Atheist "incivility"
The Daily Dish has been having an on-again-off-again discussion of the rise of atheism. On the claim that atheists are "uncivil" in their opposition to religion, one atheist hits back (though not nearly hard enough) here.
My own take on it is this: I'm civil enough to religious people that I don't go onto their turf (their doorsteps, blogs, whatever) and pick fights with them. But if they won't observe the same courtesy -- if they come onto my turf and preach their superstitious rubbish at me -- well, I'm going to be as rude as I feel like being.
My own take on it is this: I'm civil enough to religious people that I don't go onto their turf (their doorsteps, blogs, whatever) and pick fights with them. But if they won't observe the same courtesy -- if they come onto my turf and preach their superstitious rubbish at me -- well, I'm going to be as rude as I feel like being.
posted by Infidel753 at 2:25 AM
4 Comments:
I must say that I enjoy visiting your blog and I applaud your stand for freedom against Iranian theocracy.
But pretend for a moment that you are a dispassionate agnostic who for the first time reads postings from atheists from any number of atheist websites chosen at random.
Could you honestly state that atheists are nice, pleasant people that have been properly socialized?
Thanks for the kind words.
In answer to your question, I'd say it would depend on the blog. Such a person would find the same kind of cross-section among atheists as among people in general. Of course, if he were setting out to find signs that atheists are less "nice, pleasant people" than the general population, then he would find them, whether they were there or not.
Consider, too, that in some cases coming across as nice and pleasant is not the goal and could even subvert the goal.
I've never run across an atheist blogger who was anything like as far removed from "nice and pleasant" as the Christian troll here, who obsessively plagues that blog in the same fashion.
I have not looked at enough Christian blogs to judge the overall "niceness" of such sites, but I would say that any blog dedicated to promoting such crude mythology would, by definition, not strike a truly objective observer as being sane.
The idea of a God who so loves us as to sacrifice Himself for our sake is a concept I find profound, not crude. I do hope you won't question my sanity for believing it to be true.
Certainly free speech gives you the right to ridicule any belief you want, but surely you must realize that if you goal is to make converts this tactic will be counter productive. People, being people, resent being told that their beliefs are stupid and will respond with emotional blockers that prevent them from accepting any further argument. The process works in reverse when atheists are told they are inherently nihilistic or amoral.
If your goal isn't to make converts then what is the point of the ridicule? It serves only to darken an already poor public image of atheists created by the likes of Madlyn Murray Ohare or Professor Dawkins.
Perhaps if this theist agrees not to call you evil you can refrain from questioning my sanity?
Personally I believe tha many a good atheist is in for a pleasant surprise. And many a self righteous Christian is in for a rude shock.
I do hope you won't question my sanity for believing it to be true.
Yes, I do. Because there is not the slightest evidence for such a conviction. Belief in Santa Claus might be comforting, but one would rightly question the sanity of an adult who believed in Santa Claus.
And yes, that concept of God is crude. Crude, primitive, and utterly commonplace.
You are wrong to suggest that the tactics of people like Dawkins are counterproductive. Year by year the number of believers declines and the number of atheists increases. We are winning the argument.
Perhaps if this theist agrees not to call you evil you can refrain from questioning my sanity?
Non sequitur. You are making equivalences between things that are not equivalent. Religious belief is not sane, and rejecting it is not evil.
Personally I believe tha many a good atheist is in for a pleasant surprise. And many a self righteous Christian is in for a rude shock.
Well, fine, but that belief has no more evidence backing it up than any other religious belief. There is no reason to believe in an afterlife, and I don't believe I will ever die, so I don't care what Christians (or Muslims or Hindus or Odinists or whatever) hallucinate about a nonexistent afterlife.
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