Thesis Proposal/Outline and random thoughts

A Government In Thrall of Religion

Frank R Zindler

Zindler gives an emotional call to Atheist America to “restore a semblance of sanity” in American politics by launching a series of strikes against President Bush’s policies and religion. This piece is rife with subtle wordings that undermine Bush’s authority, humorous biblical analogies undermining administrative choices, repetitive phrasing and questions that create draw attention to certain issues, structural parallels to the Declaration of Independence, strong nature imagery that makes primitive the role of religion and radical accusations designed to arouse strong emotions. By confidently implementing these tools in his article, Zindler creates an emotionally powerful but logically weak call to restore the American government to a “the road of reality.”

Subtle Wording

Zindler refers to Bush as “Mr Bush” and refrains from addressing him as a President unless he is mocking his position.

• “President Bush, like the angel who chased Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.”

Consistent use of the preposition anti-, and words with negative connotations

-anti-environmental, suppress, greedy, consciousless, etc.

“He knoweth not what he doeth.”

Biblical Humor through extreme examples

• “He knoweth not what he doeth”
• President Bush, like the angel who chased Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, does not want us to have a chance to eat the fruit of the tree of life.

What purpose does this play? Zindler is trying to say he knows all the biblical stories and is just as in tune with what the bible may say as his opponents are.

Repetitive Phrasing and Questions

• “If he… (had a firm grasp, could understand, realized…)
• Mr Bush (accusation, deprived, pulled out of…)
• Repetition of “We must.”

Loose Parallel structure to Declaration of Independence

• States what the government should look like, then follows this with a list of grievances. Instead of tea taxes, it’s pulling out of cloning projects. The only difference is Zidler ends with a call to action.

Nature Imagery

• dark and swelling tide of superstition
• foxes to guard our henhouses
• chance to eat the fruit of the tree of life
• acorns are not oak trees
• Trojan Horse in a public barn
• horse must be put out to pasture in the churchyard

Radical Accusations

• Nothing fails like prayer
• Mispronunciation of the word nuclear would seem to signal the total depth of his understanding of physics
• He can collude with greedy and conscienceless corporations
• He thinks ecologists are just wacko tree hugging bird watching eccentrics who don’t understand economics.
• It is the ignorance fostered by religion that now threatens our very species with extinction.

If religion fosters ignorance, why are we still alive?

What evidence do you have that prayer always fails?

Where did your ideas come from?

But do the said questions apply to an atheist audience?