You've been around long enough to see this one. And who remembers this golden oldie? Let's see what else comes up in our search... Oh, here's another one! And of course in EVERY religious thread there's the predictable Greek chorus of "You Atheists are all evil, self-centered, intolerant, angry name callers!" by folks who never see the irony of that statement.
Steve0, I acknowledge that the first two of those three threads you would definitely find offensive, and there may be a few more. Since the third thread was by Mystery Squid, I wonder if it was more troll-bait rather than atheist-bashing - NOT justifying his threads since he was finally banned...wasn't MS an equal-opportunity offender that said whatever gets your dander? ....wait - guess you were talking about other's comments - not Mystery Squid. As you might expect, I'll assert for every one of those threads, there are multiple threads bashing God and believers - you knew I was going to say that. I have not and will never post a thread like the three you pointed out. The fewer religion threads - the less I will have to say and strongly suspect most of the others of my viewpoint. To paraphrase Gandhi, it's not you, but your posts.
As people become more educated they tend to question the information they are being fed. Also, see the scientific definition of correlation. Perhaps you meant "no causation"?
Your joking right? The first link was a joke, jokes elicit laughter. The first oversensitive atheist was admonished by several other atheist to lighten up. End of thread not one bash towards atheistism. Second link is as close as your going to get but still doesn't meet the criteria of a atheist bashing thread. Instead the OP, as stated, is sick and tired of Christans being bashed and via a challenge seeks to show the amount of good the Church also does in comparison to other institutions. You might want to try finding a thread wherein the first bash isn't against Christians or the OP but at atheist. The third is political correctness.
Stev0 already posted an answer. As for me, I didn't bother. A quick search shows that every PC thread involving religion eventually devolves into bashing and name calling, generally from both sides, which is a pointless exercise for those heavily entrenched on either side. The problem is a fundamental difference in what is accepted as reasonable evidence. One side uses faith, the other science. The faith people aren't impressed by scientific method, and the science people are not willing to be swayed by faith alone. No amount of discussion or rewording of the evidence helps, as the disconnect occurs at a fundamental level. We throw phases back and forth such as "You're not listening to me" or "You don't understand my point." In fact we do, on both sides. We both hear and understand the other side, but we are not impressed by the argument being made. Nor will we, since the sides employ fundamentally differing thought processes. So don't expect arguments of faith to sway the scientists or scientific arguments to sway the faith of the faithful. At best these discussions can be informative to the undecided. At worst they are hateful and damaging. Tom
Agreed with the selected quote above, therefore the less said the better. In the heat of these arguments I'm accused of calling the other side evil then described as having really nasty intentions....proves that adage that truth is the first causality in a war...this has been one senseless war. When one gets so worked up they get carried away and describe the other side as something like a monster, it's time to move on.
Good post. While unpleasant, sometimes these exchanges help us step back and reevaluate how we interact with others. I see this sort of thing with alarming regularity in my position as the president of a school board. In today's cash strapped economy, school boards are faced with many ugly, no-win situations. We are forced to make cuts which go against the best interests of the school, students, and community, but are the least onerous of many unpalatable options. In the public meetings that accompany these cuts, we board members are accused of being evil, stupid, self-serving, agenda driven, conspiracy hiding dolts who obstinately refuse to listen to public input. Some members of the public making these accusations become so obnoxious and out of control that they force ugly scenes at board meetings, forcing me to rein in public discussion, which further proves that we don't want public input. The accusations of some become self fulfilling through their own bad behavior. Likewise this happens in these public forums. One side accuses the other of being uncivilized and does it in such an inflammatory way that, what do you know, the other side does react in an uncivilized way. Imagine that. The insulted side returns the insult, and we are well on our way to another flame war. The key is to understand and respect the views of the other side. That part is fairly easy. Where it becomes a problem is when views influence action. Society is a collection of compromises governed and moderated by laws and social convention, all of which are influenced by our beliefs and views. Some conflict is inevitable. How we manage this conflict is what separates civilized society from barbarians. We have to ask ourselves, which do we want to be? Tom
^ I've experienced politics at my job and learned to loathe it. Not just office or client politics, but state politics. Found out some elected officials will say/do anything including switching parties, demonizing obscure institution, etc if it gets them elected/promoted - don't care who gets hurt or in their way.
. Stev0 understood and yet posted examples that don't come close to meeting the criteria. Somehow you missed it altogether. On the other hand maybe that's the MO of atheist say anything without regard to truth and accuracy as long as it casts Christians in a bad light? :nod:
After a survey of the numbers it seems you're right and I was wrong. I was depending on information I had from many years ago when I was in college. Although your survey is mostly constrained to Catholics and the USA. Chuck may also have a valid point, but I can't find good supporting evidence at this moment. It could be a wash.
I'm wondering if fred's house of politics should be "freds house of politics, religion, and the environment." those are the big three topics that produce the nastiest threads.
There is already an FHOPolotics. (my request to enter thereto has been "lost in the mail " somewhere... ) I don't really see a need for a FHOR, but then I fix phones for a living instead of trying to run an internet forum, so what do I know? I'm sure that the mods will step in and close threads down before the more inflammatory diners here at the pancake house start throwing the furniture around. What mystifies me is how Christians, who are specifically charged by GOD to "Love thy neighbor as thyself" get so galled up in these circular firing squads! GOD didn't say love thy fellow Christian neighbors as you love thyself, and this isn't one of those "little" rules that you can leave open for some interpretation like which day is the Sabbath or whether or not it's cool to drink alky-haul. (Trivia question for Baptists: Name JESUS' first public miracle.... ) Don't fall for it. There's a famous bit of advice they give out at the USNA (authorship uncertain, sometimes attributed to George Bernard Shaw) "Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig enjoys it." The only reasons that those peace loving, "tolerant" non-believers poke fun at you is because you react so poorly to it. JMHO... (Current value <$0.02)
There already is a forum in PC for environment Bra... And it DOES have some pointy hat folks opinions in there... I think religion = politics... so I would be in agreement with you on having the FHoPol be the placeholder... and as it is an "opt-in" forum... the discussions would be left to the participants that chose to have them and not just have discussions put in the face of folks that have come to PC for fun and banter about this fine little car... although... it would probably get ugly with the discussions about the origin of our species when mentioning affiliations and Party lines...
