I actually used to agree when I first came onto this site. Theists, signing up on an atheist forum? The concept made me just sit and stare at my screen and go "For fuck's sake" in that tone of voice I get when I'm sick to the teeth of something and am about to punch a hamburger in rage. With my teeth.
But then I realized [later; always later, does the rationality come. Emotions always register first] that there were actually some theists on here who were actually cool. Fr0d0, despite being a smart-ass [you know you are, man. XD] is actually pretty chill and, better yet, he isn't a "traditional" Christian...hell, even he laughs at stuff directed at Christians because most of the time it's directed at the majority who are just such idiots that it's not even funny. You have Rayaan, once a mod, now an admin, who is a Muslim and I seriously cannot think of any times on the hundred or so threads I've read since I registered here where I saw him ever raise his e-voice. Pretty sure the man is a robot, actually...
There's a couple others who are usually pretty cool. Alas, there ARE a lot of theists who come onto this site just to trololol. At that point it becomes a matter of Ignore or Engage. If they're willing to see some form of reason, if they're willing to admit their fairy tale book is NOT perfect and has a fuckton of things inconsistent with reality then, fine, I'll engage them and talk to them. Even if we never come to an actual agreement we can still TRY to get to a certain middle ground of sorts. But the problem is, most of them don't want their fictional stories to be fictional stories. They want fiction to be considered non-fiction. And they will simply refuse to budge on their stances in any way...oftentimes while demanding atheists change their own stances "in the name of debate" [a tactic I call Arguepreaching Hypocrisy] and getting completely butthurt when atheists refuse to give tit without receipt of tat.
If nothing else, take pride in the fact that this forum is getting so much theist attention. The fact that the admins and mods tolerate them and their opinions and beliefs where virtually every theist forum refuses to tolerate atheists at all already puts us higher on the morality flagpole than they are. Depending on what your argument with religion is, that can either be a good thing...or just something that doesn't matter. I see it as a good thing. I rail mostly against the argument that you must have god in order to be good or moral, on the grounds that that is such utter bullshit that it's not even funny.
But then I realized [later; always later, does the rationality come. Emotions always register first] that there were actually some theists on here who were actually cool. Fr0d0, despite being a smart-ass [you know you are, man. XD] is actually pretty chill and, better yet, he isn't a "traditional" Christian...hell, even he laughs at stuff directed at Christians because most of the time it's directed at the majority who are just such idiots that it's not even funny. You have Rayaan, once a mod, now an admin, who is a Muslim and I seriously cannot think of any times on the hundred or so threads I've read since I registered here where I saw him ever raise his e-voice. Pretty sure the man is a robot, actually...
There's a couple others who are usually pretty cool. Alas, there ARE a lot of theists who come onto this site just to trololol. At that point it becomes a matter of Ignore or Engage. If they're willing to see some form of reason, if they're willing to admit their fairy tale book is NOT perfect and has a fuckton of things inconsistent with reality then, fine, I'll engage them and talk to them. Even if we never come to an actual agreement we can still TRY to get to a certain middle ground of sorts. But the problem is, most of them don't want their fictional stories to be fictional stories. They want fiction to be considered non-fiction. And they will simply refuse to budge on their stances in any way...oftentimes while demanding atheists change their own stances "in the name of debate" [a tactic I call Arguepreaching Hypocrisy] and getting completely butthurt when atheists refuse to give tit without receipt of tat.
If nothing else, take pride in the fact that this forum is getting so much theist attention. The fact that the admins and mods tolerate them and their opinions and beliefs where virtually every theist forum refuses to tolerate atheists at all already puts us higher on the morality flagpole than they are. Depending on what your argument with religion is, that can either be a good thing...or just something that doesn't matter. I see it as a good thing. I rail mostly against the argument that you must have god in order to be good or moral, on the grounds that that is such utter bullshit that it's not even funny.
