Josh McDowell and the "atheistic" Internet

[vulcanlogician]

I think uncensored atheism is only half of the equation. "Kids these days" are also exposed to uncensored Christianity on the internet--ie terrible arguments, unbridled ignorance, blatant lies/misrepresentation of other belief systems. In the final analysis, you gotta factor this stuff in too.

Part of the problem I have with the article is that it demonstrates an inability for Christians to look within and see where their message might come off as dishonest. It's always a "plurality of immoral ideas" that is undermining their indoctrination. Maybe only part of it is that kids get to hear the atheist side--the other part is them getting a wide and clear survey of the Christian landscape and a chance to see what it's really all about.

[Rev. Rye]

Quote: The Internet is weakening Christian witness and “we better wake up to it because it’s just beginning.” McDowell added that his greatest asset, value-wise, used to be his time until a year and a half ago. “My greatest asset now is my focus. There is so much out there just one click away, what am I going to focus on?”
McDowell, who considered himself an agnostic before accepting Christ, warned that the sexual immorality through the Internet was “marginalizing the maturity of the witness of Christ…all over the world.” It’s an “invasive, intruding immorality… that is all just one click away.” He said the majority of questions young people ask him are about sex, mainly “oral sex.”

I'd just like to suggest that if young people are asking a 78-year-old born again Christian with an oak tree shoved up his ass about -- of all things -- oral sex, then disbelief in Christian myth is probably the least of their problems.

Kids these days . . . . 

[Edited to note that the quoted portion is not Rev. Rye's but something he quoted. I just ended up with a jacked up post that I'm too tired to do anything about.]

And something else I probably should have mentioned in my original dissection, but can't now because of the 2-hour rule: if you make restricting sex as major a priority as you and the rest of your movement have done, the fact that teenagers who believe what you say are looking for a way out to satisfy the biological urges they will almost inevitably have, and are doing so in such numbers, should be inevitable. And if they don't ask you, they'll find a way... And maybe even if they do ask...

[Jehanne]

I have gotten the impression over the decades that evangelical Christians who rail against sexual identity and expression are often the ones who are masturbating to porn, adultery, etc. David Mills gave some examples of this in his book.

[Edwardo Piet]

And, yes, I am an atheist because of the Internet!

And I was born an atheist and I'm a porn addict because of the internet!

YAY internet!

---

I think uncensored atheism is only half of the equation. "Kids these days"

[Mister Agenda]

Every American generation since they started polling for it has been less religious than the previous generation. The internet may be accelerating it, but the snowball was already rolling.

[Chad32]

I too am an atheist because of the internet. He makes the information age sound like the worst thing ever. I guess for theists it is, because controlling information is one of the last threads they have to hold on to. Even if you don't have internet at home, you can find a public library to look up information. And the more knowledgeable and educated a populous is, the less likely they are to be superstitious. This is why christians like to focus so much on the kids, because kids by definition have limited autonomy and power.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The internet is breeding skeptics. Instead of the occasional gee whiz story that we used to hear we now hear hundreds of them, and we've stopped taking them at face value, for the most part. From there to being skeptical about inherited mythologies is a short step.

[polymath257]

When I was young, there were three channels on TV and anything other than an hour of news was obtained by gossip with those at some social gathering, usually church. If you wanted information about science, or about dinosaurs, or about the beliefs of those in Iran, it was necessary to go to the library and look up that information in an encyclopedia or find a book about the subject and read it. This meant that only fairly dedicated people had the time and energy to really explore different ideas and other cultures, or even, truthfully, their own.

Now, we have a LOT of information at our fingertips. We have trolls coming through giving any number of off-the-wall ideas and kooks on TV saying pretty much anything for a dollar. So when the local preacher sounds like the internet troll that has been bothering everyone, there is a natural response against the local preacher. When we realize that gays are pretty much just like everyone else, we realize the unfairness of the religious injunctions and start to question the morality of those whose authority was unquestioned before.

When we realize that McDowell's Liar,Lord, or Lunatic is a silly trichotomy, and we have the range of views presented in a variety of forums, we learn that the superstitions and apologetics of the past just don't work any longer.

So, yes, people are learning to think for themselves. Some are very poor at it, but they are still more likely to be able to ferret out the BS of the preachers than they were 50 years ago.Teenagers have always rebelled, but now they have more facts at hand to ponder in their rebellion.

And this is a good thing. Sorry, Josh.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Being able to fact check provides a means to kill religion's mythology. And science kills gods neatly.

"That's why I don't want my son's mind polluted by science!" Well, 15th Century Fox is looking for illustrators.

[Godscreated]

Josh McDowell speaks the truth, just look at all the post written, the responses are proof of his truth.

GC