(April 1, 2018 at 12:05 pm)Cecelia Wrote: Here we have another story (on fox news of course) about a believer who claims to have been a former Atheist.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/03/2...to-me.html
We see this sort of thing a lot. Like with Howard Storm. Only whenever we get these Atheists, they never seem to really know what it's like to be an atheist. It's easy to make the claim that you were once an atheist. Because we don't really have any qualifiers other than "Doesn't believe in God" But none of these people ever seem to really get what being an atheist is like.
First: She states that her father's new found faith threatened her. This reminds me much of when Howard Storm proclaimed he used to believe there was no god because 'that's how really smart people thought'. How did her father's faith threaten her? This REEKS of her having never been an atheist. MAYBE she was raised non-religious and considered that enough to consider herself an atheist. (In which case, she wasn't). But I have to question her claim having ever been an atheist when she says things from such a Christian point of view, when at the time it occurred, she would have seen them from an Atheist Point of View. And of course she goes on to be the stereotypical atheist who 'mocks religion outwardly' but reflects inwardly. Cause you know... that's all we atheists do. Mock religion! And of course she goes on to say family members tried to draw her back to being godless (cause you know us Atheists! We like to indoctrinate people. Oh wait, sorry that's Christians.)
Second: Her test. Apparently she can command God to make a bird fly. She never tries to see if it'll happen again. Just once is enough to convince her. And she never commands God to do anything ever again. She never tells him "GOD! IF YOU ARE REAL! LET THIS MAN REGROW HIS LEGS!" I mean what a selfish bitch, right? So her bird story is rather dubious.
Third: She instantly fell in love with the bible. You know a book that makes even some Christians uncomfortable. Yet as a former atheist, she instantly falls in love with this book that condones slavery, includes genocide, and infanticide. She wasn't even remotely troubled by any of the passages? Even a lot of the Christians I know are troubled by some of the passages! And these are people who think Atheists are the worst!
Now is it possible she's not lying? Sure. But that doesn't mean I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt here. Or any of these other folks. It's easy to claim to have been an atheist. I always find it weird how so many of these former atheists sound nothing like you'd expect an atheist to sound like. (Obviously we all sound pretty different, so there's a wide number of ways that could sound, and yet so many of them don't even hit that LARGE range). I guess it's easier to sell books about god if you present them as "I Didn't believe, but then I did!" than if you just present it as "I always believed."
Unexpected silver lining: By embracing this nitwit, Fox News is actually exhibiting more intellectual integrity than usual. Nowhere to go but up, but still . . . .
