(July 21, 2019 at 10:54 pm)Belaqua Wrote: On this forum it's common to see over-the-top comments about religious people. Some of them are so wild they really amount to slander. But these are generally given a pass.
Look man. A bunch of Christians built an ark-shaped museum in Kentucky where they "educate" around a million visitors a year about the reality of the flood described in Genesis. They teach that the Earth is around 6,000 years old, and science created the theory of evolution to give people an excuse to sin. That's a fucking fact. The sad truth is, whatever slander gets tossed around here by anti-theists will never be so wild and over-the-top as that stupid, stupid, stupid ark museum in Kentucky.
This mindset is real, Belaqua. And when people criticize it, you make the argument that they are strawmanning Augustine or some shit. They aren't. Atheists have every right to gripe about the ignorance that is promoted in society by Christianity and other religions.
Quote:It's OK to say nasty things about a group we dislike. If we disagree with someone over a point of metaphysics, there's pretty much no limit on the nastiness with which we can reply.
I agree with you that the nastiness sucks. And, like you, I don't count insults as genuine metaphysical debate.
But this is the internet, Belequa. People are assholes. Go get on twitter and converse with anyone about anything and you'll see the exact same shit. It has nothing to do with atheism. Yet when "internet shit" happens here, you like to characterize it as "atheist shit." It's not. Welcome to the internet.
Groups of people form a herd mentality and (in some respects) become some kind of "huge collective of assholes." It happens with all groups, not just atheists. And I hate it as much as you. That's why I like individuals better than groups. To me, the only reason to interact with or be a part of any group is to discover those certain special individuals within it.