1) I claim not to be a strong or certain atheist because I don't know for sure there is no god. I wouldn't change that opinion for the sake of a debate tactic.
Usually the more specific claims a religious person makes is correlated to how much disbelief I have in what they're saying.
For example someone saying that god exists, I'd reply to that by saying yeh maybe you're right, who knows.
On the other hand someone saying God exists and he told an angel to tell a man to tell his friends to write a book for him in one language as a final message for all mankind, I'd say no, that sounds like a typical cult to me, definitely don't believe in it.
Or if they said god exists and he's definitely responsible for writing a book that looks like a typical book of ancient fictional myths, but this book is really true, god did impregnate a virgin and turn sticks into snakes and a bunch of other stuff, again I'd say I don't believe in all that.
2)I never compared god to santa.
3) I agree with the last one, I try and not demonize or marginalize believers but I have done with some comments in the past, probably out of frustration I was feeling over a specific topic of debate I was having at the time.
Usually the more specific claims a religious person makes is correlated to how much disbelief I have in what they're saying.
For example someone saying that god exists, I'd reply to that by saying yeh maybe you're right, who knows.
On the other hand someone saying God exists and he told an angel to tell a man to tell his friends to write a book for him in one language as a final message for all mankind, I'd say no, that sounds like a typical cult to me, definitely don't believe in it.
Or if they said god exists and he's definitely responsible for writing a book that looks like a typical book of ancient fictional myths, but this book is really true, god did impregnate a virgin and turn sticks into snakes and a bunch of other stuff, again I'd say I don't believe in all that.
2)I never compared god to santa.
3) I agree with the last one, I try and not demonize or marginalize believers but I have done with some comments in the past, probably out of frustration I was feeling over a specific topic of debate I was having at the time.
Are you ready for the fire? We are firemen. WE ARE FIREMEN! The heat doesn’t bother us. We live in the heat. We train in the heat. It tells us that we’re ready, we’re at home, we’re where we’re supposed to be. Flames don’t intimidate us. What do we do? We control the flame. We control them. We move the flames where we want to. And then we extinguish them.
Impersonation is treason.
