Kicking Against the Pricks

Correspondence Series by Anton Thorn

And Jesus said, "Mr. X, Mr. X, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks!"

                                                                                               - Acts 26:14

In mid-February, 2000, I received an e-mail from kindly Mr. X (he requested that his real name not be revealed), a Catholic who initially postured as being interested in Objectivism and its principles, but probably only wanted to debate my openly anti-religious stance. Our correspondence was sustained through a number of volleys, as Mr. X's questions and objections to my position culminated in frustration and bewilderment.

Below are the 10 responses I sent to Mr. X, as well as a final response which I did not send to him, but include here as the crowning gesture to put the whole matter to rest. You will note in reading many of Mr. X's remarks, that his frustration got the better of him and his tone consequently became uncivil and impolite. Thus, I decided to terminate all future correspondence with Mr. X, as over the course of our correspondence he proved ungrateful to my efforts to answer his questions and his manners had overall degenerated to less than gentlemanly.

Letter One: The First Lob

Letter Two: Clarifying the Onus of Proof

Letter Three: Deconstructing Faith

Letter Four: Undoing Misconstrual

Letter Five: Rescuing Reason from Plunder

Letter Six: The Great Concession

Letter Seven: A Bitter Kick

Letter Eight: The Persistence of Misconstrual

Letter Nine: Back to Square One

Letter Ten: Still Kicking

Letter Eleven: The Final Word

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