The Problem of Evil combined with the problem of Free Will

[Valyza1]

Example?

Sure.  Nutter A claims to have spoken to god.  In less than overt ridicule, I ask a bunch of questions about that conversation.  Not, mind you, because I want to "learn" about something that never happened..but because I can't wait to watch Nutter A trip all over his own peen in backpedaling.  He's not a crazy, you see, he meant something novel by that, it's not like he hears voices...like those other crazies....on and on and on....

You don't think there could be some confirmation bias here? Because you're looking for the comedy, is it possible the search may be leading you to ask the kinds of questions which would most likely result in buffoonery? The reason I ask is because my goal is a bit different. It's to learn about their (and your) POV, and I rarely come across backpedalling or other such defensive moves, when I'm posting with that aim. I would personally find it pointless to come on a forum to ridicule or denounce others for what they believe, because if they truly believe it, it'll just manifest itself elsewhere in a less ridiculing environment. Rather, I prefer the legitimate non-presumptuous question and answer model, because it seems the only possible way that one, if not both of us, can learn something and/or legitimately change something. It isn't believing what they believe, but neither is it setting fire to what they believe. It is simply gathering information and learning.

Not necessarily dimmer, but strengthening whatever level of "dimness" is there by re-affirming any prejudice they may already have against you, just by continuing to ridicule.  You make it sound like theists aren't even human and are unaffected, on a subconscious level, by what you contribute to the conversation. I find that to be highly unlikely.  

I'm not reaffirming those prejudices, they are..and they don't need my help to do that....in fact, they can reaffirm those prejudices even when I do exactly the opposite of what -would- reaffirm them, and they do.  While you busy yourself coming up with some sort of enmity scale ...I'll simply remind you that if the sort of enmity nutballs have for non-believers is the baseline, from which it can be increased by mean words (boohoo snowflakes)..it doesn't matter much what comes up higher on that scale.  

Meanwhile, they've had their entire lives to have that baseline decreased...they've been around and spoken to non-believers pretty much every day of their existence...they're surrounded by them, and none of that, so far, led to any eureka moment you may be hoping for by being nice.  There's no shortage of people who, like yourself, insist on undue deference in the face of depravity.  People who honestly believe that by being nice to a terrible person, that person will somehow become less terrible themselves.  So...they;ve got that...they;ve got that all over the place.  The sorts of interactions you advocate for happen all the time.

And the way I see it, if just one of those interactions leads to a better understanding from either side, then it's worth it.

-and yet they persist, and yet you persist.  Do you ever feel like Sisyphus, rolling that boulder up that hill only to watch it come tumbling back down, over and over?

I don't, because every time I roll the boulder, I discover something new about it. What I learn along the way to achieving a goal is far more valuable than success. It's never a waste of time, unless you insist on viewing it that way. Suit yourself.