atheism and children

[Alex K]

I agree with abaris, and I would like to add an observation of my own to explain. I think the impression abaris relates here is created by the fact that once challenged to discuss your justification for certain viws you would often state a stance of the church as a reason for your views and then refuse to discuss them further. This creates the impression that you feel compelled to accept the teachings of the church, and that your own reflections on them, while you might entertain them, can never have the power to sway your opinion away from church doctrine.

 

There have been very few times that I have refused to explain things any further. Those times all happen because people were starting to get very rude, and I'm sorry, but there's only so much that I think is healthy for me to subject to. The thing that I think you both fail to understand is that when I state a stance of the Church, it's because it's also my stance. And since people here love to say I cherry pick from Christianity when I state my views, it's become habit to always clarify that it's in line with my faith, and not stuff I'm cherry picking.

I still think it's very rash to tell someone you've known for 2 months on a forum that they have never, in their life, asked themselves why or reflected on matters. I'm not sure how anyone can presume to know that and make that accusation.

Always take what I write as a commentary on your young online persona here. It isn't meant to attack you as a person, but to attack perceived inconsistencies in or problematic aspects of your views as you present them here. To leverage a criticism, I think you too quickly become defensive and feel that you are being attacked as a person, and as a result don't address the points others make adequately before offering a knee jerk reaction.

For example, if you reread the text you quoted above you will find that I don't even accuse you of never reflecting on church doctrine. I say that you give the impression that acting on them and rejecting a piece of dogma seems out of the question for you.

But I accept your explanation that you're in the habit of stating whenever your own thoughts are in line with church teachings, and that this does not necessarily mean that you have no independent opinion. But be aware that this style creates that impression especially if no further reasons of your own are offered for those positions.