto: Happy Birthday from California

Richard,

Thanks for carrying the heavy burden of speaking out against the widespread delusions that make life difficult for non-believers. Attempts to characterize you as a wild extremist "preaching" atheism just indicate the shallowness and fear of the theistic establishment.

FYI, I have only recently lost my god delusion, having been an active and somewhat prominent member of the Christian Science movement for over thirty years. In the end, however, the claims I had been making for the "healing power of Spirit" did not stand either the test of reason or experience. Delusions crowd out reason and distort experience to favor whatever ideology one has committed to. But my case shows that even deeply dyed beliefs eventually dislodge and float away because there is no substance to them. Sooner or later we all wake up - and I'm glad I did sooner than later. Thanks for being an important part of the process.

Happy Birthday!

-mario

mt_space.blogspot.com
mtverse.blogspot.com
mario@tosto.com

22. Nikko Elliott: Happy Birthday from Highland, IN

Last November I drove twelve hours, both ways, to see you talk in Philadelphia. To be more specific I made the trip to shake your hand and tell you that you are my intellectual hero. I got to do that and I'll never forget it. What I didn't get to tell you was that "The Selfish Gene" has had a more profound affect on my life and my thoughts than any other book I've ever read. I used to suffer fairly severe depression and even attempted suicide at one point but reading "The Selfish Gene" completely changed my opinions on my childhood, my personal life, and my expectations for the behaviors of others and myself. While I can't say I'm completely rid of depressive thoughts I can say that because of your writings I now look forward to being alive for as long as I possibly can be. So, thank you. I know this is a weird way to say happy birthday but if anyone could appreciate something like that I think it would be you.

Forever grateful,
Nikko Elliott


P.S. In Philadelphia you jokingly said that Douglas Adams was probably your only convert to atheism. Well you can also count me.

23. Peter Schuman: Happy Birthday

My daughter loved Dr. Dawkins's books, and they were instrumental in supporting her desire to have a career in science. She has completed a Fulbright Fellowship and is about to start a PhD program in molecular biology.

I rather imagine that inspiring young people to become scientists, particularly molecular biologists, would give Dr. Dawkins considerable satisfaction.

Happy belated birthday!

Peter Schuman

24. Robert Wesolowski: Happy Birthday from The Villages FL

When I think about you and Cambridge, I remember the summers we spent at the Leys School, Cambridge, and the inspiring lectures we attended at various colleges across campus. I remember the boat rides up and down the Cam River. I remember the times our students climbed the fence at Selwyn College after curfew.

As you reflect on your birthday, I suspect you have some fond memories to make your birthday a very happy day.

Happy Birthday.

Robert Wesolowski (Retired)
3113 Archer Ave, The Villages FL 32162

25. Ronald Wallace: Happy Birthday from Wilsall, Montana

Thank you for speaking out against religion.. I was brought up a catholic and for most of my 65 years I rebeled against it, but not in the way you suggested. I have now begun to confront my friends,with very interesting results.

My sincer for a very happy Birthday

26. Thor: Happy Birthday from Glasgow

Thanks for getting people to believe in me again.Happy Birthday Richard:)

27. Tracy Astwood: Happy Birthday from North Yorkshire

I hope you realise that because of you, every day people like me, spend time lying in bed at night wondering about such things as 'has the speed of light always been what it is today, or has it evolved like everything else? I am a nurse, not a scientist or mathmetician, but you have made me feel that science is not just for the elite and that my thoughts can be as valid as the next person if I am prepared to seek out the evidence. The evidence I seek I can find in your books and suprisingly for me I can understand it.
I would like to say thank you and wish you a very happy birthday. My wish for you is that you have many more in order to live a long enough life to see the evidence of some of the things you dream of.

Love and kindest regards,
Tracy

28. Travis: Happy Birthday from Portland, Oregon

My books are full of notes, highlights, lowlights, illustrations, underlines, scribbles, scratches, whiteout, tape, paperclips, and various meaningful and unintelligible jottings. I try to make it a habit to review the myriad of 'bookmarks' upon finishing a good read. It was exactly one of these highlights that led me to pick up The Blind Watchmaker. I even remember the particular shade of blue, the sharp angle left by the heavy marker. The Salmon of Doubt. Just one more thing I have Douglas Adams to thank for. I suppose you've heard this time and again.

It gives me great hope that your books are alive and well within the general public. I have long been a proud atheist content to share my views with any theist finding they've accidentally stumbled into conversation with an educated, caring 'nonbeliever'; but comfortable, nonetheless, with inactivity. You have been an incomparable educator, an inspirational leader, and the catalyst that helped me to take a more active roll in breaking religious taboos, and educating many caring, misguided, malinformed people.

As a realist I understand that you will probably not find the time to read this with the flood of letters that you are sure to get. If this but passes through your hands unread, or the click of your mouse sends it into cyber oblivion; you will, at the very least, know that there is another grateful human being who would like to give heartfelt thanks and wish you a very happy birthday.

Travis Widner