So I joined a Christian forum...

[Mudhammam]

Thank you whateverist. I find you interesting and charming as well, and I always find myself learning something from your posts. No exception here. I take everyone's comments about my "aggressiveness and hostility," as rasetsu put it, to heart. I think there's a lot to draw from this.

Rasetsu, I don't know you, and outside of that thread, I can't say I've ever found your posts unintelligent or uninteresting. You're another one of the many members here that make this place enjoyable for me, and I was wrong to call you a dipshit, then and now. I'm sorry. Really, it's just in that exchange, I thought were you acting rash, either not really paying attention to what I said or purposely distorting my words, and doing so to make it personal. Whateverist, you're right that:

As to responding as if your post was addressed to her, aren't we all entitled to do that? Even the person who starts a thread has no say regarding who may respond. No one is that special.

I didn't mean that my problem was with rasetsu commenting on it, only that she seemed to be making my criticisms, in which I was calling out specific types of religious ideas, about her, even though I explicitly said they were not. And when she continued, and I sensed some aggression in her response, I responded in kind. Actually, I stepped over the line. Rasetsu, we can pursue that further if you wish or we can let bygones be bygones or you can say you don't care either way and that you still think I'm idiot. But you should know that I acknowledge that I was wrong, and did in fact, as you say, act unnecessarily aggressive.

On the main of this thread, I am realizing more acutely than ever that out of the many things I lack, diplomacy may be of the biggest. I am not apologetic in my general tone about religion, though the way I express it can undoubtedly use a good deal of improvement. I like spirited debate, I'm okay with snark when it is appropriate, and the occasional jab keeps it lively, but I realize I walk a fine line, especially when dealing with others who don't see things at all like I do. I guess part of my problem with it, not with everyone's criticisms in particular but more broadly speaking, is that it all seems so very PC to me. That other forum aside, when interacting with the religiously inclined, why should I have to tip toe around my words (by the way, I thought I did do so over at that other forum) rather than state what I actually think? How do we draw the line? If someone feels offended at me pressing them on the idea that humans are sinners, or that children should be inoculated from other worldviews, and I feel that I've tried to be respectful, is that my problem to correct or theirs? (I still think I was being objective, fair, and respectful, but I understand that it's hard to judge over the internet and they're probably suspicious or prejudiced about atheists...seems like bullshit to me though). Perhaps this is a topic for another thread.