My Thoughts On Militant Atheism

[FatAndFaithless]

The idea that I ought to approach the faithful as though they were children is absurd and incredibly offensive. How dare you.

I think I'll continue to treat them as people who put their big boy pants on and stepped into the ring. You simply cannot "attack someones faith" in a manner that -could not- be deemed as offensive or disrespectful, because faith is a very personal thing. They have alot invested. For my part, rather than coddling these people and sugarcoating every goddamned thing I have to say as though they would wilt in the presence of resistance, I give em both barrels. They give me both barrels as well. That's okay. A war of words is preferable to any other type.

While I doubt that I would be able to argue someone out of something they didn't argue themselves into, if I can so much as reduce their confidence in the notion that their beliefs ought to have weight and authority as fact that's gg to me. Does logic or science or evidence have this effect? Yes, it most certainly does, and it isn't as though faith is blind to the power of these things (que the creatards and "convinced in christ through reason" types). I don't require anything else, I'm not expecting anything else, I'm not even hoping for anything else. I know better. It's not as though atheism or skepticism is new, or that there haven't always been reasons to question these things. Faith plugged right alongside non-faith for all of this time and it doesn't seem to have disappeared simply because a solid argument against any particular faith exists or actually predated the faith-which is often the case. I'm not even interested in "proving them wrong" to be truthful, as whether or not there are fairies pulling strings is irrelevant to my particular brand of "militant atheism"- and in many ways the existence of those fairies would actually help to make -my- argument for me.

This. I remember a quote from Penn Jillette that went something like: "Treating theists like children, or putting on kid gloves, or faking 'tolerance' for their beliefs is immensely condescending. You don't have discussions by lying about how you feel. Acting like there's a "right" way to talk to theists is like talking about "how to pick up girls". It doesn't show respect for your opponent's position if you think you have to treat them like a child."

In other words, fuck you I disagree.