Hello

[DogmaticDownSouth]

More than happy to listen.
I trust you also are being honest by stating you are an atheist in your bio.
Not that we mind at all, but many theists will try to use a gotcha moment at the last minute after wasting everyone's time like somehow that will poof god into existence or something....

No intellectual conversation can ever do that except god himself. And he can't/won't because he doesn't exist.

Catch.

Caught

Have I given any reason for you to believe otherwise. The same I suppose is true of anyone. The answer to you question about am I an atheist is a resounding of course, but the I suppose I am making a leap or inference (and if I'm off base I will apologize) that because I have a belief that seems contradictory to the prevailing logic of this community I cannot be a part of that community despite that view not being addressed by the notion of a deity? If there is some other reason that I may have unintntionally appeared to be theist please (and I am not being sarcastic, I am really new at this forum) let me know.

I am working for the next few days, so it will take a little while to clean up the emails of identifier, but I will eventually post them.

If you are interested I would be happy to post them

@ignoramus

I am interested in having a conversation, not necessarily a debate, by that my target audience are the participants not the audience. Does that make sense? You seem genuinely interested in my thoughts and I would happy to share them with you and would like to hear your thoughts on the subject in return and hopefully have a meaningful dialogue. My concern is when the target audience is the audience so to speak then the discussion becomes two competing soliloquies rather than a dialogue. In that vein, would it be better to post my thoughts and arguement as thread or send it to you as a PM.

@ others,
I am interested in a public discussion on the topic, I find it an interesting subject if kept intellectually honest with potential points on each side with areas that may seem clear but on closer inspection are not always (on both sides). My bigger concern is posts like minimialist who takes statements out of context to makes inaccurate jabs without engaging intellectually honestly (again limited interaction at this point but the first few were not that awy, is last one I still need to digest beyond I make typos).

Anyway thanks for the welcome and hope to have some interesting conversations.

[ignoramus]

After perusing any objective morality threads here, you'll find most people here are very intellectual in their responses.
As we're all thinking individuals, (read not being told what to believe by sacred texts), we can and will differ in our responses. I personally enjoy hearing both sides of an argument and learning from it. I struggle, like many, to find the motivation to convince anyone of anything other than putting forth a logical perspective.
You will also notice that most threads that degrade into name calling usually involve theists! Lol!

[The Valkyrie]

After perusing any objective morality threads here, you'll find most people here are very intellectual in their responses.
As we're all thinking individuals, (read not being told what to believe by sacred texts), we can and will differ in our responses. I personally enjoy hearing both sides of an argument and learning from it. I struggle, like many, to find the motivation to convince anyone of anything other than putting forth a logical perspective.
You will also notice that most threads that degrade into name calling usually involve theists! Lol!

I find inflicting pain on people is a good way of getting them to see your point of view...

[DogmaticDownSouth]

After perusing any objective morality threads here, you'll find most people here are very intellectual in their responses.
As we're all thinking individuals, (read not being told what to believe by sacred texts), we can and will differ in our responses. I personally enjoy hearing both sides of an argument and learning from it. I struggle, like many, to find the motivation to convince anyone of anything other than putting forth a logical perspective.
You will also notice that most threads that degrade into name calling usually involve theists! Lol!

Thanks again, I think we all struggle.
My personal experience is that all people (atheist, theists, some other 3rd option to a binary propositon, the fourth book in my triology, ect) are not wholly rational and though they can think, when confronted with something they either don't want to think about or feel is they don't need to think about fall back on reflex. I will admit, my personal experience in these philosophical discussions is limited, but they always seem to go the same way in the end, regardless of views on the single proposition of god. We are human and have the same basic hardware and software so generally have the same or similar bugs and glitchs.

Thanks for engaging. Back to my question, my goal is not to convince the world, this website, or truth be told even you. It is to convince myself I am rationale in my belief or if I'm not where did I go wrong and how can I learn from it. With that in mind, is it better to contact you via PM or post it publically?

Thanks again.

[ignoramus]

Post it publicly!
You really don't want or need a response from just one ignoramus! There as many here! Lol!

(Has anyone see littlerik?) Hehe

[DogmaticDownSouth]

guess intro time is over?

[Mister Agenda]

Welcome, hope you like the forum and go on to be a great poster.