This is the real problem with the old 2000s "atheist" or "skeptic" crowd. Very few of them are actually committed to the principles of empiricism or rationalism as they claim to be. Their atheism is intellectually bankrupt and hypocritical from the start because it's motivated by emotion: usually resentment.
Whether JSG resents Christians because of the Biblical stance on homosexuality, or whether he's just holding on to some adolescent resentment towards his parents and attacking Christianity because he felt alienated by his own Christian upbringing, none of these are good reasons to call yourself an atheist, and that basis undermines literally all of his arguments.
He therefore can't form a coherent thought when he's debating with religious people on this or any other issue, especially not with Christians, even though Christianity probably has the softest approach to homosexuality out of any major modern religion.
Saying you don't support the anti-groomer bill just because Christians do support is is like saying you don't believe in God because you don't like what people have done in His name, or like saying you don't believe in physics because of nuclear weapons. It doesn't make any sense, and the more you point that out, the angrier he'll get.
is like saying you don't believe in God because you don't like what people have done in His name
That is exactly what the Atheist community is like. Not all atheists, no, but by and large it's just anti-Christians and to a lesser extent anti-religion in general. Nothing to do with whether a creator god exists or not.
Hitchens was practically excommunicated (heh, totes not a religion for some of these fools) for being critical of Islam.
"True" atheists (like true Scotsmen, you know), the kind who basically apply Gamergate's mantra of "trust, but verify" to everything including the multiple religions and simply find it coming up short, are a very rare breed indeed. Most people harbor a great need for an ideological overmind, something to do a bulk of their thinking for them, and if they cast off their religion, no matter which it may be, they'll pick up something in its place, so terrified are they of the risk of having an open mind.
And unfortunately, they aren't picky or even careful about what they put in its place. Religion has had several hundred (or even thousand) years to refine that role, but they'll shove anything in there.
That's where I stand: I appreciate what Christians have done for the world, but I can't believe in the Christian God when there is nothing but circumstantial evidence to support His existence. I don't hold the same animosity towards it or Sikhism that I do Islam (built on a foundation that moral perfection looks like a genocidal child rapist, which unsurprisingly keeps producing evil men in Mohammad's image) or the extinct Mesoamerican murder cults.
"All the Aztecs ask is that you put a little heart in your offering."
Dark humor aside, the blood rites of the Mesoamericans are terrifying examples of what happens when protein becomes scarce. If you ever wondered why soy creatures seem so bloodthirsty and unhinged, protein deficiency could be one of the root physiological causes. Evolution makes us nasty and aggressive when malnourished because doing so has earned our ancestors meat and other nutrients.
I don't expect that hypothesis to get grant funding, though. It goes against the 'eat bugs, live in a pod' & 'own nothing, be happy' narratives. Can't fund anything that points out their future would be engineered would result in aggressive malnourished misery.
Atheism isn't intellectually bankrupt. It's just grounded in a bit of empiricism... and that's about all. It's not a philosophy or a moral ethic. You can't make it into one.
Atheism is the lack of belief in a God or gods. That's all it is. There is only one logically sound reason to be an atheist, and that is that you don't believe there's enough eveidence to convince you that God exists. Most atheists, as much as they'll tell you they are motivated by rationalism, aren't. That doesn't mean they're not atheists. It just makes them stupid.
It's important to note that most Atheists are/were also Anti-Theists.
The way society encourages Anti-Christian behavior means that lots of Atheists stall out and get stuck in their hate for religion (Christianity in particular.) They wind up defining themselves through opposition-- and it's usually rooted strongly in emotion.
Until these Anti-Theists abandon hate for religion, they can't reason their way through any Theological question. It's nothing but knee jerk & rationalize. 'Reason' is nothing but camouflage for these types.
Anti-Theists like JSG will grind that axe rather than think. Their hostility towards others' beliefs moves the locus of control right outside their person, and makes them worse people because (oh irony of ironies) just like fire & brimstone zealots--- they condemn because they cannot accept that which they don't approve of. It's pure Intolerance.
This is the real problem with the old 2000s "atheist" or "skeptic" crowd. Very few of them are actually committed to the principles of empiricism or rationalism as they claim to be. Their atheism is intellectually bankrupt and hypocritical from the start because it's motivated by emotion: usually resentment.
Whether JSG resents Christians because of the Biblical stance on homosexuality, or whether he's just holding on to some adolescent resentment towards his parents and attacking Christianity because he felt alienated by his own Christian upbringing, none of these are good reasons to call yourself an atheist, and that basis undermines literally all of his arguments.
He therefore can't form a coherent thought when he's debating with religious people on this or any other issue, especially not with Christians, even though Christianity probably has the softest approach to homosexuality out of any major modern religion.
Saying you don't support the anti-groomer bill just because Christians do support is is like saying you don't believe in God because you don't like what people have done in His name, or like saying you don't believe in physics because of nuclear weapons. It doesn't make any sense, and the more you point that out, the angrier he'll get.
That is exactly what the Atheist community is like. Not all atheists, no, but by and large it's just anti-Christians and to a lesser extent anti-religion in general. Nothing to do with whether a creator god exists or not.
A VERY lesser extent, there.
Hitchens was practically excommunicated (heh, totes not a religion for some of these fools) for being critical of Islam.
"True" atheists (like true Scotsmen, you know), the kind who basically apply Gamergate's mantra of "trust, but verify" to everything including the multiple religions and simply find it coming up short, are a very rare breed indeed. Most people harbor a great need for an ideological overmind, something to do a bulk of their thinking for them, and if they cast off their religion, no matter which it may be, they'll pick up something in its place, so terrified are they of the risk of having an open mind.
And unfortunately, they aren't picky or even careful about what they put in its place. Religion has had several hundred (or even thousand) years to refine that role, but they'll shove anything in there.
That's where I stand: I appreciate what Christians have done for the world, but I can't believe in the Christian God when there is nothing but circumstantial evidence to support His existence. I don't hold the same animosity towards it or Sikhism that I do Islam (built on a foundation that moral perfection looks like a genocidal child rapist, which unsurprisingly keeps producing evil men in Mohammad's image) or the extinct Mesoamerican murder cults.
"All the Aztecs ask is that you put a little heart in your offering."
Dark humor aside, the blood rites of the Mesoamericans are terrifying examples of what happens when protein becomes scarce. If you ever wondered why soy creatures seem so bloodthirsty and unhinged, protein deficiency could be one of the root physiological causes. Evolution makes us nasty and aggressive when malnourished because doing so has earned our ancestors meat and other nutrients.
I don't expect that hypothesis to get grant funding, though. It goes against the 'eat bugs, live in a pod' & 'own nothing, be happy' narratives. Can't fund anything that points out their future would be engineered would result in aggressive malnourished misery.
They say they don’t believe in God, but they still hate Him.
Ironically, this hate lets them be possessed by a spirit of rebellion.
You know, like Lucifer.
Atheism isn't intellectually bankrupt. It's just grounded in a bit of empiricism... and that's about all. It's not a philosophy or a moral ethic. You can't make it into one.
Atheism is the lack of belief in a God or gods. That's all it is. There is only one logically sound reason to be an atheist, and that is that you don't believe there's enough eveidence to convince you that God exists. Most atheists, as much as they'll tell you they are motivated by rationalism, aren't. That doesn't mean they're not atheists. It just makes them stupid.
It's important to note that most Atheists are/were also Anti-Theists.
The way society encourages Anti-Christian behavior means that lots of Atheists stall out and get stuck in their hate for religion (Christianity in particular.) They wind up defining themselves through opposition-- and it's usually rooted strongly in emotion.
Until these Anti-Theists abandon hate for religion, they can't reason their way through any Theological question. It's nothing but knee jerk & rationalize. 'Reason' is nothing but camouflage for these types.
Anti-Theists like JSG will grind that axe rather than think. Their hostility towards others' beliefs moves the locus of control right outside their person, and makes them worse people because (oh irony of ironies) just like fire & brimstone zealots--- they condemn because they cannot accept that which they don't approve of. It's pure Intolerance.