--- "John D. Giorgis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Can somebody help me out here?
>
> 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?
John,
It is my opinion that religious persons have in the past personally responded
to this type of discussion in a manner that was... although civilized (as I
believe everyone here acts in a more or less civilized manner but..)
certainly not calm.
Perhaps it is a matter of perspective. I do not believe that they did not
intend to be calm.
in this type of discussion that I get into in my physical environment, my
perception is that the opposite of what you claim is true. Religious zealots
screaming and yelling at atheists that they are of Satan and will go to hell.
Even Buddhists who calmly, but in a very critical manner, discuss a persons
atheism as if they were a troubled and lost child. This type of behavior can
be very upsetting to an atheist and they are likely to get a bit testy about
it.
Atheists tend to be a rather logical lot (whether you agree with their logic
is another matter) and when they perceive a religious person (especial one
who is an intellectual or a scientist) having such illogical beliefs it can
get quite annoying. Like if a stanch Christian encountered someone who was
telling people to fornicate in the name of the lord.
To many atheists religion is clearly a social control mechanism which has
nothing at all to do with reality. Many are angry that while only children
they were infused with a ridiculous "fear of god" and that they may still
have to deal with this pattern. Anger is one sure way to break brainwashing
and so it is expected that many of the previously brainwashed (whether you
agree that they were or not) would respond on the topic with anger.
Many atheists do not have the same set of norms or the same set of right and
wrong as religious people. To some atheists anger and -non calmness- are
~not~ negative or inappropriate behavior. To such people the expression of
anger is no more uncouth than the expression of boredom. This is of course
,as with everything, a gray scale.
Finlay, many atheists who have lost their religion or who never did believe
in god simply do not find the topic very interesting and so simply refrain
from partaking in the discussion. These individuals my have a more calm and
in your opinion "civilized" demeanor, but you would never know this because
they would not engage you in the conversation. The attitude can be summarized
by the saying "never argue with an fool, no one else will be able to tell
which one is which".
Of course foolishness like everything else is a matter or perspective is it
not? A religious person would find an atheists just as much a fool, and so
the attitude seems to be warranted.
=====
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Jan William Coffey
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