The 2012 Global Atheist Convention is done and dusted, and you know what? All that affirmation has made me hungry for conflict. The muslim protesters this afternoon weren't really to my taste (though I had a polite chat), so fortunately on the way out a little girl handed me a copy of The Regal Standard - a clever ploy to get my attention while circumventing my wrath.
Luckily I was able to find the publication's website. From the site:
"The Regal Standard was designed as a response to the second global atheist convention which is to be held in Melbourne. The atheist convention seeks to deny God, blame Christians for many evils in the world and discourage people from the faith. The Regal Standard acknowledges and honours God, proclaims the many great things he has done through his followers, and encourages people to follow God. The media will not be sympathetic to Christians. We need to produce our own."
In their leading article, a former atheist named Anthony Flew trotted out the age old monkey-typewriter fallacy.
I sent them:
"Dear Sir,
In your article 'I Was Wrong', starting on page 1 of The Regal Standard, you focus on an argument by Professor Anthony Flew about monkeys typing a shakespearean sonnet.
'For the whole 488 letters the chances are 1 in 26^488... The bottom line... It's never going to happen'
Isn't that the same as, say, lining up 488 playing cards, or any 488 arbitrary objects, and declaring their specific combination improbable?
By publishing this argument, you implicitly endorse it.
Looking forward to your reply.
A fellow seeker of truth,
-Ryan"
I ended up leaving the paper on the train. Hopefully someone else gets a laugh out of it, especially the article on such unfulfilled biblical prophecies as "there will be a war in the middle east". Good news guys! I think it already happened (several times even).