.
Now a days, I pretty much just scroll through the Today's Posts section every couple of days or so and see if there are any interesting thread topics to look at. This thread, like pretty much all others, is filled with anger and hateful blanket statements about an entire group of people. I always wonder if the people who make those comments and/or kudos those comments know that they are acting no differently from the hateful type of Christians they condemn - putting human beings into boxes, strawmanning them, and throwing them away as though they aren't each individual people. This is the type of thing the religious fundamentalists types have a reputation of doing.
I get it. This is an atheist forum. This is where atheists come to release the frustration, anger, hurt, and/or isolation they feel as a result of being atheist in a mostly theist world, or any past bad experience they've had from people of faith. Which is fine, I understand. What y'all get here (your own space of like minded individuals) is what we get in church or religious group gatherings. This is a safe haven. An echo chamber. Three years as an active member of this forum has shown me that this just isn't the place for diverse groups of people to come and have productive discussions about their differences and attempt to understand each others' point of view... even though they disagree. And that is fine.
Anyway, I'm not sure why I rambled off about that in this thread. I guess every time I pop in to visit, I am reminded once again of why I've backed off.
Now a days, I pretty much just scroll through the Today's Posts section every couple of days or so and see if there are any interesting thread topics to look at. This thread, like pretty much all others, is filled with anger and hateful blanket statements about an entire group of people. I always wonder if the people who make those comments and/or kudos those comments know that they are acting no differently from the hateful type of Christians they condemn - putting human beings into boxes, strawmanning them, and throwing them away as though they aren't each individual people. This is the type of thing the religious fundamentalists types have a reputation of doing.
I get it. This is an atheist forum. This is where atheists come to release the frustration, anger, hurt, and/or isolation they feel as a result of being atheist in a mostly theist world, or any past bad experience they've had from people of faith. Which is fine, I understand. What y'all get here (your own space of like minded individuals) is what we get in church or religious group gatherings. This is a safe haven. An echo chamber. Three years as an active member of this forum has shown me that this just isn't the place for diverse groups of people to come and have productive discussions about their differences and attempt to understand each others' point of view... even though they disagree. And that is fine.
Anyway, I'm not sure why I rambled off about that in this thread. I guess every time I pop in to visit, I am reminded once again of why I've backed off.
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
-walsh