I appreciate everyone who has been kind toward me and shown me friendship, given kudos, reputation credit and so on. I have shared my thoughts, opinions, and ideas here on these forums, and for the most part I have remained popular and liked not only because I occasionally have good or funny things to say, but perhaps more so because I have not stirred the waters of controversy with my forum contributions. I have deliberately amended my input on several heated topics specifically to avoid confrontation, and I feel now as though I have in some ways traded my sincerity for popularity, thus following the herd.
From this point on, I intend to continue offering my true and sincere personality as I have done thus far, however, I will no longer hold my tongue when I see bullies ganging up on people and ideas they disagree with, simply for the purpose of posturing and positioning oneself above the other. I realize that there are some outlandish beliefs in the world, and one of them that I have seen is the belief that atheists are in some way better, or intellectually superior to theists, and therefore theists deserve to have their beliefs ridiculed. It goes both ways. To theists, the atheist view is ridiculous, yet many, if not most theists on these boards do not ridicule atheists simply for their differing beliefs. I suspect that many atheists would not jump on the bashing bandwagon if the herd were not already engaged in said behavior.
I suppose I will be addressed for making this post, and perhaps that is what is needed, and I invite those who would inquire, to seek clarification first if I've said something that is unclear or requires greater detail in explaining, rather than simply misconstruing something I've said and therefore start a flame situation. And yes, I realize that atheists don't think they're attacking the person, but rather the belief - I can tell you for certain, that when you ridicule something a person holds sacred, you are ridiculing that person at the deepest level possible.
From this point on, I intend to continue offering my true and sincere personality as I have done thus far, however, I will no longer hold my tongue when I see bullies ganging up on people and ideas they disagree with, simply for the purpose of posturing and positioning oneself above the other. I realize that there are some outlandish beliefs in the world, and one of them that I have seen is the belief that atheists are in some way better, or intellectually superior to theists, and therefore theists deserve to have their beliefs ridiculed. It goes both ways. To theists, the atheist view is ridiculous, yet many, if not most theists on these boards do not ridicule atheists simply for their differing beliefs. I suspect that many atheists would not jump on the bashing bandwagon if the herd were not already engaged in said behavior.
I suppose I will be addressed for making this post, and perhaps that is what is needed, and I invite those who would inquire, to seek clarification first if I've said something that is unclear or requires greater detail in explaining, rather than simply misconstruing something I've said and therefore start a flame situation. And yes, I realize that atheists don't think they're attacking the person, but rather the belief - I can tell you for certain, that when you ridicule something a person holds sacred, you are ridiculing that person at the deepest level possible.
