[ExI] atheists de-baptize unbelievers:

[darren shawn greer]

Will, very poignantly said. I'm a believer who has friends on both
> sides of the chasm. But on Facebook I have many atheist "friends
> (friends of friends)" who talk about nothing but their loathing of
> Christianity & apparently all religion in general. It is like these
> people have "no lives" and quite simply don't talk about other things
> (like family, work, school, popular culture) , except their
> anti-religion obsession. And the degree of arrogance, outright
> crudeness, and countless straw man arguments just astounds me! I used
> to think hardcore Evangelical Christian fundamentalists took the cake
> on this stuff, but I now give the nod to their obnoxious opposition.
>

 

Well said. I've been wanting to say something similar myself, and have been a bit troubled by the amount of space spent on-line by fellow atheists ridiculing and making fun of the beliefs of others. I'm not a believer, but my parents are. They are devout Christians, with a quiet, simple faith. It has been a great stabilizer in their lives and has made them, as far as I'm concerned, happier, more balanced and productive people than they were before they believed. Because they respect my meta-physical/philosophical position as an atheist, I have been forced to respect theirs. I have learned over the years that to paint all Christians (Moslems, Parsis, Jains, Hindu's, Buddhists, whatever) with the same brush--judging them by the worst or most fanatic followers --is as misleading as saying all men are murderers because some do occasionally take lives.
 



 

Per Ardua Ad Astra
For more info on author Darren Greer visit 
http://darrenshawngreer.blogspot.com
 


 

> Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:10:53 -0700
> From: possiblepaths2050 at gmail.com
> To: extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> Subject: Re: [ExI] atheists de-baptize unbelievers:
> 
> Will Steinberg wrote:
> Pretentious atheism ruins atheism. A smart, sensible atheist ignores
> baptism, because it has zero meaning outside of its believers. Kagin
> seems like he actually believes that children are wrongfully made to
> become Christian when that drop of water touches their heads, and that
> he has to undo the horror. Wouldn't it be more productive to
> just...ignore the whole thing?
> 
> I know smart people love to make belittling jokes, but sometimes too
> much masturbating of the ego actually validates the other side. Every
> "A for Atheist" shirt only pounds home the idea of Faith, Symbol,
> Faith!
> >>>
> 
> Will, very poignantly said. I'm a believer who has friends on both
> sides of the chasm. But on Facebook I have many atheist "friends
> (friends of friends)" who talk about nothing but their loathing of
> Christianity & apparently all religion in general. It is like these
> people have "no lives" and quite simply don't talk about other things
> (like family, work, school, popular culture) , except their
> anti-religion obsession. And the degree of arrogance, outright
> crudeness, and countless straw man arguments just astounds me! I used
> to think hardcore Evangelical Christian fundamentalists took the cake
> on this stuff, but I now give the nod to their obnoxious opposition.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> On 7/18/10, Giulio Prisco <giulio at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Agree with Will.
> >
> > Everyone should be free to waste their time and energy as they please,
> > provided they don't harm others. Myself, I would join a sport fan club
> > rather than New Atheist fundamentalists.
> >
> > --
> > Giulio Prisco
> > giulio at gmail.com
> > (39)3387219799
> >
> > On Jul 18, 2010 6:54 AM, "Will Steinberg" <steinberg.will at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Pretentious atheism ruins atheism. A smart, sensible atheist ignores
> > baptism, because it has zero meaning outside of its believers. Kagin seems
> > like he actually believes that children are wrongfully made to *become
> > Christian* when that drop of water touches their heads, and that he has to
> > undo the horror. Wouldn't it be more productive to just...ignore the whole
> > thing?
> >
> > I know smart people love to make belittling jokes, but sometimes too much
> > masturbating of the ego actually validates the other side. Every "A for
> > Atheist" shirt only pounds home the idea of Faith, Symbol, Faith!
> >
> > I fear for atheism when its harbingers are empathy-less prats...
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > extropy-chat mailing list
> > extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> > http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
> >
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