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My first atheist forum experience!
#1
My first atheist forum experience!
Hi, y'all. New here.

I'm celebrating something like my 12th year as an atheist (I can't exactly remember how old I was when I officially began identifying as an atheist but I was 16-ish) and I'm currently embroiled in round four of a theological debate with an online mormon friend - I haven't ascertained yet if she's just curious about my atheism or if she's sneakily trying to convert me. If she is trying to convert me she's doing a really bad job of it so far, I'm talking on the scale of epic-faildom.

If you're interested in my "deconversion" story I just posted it in Convert's Corner; I had reason to type it up for this mormon friend, why not share it more widely than with just her? I'm not really a convert "from" anything since I was, at most, a deist, but it's kind of a funny story. (It explains my signature equation.)

Also, I have a tendancy to be verbose, one of those people that if I can say it in twenty words rather than five, I probably will. I apologize in advance. Big Grin In that theological debate, I've been responsible for doubling the length of the email three times - but that's partly because I'm having to explain things like the Problem of Evil and syllogistic reasoning and how the flood and Adam and Eve aren't literal stories... I'm thinking my next email will consist of the following single line:

"Provide irrefutable, empirical positive evidence of God's existence or we've got nothing left to talk about."

^ and end at that.

If you've got any books on the torrid history of the Mormon church or any resources or anything you would like to share (that I can either quote or share with my mormon friend) that would be awesome! Otherwise, I'm looking forward to learning from you all.
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
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#2
RE: My first atheist forum experience!
Hello and WELCOME!! Big Grin
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#3
RE: My first atheist forum experience!
I already gave you my welcome, but let's add one to this thread too. Hiya! Big Grin
When I was young, there was a god with infinite power protecting me. Is there anyone else who felt that way? And was sure about it? but the first time I fell in love, I was thrown down - or maybe I broke free - and I bade farewell to God and became human. Now I don't have God's protection, and I walk on the ground without wings, but I don't regret this hardship. I want to live as a person. -Arina Tanemura

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#4
RE: My first atheist forum experience!
Once more, welcome!
This is also my first atheist forum... and, so far, the only one! Smile

Enjoy your stay and lay off the cookies. Those are for newcomers into the a-faith.
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#5
RE: My first atheist forum experience!
Welcome again Morgan
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
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#6
RE: My first atheist forum experience!
Quote:an online mormon friend - I haven't ascertained yet if she's just curious about my atheism or if she's sneakily trying to convert me.

Subtlety is not normally a mormon trait. Being a moron - er, mormon - requires an ability to suspend rationality which is far beyond the realm of normal theists.

i.e. you not only have to believe that all the bible horseshit is true but that it was transferred to north america and revealed to an 1820's con man who was justly gunned down by a mob.
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#7
RE: My first atheist forum experience!
Hi there, Morgan!
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#8
Re: RE: My first atheist forum experience!
(June 6, 2013 at 11:19 am)Clueless Morgan Wrote: "Provide irrefutable, empirical positive evidence of God's existence or we've got nothing left to talk about."

^ and end at that.

But... you'll look stupid! Is that the extent of your foray into atheism? I am disappoint! Sleepy
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#9
RE: My first atheist forum experience!
(June 6, 2013 at 12:03 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: But... you'll look stupid! Is that the extent of your foray into atheism? I am disappoint! Sleepy

Frods..

A) This is an intro thread, be nice Wink
B) No, just no. Quit while you're ahead Tongue
When I was young, there was a god with infinite power protecting me. Is there anyone else who felt that way? And was sure about it? but the first time I fell in love, I was thrown down - or maybe I broke free - and I bade farewell to God and became human. Now I don't have God's protection, and I walk on the ground without wings, but I don't regret this hardship. I want to live as a person. -Arina Tanemura

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#10
RE: My first atheist forum experience!
(June 6, 2013 at 11:41 am)Minimalist Wrote: Subtlety is not normally a mormon trait. Being a moron - er, mormon - requires an ability to suspend rationality which is far beyond the realm of normal theists.

Julia Sweeney did a great bit on Mormons in her "Letting go of God" series. Yeah... if they can convert you, you probably had one foot in the padded cell already.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."

-Stephen Jay Gould
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