tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228544473034487906.post1007748828823769813..comments2016-05-22T16:15:24.448-07:00Comments on The Atheist's Way: SEASONED WITH REASON - When Frustration ReignsEric Maiselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03616912091956978071noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228544473034487906.post-1321138699083020652008-10-17T03:19:00.000-07:002008-10-17T03:19:00.000-07:00Great post! I too am weary in the same way. Now, ...Great post! I too am weary in the same way. Now, Ive got to go fire up the pumpkin chariot so I can get to work.Mike aka MonolithTMAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08385705390882035829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228544473034487906.post-18918291259288143522008-10-16T18:44:00.000-07:002008-10-16T18:44:00.000-07:00I think by and large it comes from a couple of mai...I think by and large it comes from a couple of main elements. <BR/><BR/> First is the feeling of being under attack. I am not sure what makarios intended in that comment, but it pretty much spells out the feeling of being threatened.<BR/><BR/> The other, and the most egregious, is evangelism. The need to spread the good news. Except it is all Weekly World news.<BR/><BR/> But mostly I think they are surfing the net, stumble upon a blog post, and get caught up in it. Anger, fear, whatever, they go on the attack...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228544473034487906.post-80701160003586972732008-10-15T13:22:00.000-07:002008-10-15T13:22:00.000-07:00Makarios, do you understand the purpose of this bl...Makarios, do you understand the purpose of this blog? <BR/><BR/>While I could take each of your points, one by one, and do a fair job of arguing against every one of them, my main interest is discussing how Atheists can cope with people who push their Christian agenda, even in the comment section of an ATHEIST blog.<BR/><BR/>I don't have any interest in discussing the dogma of Christianity and why it is on par with Norse or Greek mythology.Melissa LaFavershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13404079012126846264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228544473034487906.post-59538873493013389222008-10-15T10:24:00.000-07:002008-10-15T10:24:00.000-07:00Good - good post. From your vantage point it may s...Good - good post. From your vantage point it may seem hard to believe, but I think most everyone shares your struggle. <BR/><BR/>While I’ve known and hung out with atheists all my life, gone to school with them, worked with them went to sporting events with them, still do actually, I never once had any beef with individual atheists until I went to google blogs one day and typed in "atheist." In fact, until then I'd never given atheism a second thought. I was on my walk through life and they were on theirs and we just did other stuff together.<BR/><BR/>Anyhow, I went to atheist blogs and atheists would write things like, “If you tell me why you don’t believe in Zeus or Thor, then you’ll understand why I don’t believe in your god.” <BR/><BR/>I’d read that and blink in amazement that an atheist, a person who thought of h/himself as an especially intelligent person would see that as a valid argument. I mean, did they really and truly think that Jesus was as mythological as Zeus? Did they really think that? Or were they just mocking?<BR/><BR/>Atheist author Richard Dawkins would write - [The Christian God is] “Arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynist, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” <BR/><BR/>Atheist author Chris Hitchens said, “All religions and all churches are equally demented in their belief in the existence of the divine.” <BR/><BR/>Richard Dawkins wrote, “Faith is one of the world’s great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.” <BR/><BR/>Sam Harris said, “Some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them.”<BR/><BR/>When I read those things something just lite up in me. I became obsessed with, as you put it, not allowing the other side to win by default. <BR/><BR/>I see now that the reason that my atheist friends and I get along is that we leave our thoughts about belief / non belief out of the conversation. <BR/><BR/>My closest friends of course are “like thinkers” because that’s how people are made. I want to enjoy the things that are most important to me, not justify why I enjoy them. <BR/> <BR/>I think that even you and I could get along just fine until you tell me, or more importantly tell other people that I’m a dangerous individual because of what I believe. And it’s no different if I was to describe you as dangerous because your beliefs are different than mine. <BR/><BR/>While I have dozens of flaws, one of my greatest is the angry knee jerk lashing out when confronted. I’m light years from where I used to be on this issue but I’ve got light years to go. <BR/><BR/>Good luck on your journey.Thesauroshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13305052511095551483noreply@blogger.com