Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yes and that in and of itself is not something I can't abide. There's at least one of those on each forum. The other one I'm on has a guy named Jerry that does exactly that, reflexively. I think they get obsessed with the idea that the truth is always found in the middle of any debate, when in fact it has nothing to do with the Overton Window in either direction at all. The truth is a function of facts and evidence and lies at random places in the range between the extremes, and moves around some even then. It would be great if we could "split the difference" but in some questions there IS no middle (because they are straight up-and-down questions) and on others, the middle has no special significance anyway.
I so very much agree...
"Fence sitters" have always been a little frustrating for me as well. Then again, people think and do what they do as a result of so many different agendas. For some, participating in these forums is a matter of gaining fans. Ego. For others it's an entertainment, also of all different sorts. Trying to distill the truth of these matters, and/or call out the falsehoods, false claims, is more generally my interest. Working through the facts, reason and logic presented here and expressing opinion about that assessment and those results.
More often than not there is no middle ground between what is right or wrong. Correct or false. Those who always seem wanting to play the middle also always seem to use that as a reason to cling to beliefs they want to maintain but can't properly justify in a more reasoned, logical and fact-based manner. That's one of those agendas that tends to be a little frustrating to accept as well.
I have never been DM'd by other atheists or in fact anyone at all telling me to toe some sort of line. If that happened he was as free as I would be to tell the person sending such a DM where they could stick it. In fact any atheist worth their salt would likely have exactly that reaction because we don't react well to people telling us what to think or say. That is why atheism and freethinking are so closely connected.
I would not suggest you infantilize AA by suggesting his tender soul was permanently lacerated because some asshat or other gave him impertinent advice. It should have been a source of hilarity to him I would think. And I would be the first to tell AA not to generalize that to all or even most atheists. That would be highly anomalous, this DM thing he's always on about.
But he had a tendency to run with snap judgments like that and once he decided to do that he was not open to new evidence. Perhaps he needed it to be a simple bogeyman problem, IDK.
I have intellectual integrity and to maintain that I do not have to credit things that even you don't claim are evidenced but for which you are trying to shoehorn in some kind of "plausibility" for. I mean all things are possible, not all things are likely. Your synthesis originates with you and from what I can see you aren't getting much uptake on it. I don't know what to say, I'm not trying to be cruel or something, but ... if you can't make a convincing argument then either the truth is for a rare select few scattered folks or you just don't have a convincing argument. I am sure this has driven you up the wall (because you have said so at times). It is based on your personal experience "in deep meditation" and I guess if you want it to go somewhere you're going to have to convince and probably train people to achieve that particular state so they can have that experience too. And as you surely realize that is an uphill battle to say the least.
I have more faith in the moderators than that. And besides, he's not the first person around here I'd imagine to be likely to generate complaints from hypothetical busybodies. AA was guilty only of compulsive / obsessive ideations and leaping to conclusions, but we handle that around here before breakfast anyway. I wouldn't mistake him for a s__tposter. To me he was merely tiresome, not malignant.
I always reply to people who DM me that I prefer not to DM as a rule. That I prefer to keep the conversation in the public forum. As a result, I don't get into the DMs generally speaking. No matter who they are from or whether they are agreeing with me or not...
There is no generic atheist though other than a disbelief in god.
Also we have no generic cause.
(I know these are not your views but from the POV of Arach).
I might well be becoming a one trick pony here myself, but this picture that is painted that we are all anti-religion is not only tiresome, but a very long way from the truth.
Most religious people wouldn't recognise an atheist if they fell over them. We don't walk around with placards ringing a bell. Most atheists are just regular people who don't give religion a second thought. Painting them all as anti religion is actually pretty harmful and hateful in itself in my view because it stirs up all the kind of division we see in so many aspects of society these days. We don't need it.
Nice!
Just FYI, generic atheists are just as effective as non-generic atheists, but depending on how some atheists are labeled, some people prefer the generic atheists over the non-generic atheists. It's another personal choice sort of thing.
Can we please stop these incredibly stupid comments inferring that the moderators are puppets of other members and so eager to do their bidding that we will merrily disregard our job of moderating the TOS to make somebody else happy?
The truth is that members have no one but themselves to blame for actions taken against them. We have a saying, "S/he committed suicide by mod". Some members make numerous attempts and eventually succeed no matter how many times a moderator may try to prevent them from doing so.
Obviously religion has a a bigger impact on people than knitting or flying planes, as the OP alluded to.
I don’t go on old car forums for example, if I have no interest doing up old cars.
But religious groups make themselves known, and have prominence and influence.
There are even a handful of countries in the world that are a theocracy. (these are generally not Christian but other religions)
Others have left religious groups, and suffer religious trauma syndrome.
Yes, atheists who have left theism and been harmed by it would have a natural interest.
I wasn't especially harmed by it in some overt way anyhow but I have a legitimate interest in it. I spent a year of my life that I'll never get back at a Bible institute so I know the territory well. I find the different motivations of the religious to be fascinating. I'm not prohibited from finding that interesting because of my current views.
And then of course there is, as pointed out above, the influence of religion in society.
Religious forums? Seems like a waste of time and electrons. Why post on a forum of which is devoted to a subject of which holds no relevance to one. I don’t knit or fly airplanes. I don’t visit knitting or airplane forums. So why all the none-spiritual people on this forum? Uncertain about one’s belief system? Perhaps.
If I’ve asked this question before, forgive me. I am simply perplexed.
For some, it's just a curiosity. For others perhaps, it has to do with some religious folks intent on pushing their beliefs onto others. For me, it was the entertainment value. I actually learned more about Christianity and the bible from discussions here than what I learned from my religious upbringing. I also learned more about what makes religious folks tick.
Then there is the aspect of challenging what appears to be illogical claims. And don't forget that we have all had JWs coming to our door on a Sunday morning with their young kids. There is also that confoundment one gets from certain biblical stories that are presented as hard fact. Some folks feel compelled to comment.
Also, my family are religious and I was married to a born again Christian so there is that too.
I am not a pilot, nor was I a combatant in the second world war but I have a great interest in WWII aircraft and involve myself in that subject to a fair degree. I've moved on from the R&S forum to the Politics and conspiracy .. I mean Controversy forum. It was a new interest and quite informative and also more relevant to my life. But a steep learning curve. That's the fun part - learning.
Obviously religion has a a bigger impact on people than knitting or flying planes, as the OP alluded to.
I don’t go on old car forums for example, if I have no interest doing up old cars.
But religious groups make themselves known, and have prominence and influence.
There are even a handful of countries in the world that are a theocracy. (these are generally not Christian but other religions)
Others have left religious groups, and suffer religious trauma syndrome.
Religious forums? Seems like a waste of time and electrons. Why post on a forum of which is devoted to a subject of which holds no relevance to one. I don’t knit or fly airplanes. I don’t visit knitting or airplane forums. So why all the none-spiritual people on this forum? Uncertain about one’s belief system? Perhaps.
If I’ve asked this question before, forgive me. I am simply perplexed.
Don't be perplexed, it's quite simple. Because it's a free country. And it's allowed. It's called a discussion board, not "Let's be exclusive so you're not welcome" board.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
