> > >>The only group you are likely to get consistent answers > from would be > > >>the anti-religious groups, as you can probably see from > some of the > > >>others who have already answered your email.
William T. Goodall replied:
> > >Doesn't this indicate where the compelling evidence leads?
I responded:
> > That the only group that follows in lockstep and allows no > dissent from > > their orthodoxy is the anti-religious group? >
The Fool retorted:
>Interesting. You are attempting to frame freethinkers and > rationalists > as authoritarian thought police. But the fact remains that > freethinkers > and rationalists have thrown off shackles of religious > thought control, > not the other way around. > > I nominate your post for newspeak / doublethink post of the month.
Ritu exposited:
I oppose the nomination. :)
I don't think he was trying to frame free-thinkers and rationalists as authoritarian thought police. Besides, there is a point in what he says: I have met many atheists who are best described as devout atheists. Their lack of theism is based not as much in rationality as in an overpowering hatred of all things religious. I am sure they have their reasons but I do think that they have thrown off only some of their 'religious shackles'. After all, an overwhelmingly strong negative reaction still indicates an emotional attachment, albeit a negative emotional attachment.
What she said, more or less. The original post in this thread was about
religious beliefs that some people have and how those affect the political
decisions those people make. Instead of responding to those questions
in a meaningful way, the anti-religious folks on the list immediately jumped
in with the same old argument they've made many times, which basically
boils down to "religion bad." It was so predictable and such a knee-jerk
reaction that it looked like they were spouting a party-line that had been
brainwashed into them. In other words, ironically, it looked like an orthodoxy.
So I called it what it looked like.
Can we now get back to answering the interesting questions that Robert Chassell originally asked when he started this thread? Thanks in advance.
Reggie Bautista
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