I've been reading Reddit for a while and every day there seems to be a new story about some article from Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris.
This rising militant atheism is getting annoying. I'll admit up front that I'm a Christian and I believe in Jesus, but I don't believe it's my calling to bludgeon others into accepting my faith. I am upset by religious bigots of all creed, especially people like Fred Phelps, Jimmy Swaggart, our President, and so on.
And I'm certainly in favor of exposing people in authority attempting to use their power to force their faith on people. I decried the attempts by the Kansas Board of Education to redefine science to allow for creationism. I cheered when the judge here in Harrisburg struck down the Dover School Board's order to teach creationism and I cheered louder when the members of the school board were voted out of office for trying to force creationism on students...but please...stop with the obnoxious atheism.
If people are assholes for trying to force their religion on others, they're still assholes when they're trying to force their denial of God on people. Or when they mock people for believing. As you may have heard, James Kim was found dead in the snow a mile from his family after attempting to go for help when they got stuck. The outpouring of grief for him was amazing. A lot of people offered prayer. This dickhead offered mockery of people's prayer. The author stated:
I guess the imaginary god people keep "praying" to didn't care enough to save Mr. Kim's life.
That's despicable. RealityBased, whomever you are, you're no better than the people you suppose yourself better than because you're an atheist.
Please, everyone, stop the damn bickering and preaching.
And can I just say for a moment that I am amused by the irony that many people who cling so desperately to their atheism reached via logical fallacy believing that it somehow makes them better than others hold atheism as their faith. We all have our creeds, be them Christian, Buddhist, or Atheist.
Went to check the message and found:
Wish I had read it before it was deleted so I could comment specifically. Oh well, as long as i'm hear, I guess I could say something abstractly...
Polemics and diatribes annoy me, too, at times. The stereotypical Christian insensitively evangelizes and criticizes those who hold a non-Christian point of view (rather than exploring that point of view in a mutually respectful context), and the stereotypical atheist retaliates against such criticism and recruitment with vitriol accumulated from many such prior encounters with stereotypical Christians.
Neither side's stereotypical approach has proven effective yet both sides continue on in this manner. My question is: why?
Understanding requires not only relevant facts, but rapport as well. This follows from the old cliche that "people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."
Perhaps trite but nonetheless true.
It seems to me that the banter and bickering over differences is much less rooted in reconciliation or even mutual respect than it could be. Instead, the impression I'm often left with is that one or both sides actualy thrive on the confrontations.
Petty, I know, but that's how it seems to me.
Both sides could benefit themselves as well as their opponents if the intensity were turned down a bit, and if understanding and mutuality were the priorities instead of condemnation and disdain.
Well, that's my 4-cent's worth (inflation and all that—LOL :)