The simple truth

[Esquilax]

Well I'll say it out loud that I certainly didn't come to this forum to make new friends. I came with the one intention of proclaiming the gospel. You've said a number of times that you feel I'm speaking past people, yet you don't seem concerned when others are nasty towards me.

You bring that nastiness on yourself via your unwillingness to treat us with the basic courtesy of engaging in conversation. To be clear, we didn't start out mean; there are plenty of religious folks here who don't get any crap from us, by dint of beginning their time here on equal footing with the rest of us. Jacobsmooth is a christian, and he's very well liked here: why? He actually bothers to give a damn.

When you say that your intention here is to proclaim the gospel, the subtext is "I don't care about anything you or your perspective might have to say." It shows that you didn't come here with the intention of engaging with the community, and as I've been attempting to inform you, your message has a much better chance of actually being accepted if you're willing to look upon us as humans.

Or do the preachers at your church act as aloof and uninterested in conversation as you are?

To answer your question, no, I wouldn't be receptive of what you had to say, even in the slightest, so far as it was to do with atheism. Yet I would treat you with sincere respect and if anyone amongst my group were to disrespect you, I would rebuke them.

Respect is earned, not automatically afforded, and moreover, I'm not arrogant enough to count myself as the arbiter of other people's actions. I myself have been roughly courteous to you, because I'm not going to start out under the assumption that you're being dishonest, but I'm not going to presume to tell others how to address you.

Unfortunately, you've essentially confirmed to me now that you're not exactly worthy of respect, being that you're so intellectually incurious and unwilling to give a shit about our community.