Do Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence?

[Astonished]

... The entire other thread ... makes the prospect of becoming a theist, if that's what it does for one's mental state and temperament, very off-putting. Every part of this marketing strategy is a huge fuck-up.

I'd say that this is an accurate observation.  I find apologetics in general rather disturbing at both a gut level and an intellectual level.  Something that requires so much interpretation, so much philosophical Twister and so many excuses is IMO almost certainly hogwash from the get-go.  The idea of being sucked into that culture and that mindset is utterly terrifying.

Couldn't have said it better, I didn't add in the actual fear of falling into that, I'm usually too angry with them to really go into that. But I've pretty much gotten all that out in my childhood, so all fear of that shit is basically replaced with anger instead. At least that can be channeled into something positive if done right, just haven't really completely figured that bit out.