From: "John D. Giorgis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Can somebody help me out here? > > It seems that there are two basic types of people, albeit with some > gradations, and hence, two types of Brin-L'ers. These people are > essentially those who believe in God, and those who do not. > > Yet, it seems that people who believe in God, at least on Brin-L, seem > perfectly capable of discussing non-belief in God in a calm and civilized > manner. > > In contrast, the people who do not believe in God, or at least a number of > those people on Brin-L, seem to be utterly incapable of discussing belief > in God without being petulant, insulting, petty, and ultimately > uncivilized. I mean, this has now happened how many times in the last six > months? And always from people in what is roughly the same belief-set. > > Why is this? > > Is it some inherent correlation with non-belief in God that causes one to > react like a Neanderthal against those who profess a belief in God? Or is > it just that Brin-L is a small sample, and our resident anti-religionists > who are speaking out on that subject as of late are just doing a poor job > of representing the larger group of people that hold their viewpoint? None of the above. It is possible that there are some athiests who are on the list that simply haven't spoken up about the topic of religion simply because they are not interested in discussing the topic, especially with the flames shooting as high as they tend to in such discussion. I think a smart athiest would avoid such inflaming topics, afterall, if you don't believe in an afterlife what's the point of making your own life a living hell by getting in arguments constantly. :-) As for religious people willing to discuss non-belief in God, I would argue that is an anomoly due to insufficient sample. I have met zealots in my lifetime who think that if someone is an athiest it is a deep personal insult and the athiest must be given a good education about religion, especially fire and brimstone stuff. > Otherwise, I just don't get it - but that attitude from the > anti-religionists here certainly makes Brin-L a much more not-nice place to > be. Agreed? Its not that I don't want atheists around here - in fact, > I find challenges from atheists very interesting and intellectually > refreshing. I'm just wondering if there's a way to have that viewpoint > represented here other than via the flame-bait and the nasty snide remark. > > JDG Regretably, you will always have to put up with the opinions of zealots, simply because they are typically more vocal. Michael Harney [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much... the wheel, New York, wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons." - Douglas Adams _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
