The Religious Debate Revisited
Comments(4)
It appears my original article The Religious Debate has been quoted and used as the basis of an article on About.com by the Agnosticism / Atheism Expert there named Austin Cline entitled Debating Religion Doesn’t Require Treating Atheists Like Equals. He seems to have taken some offense to my little description of the actors of the message board play that participate in the Religious Debate. He also seems to imply that I am a Christian.
Let’s just give a bit of background about me to clear a few things up. I went to a Catholic school from Kindergarten through graduation. That right there should pretty much tell you that I am not a practicing Christian anymore. The majority of Atheists are ex-Catholic school kids that just got sick of all the doom and gloom of the Catholic Church as well as the disbelief in the concept of magic (ie. miracles). You can add me to the list of disgruntled Catholics, but I really don’t have any affiliation to Atheism either. I’m not against what anyone believes, nor do I really care to convince anyone that what I believe is right either. Let’s just say that I think a lot of religious beliefs are ridiculous to me. Label me Agnostic, Christian, Atheist, whatever.
Now on to what this is really about. My original post was simply an observation as to how the various labeled groups tend to debate this subject online. No more, no less. There are great debaters on every side of this argument. I just chose to pick on the ones that are clueless. Yes, I’m a jerk, and frankly I like to stereotype people. Just read my About page to see what I mean. If people want to debate they should actually understand what position they have taken before talking about it.
I used a broad brush stroke on certain groups here. Mainly Atheists and Christians which was purely intentional. It is simply because the”debate” is usually laughable. Again, here are the stereotypes I am going to use. Atheists tend to think they are superior to Christians online because they use logic. It is more common than not in my experience to see Atheists resort to calling some random Christian names or resorting to mocking them because they don’t agree. Just look at this popular Atheist message board and tell me that the group there is receptive to debate when a Christian shows their ugly head. It has nothing to do with whether I agree with the concept of Atheism, or Christianity. It’s the fact that the whole debate is just not educational on a message board when I see it. The smart ones don’t bother to join the debate which leaves us with all the idiots.
The Religious Debate shouldn’t be an argument of right and wrong and escalate into name calling. A real debate happens when someone says one thing, someone who opposes it responds with a logical answer, and the debate continues from there. It isn’t about being Atheist, Christian, Agnostic, or anything of the sort. The labels are meaningless. If I say there is no God then you try to convince me there is. If you have to say Christianity in your response, or call me an Atheist at any point the debate has failed.
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Fascinating post!
An interesting aside: Every so often, while posting at a parenting forum, I’d get bashed by a few others who knew I was Catholic. (It was a parenting board, afterall, and my kids go to a Catholic school.) Typically, I’d try to correct any misconceptions but ultimately just refuse to argue.
My most ardent supporter at that particular forum was a self proclaimed atheist.
I don’t go there anymore and I don’t know where she is now but every once in a while, I say a quick prayer for her. I think she’d approve.
Thanks for the comments ladies. Very insightful Marissa. This conversation is going to last a while I think now…lol I should know better than to stir the pot.
Stir the pot. It keeps the good stuff from settling at the bottom and burning.