LISTEN, CHRISTIANS!

[Minimalist]

Wasn't it Gandhi who  said, "It's not your Christ I dislike, it's your Christians."?

Many internet Christians would spare themselves much invective if they would disagree more agreeably.

Something like that....similar to what Mencken said:

“The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.”

― H.L. Mencken

[Thumpalumpacus]

I name some names, they deny it, I look stupid...

You don't need their help, trust me.

[Esquilax]

Some people here do appear to be very angry at God. Perhaps they are not really atheists because after all:

How would you know? That's what's at issue here; softening the statement might make it a little better, but the core contention is that you're making an assertion that- to my knowledge- you're simply unable to justify. That's not a weakness of yours- of course you can't read minds- but it does mean that asserting what someone's position is over and above their stated one is impossible for you.

To be clear, we get this a lot; theists will spin our anger at them, or at organized religion, or what have you, into an anger at their god. I can't tell you how many times that my frustration at a particularly dense or evasive religious answer has been reinterpreted by fiat into a secret agreement with that position, and an emotional bias against it. It happens, I suspect, for a number of reasons, but if you can't even get the basic attributions right in the position, no wonder you'll misinterpret it.

Hell, I've even seen you do this in the past, where I've bitched you out over something you'd said, and your response was that what I'd said was evidence that I was angry at god. I don't even know how you'd reach that conclusion, since my entire post had been entirely directed at you, but you stuck by it, and it's at that point that I kinda wash my hands of the whole mess, every time; it's pretty clear what I'm saying, and to whom I'm saying it, and there's no way to derive some secret additional band of data there, but you did anyway... lots of christians do.

What it tells me is that what I'm actually saying has little impact at all on the way you guys will receive it. If I can't even convince you that I'm saying the words that I'm saying, if you're just going to give yourself license to drop in a completely new sentence every time I speak, then there's little else that can be done. Can you blame us, for getting irritated to hear this assertion again? This is a forum, words are all we have, and this insistence that no, actually all those words mean different things that conveniently align with a position you don't have to respond to, robs us of even that.

Let me ask this of you instead: In the course of your travels IRL or on the web, have you never met anyone who was angry at God - and made all sorts of atheist arguments against Him?

Maybe. How would I know? Atheist arguments don't concern the idea that god exists and the interlocutor is angry at them. If they're using atheist arguments and I have no other way of knowing what they really think then I've got no means of legitimately gainsaying their word. That's the thing: neither of us are in a position to know, and so it's so weird to see you assert otherwise.

[Huggy Bear]

Who's mad at god, Randy?

I name some names, they deny it, I look stupid...

Nah. Not gonna do it.

Just take off your atheist-colored glasses and read the posts without bias. You'll see.

That's why you include their quotes...

IF in the end, you find that God does exist .... will you unconditionally accept Him as your God?

some of the responses

No.  

Nope, the fact that I'm not christian has nothing to do with whether or not the christian god exists.  I have an ethical objection.  That's what I find so delicious about my interactions with christers desperate to convince me, btw.

No.

Hope your kid can top that.

Basically, these fools are saying even if they see God personally they still wouldn't accept him.... where's the logic in that?

This proves there is something else behind their "atheism" other than simply "having no belief"

[Minimalist]

Your god is a murdering dick, according to your Big Book of Holy Horseshit.  That makes him unworthy of worship.

[Randy Carson]

I name some names, they deny it, I look stupid...

Nah. Not gonna do it.

Just take off your atheist-colored glasses and read the posts without bias. You'll see.

That's why you include their quotes...

IF in the end, you find that God does exist .... will you unconditionally accept Him as your God?

some of the responses

No.  

Nope, the fact that I'm not christian has nothing to do with whether or not the christian god exists.  I have an ethical objection.  That's what I find so delicious about my interactions with christers desperate to convince me, btw.

No.

Hope your kid can top that.

Basically, these fools are saying even if they see God personally they still wouldn't accept him.... where's the logic in that?

This proves there is something else behind their "atheism" other than simply "having no belief"

Yeppers.

Thanks for the leg-work, huggy. I've been online for about 14 hours today, and I'm whooped. I appreciate you digging that out for me.

[Huggy Bear]

Your god is a murdering dick, according to your Big Book of Holy Horseshit.  That makes him unworthy of worship.

So you ARE angry then? Anyone else want to come forward?

[rexbeccarox]

Uh... how does Huggy's post do anything for your point, Randy? No one said anything about being angry at your god.

[Huggy Bear]

Didn't see Minimalists response?

[rexbeccarox]

Didn't see Minimalists response?

Didn't see the part that says "according to your big book of Holy Horseshit"?