Monday, November 16, 2009

While we're on Adam and Eve and thinking...

This is a great post and thread from John Loftus' blog Debunking Christianity, which I highly recommend. John is a former Christian apologist, now an atheist. Here's his blogger profile.

I have seen the new comments on previous posts and want to respond. I'm also working on writing up my report of the Red River Freethinkers meeting, but am currently thwarted by a cranky toddler wanting my attention every thirty seconds. So this will have to suffice for now.


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11 comments:

  1. Loftus made a mistake in admitting that his book is about "overwhelming" the believer.

    He has, up to now, tried to say his agenda is just about "reason" and "critical thinking".

    Of course, those who have read his book know...from his OWN Statements, that two of the three reasons he "deconverted" were emotional, and he has admitted in this second book that he wants to get back at Christians.

    Reason? I don't think so.

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  2. Isn't emotion a huge reason for why people convert? Why is it an invalid reason to deconvert?

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  3. Leah, Andrew is an internet troll of John's. On the Amazon user comments forum he goes by the name of "K.C. James." He's been banned from commenting on Debunking Christianity. It's really sad.

    I don't know why emotion is made such a big deal. We are emotional creatures and emotion does inform our thinking and reasoning.

    Me personally, it wasn't for emotional reasons why I rejected Christianity. It was trying to take it seriously that it's foundations fell and I had nothing to stand on. Intellectual crisis led to doubt, which led to agnosticism, which in turn led to my "agnostic atheism."

    By the way, I really like you blog, keep up the good work!

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  4. Anthony, thanks for the heads up on the troll and for your very generous comment!

    For me, it was a combination of emotion and intellect that led to my disbelief. My religion was seriously damaging to my psyche, and getting out was a matter of emotional self-preservation, but I couldn't be at peace about leaving until I was certain that it wasn't true. Once I sat down and thought things through, the intellectual work to tumble the house of cards ended up being pretty simple. It was still another four years after that, though, before I couldn't believe in a higher power anymore. And I say "couldn't" because I really sincerely tried to believe in something. In the end, I just couldn't.

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  5. So I am a troll because Anthony says so?

    (And I DON'T know KC James.)

    That said, your rush to judgment, Leah, shows how much you are about "critical thinking".

    Sure.

    So long.

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  6. Does calling someone a troll violate the "so long as it remains a discussion of ideas and not an attack on a person's character" rule of your blog?

    What is a troll anyways? Someone who comes onto peoples blogs and has an alternative point of view?

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  7. From www.urbandictionary.com

    Troll:
    1. One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.

    Whether or not that is the case here is up to everyone to decide for themselves. A person with an alternative point of view would be either "a person with an alternative point of view" or a "critic".

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  8. And for the record, I hadn't immediately decided that Andrew WAS a troll, just because Anthony said so, although it's true that Anthony's comment did put me on alert and I would have probably read Andrew's future comments with some reservation, looking for signs of trolling, even though I don't find his first comment particularly trollish. It doesn't sound like he's coming back, though. Oh, well. So, yeah, Anthony's comment colored my judgment. There goes my critical thinking skills!

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  9. Patrik said: "What is a troll anyways? Someone who comes onto peoples blogs and has an alternative point of view?"

    I don't have a problem with someone giving a different viewpoint. But with Andrew his trolling activities over at Debunking Christianity ultimately led to all comments being moderated so that his abusive and distruptive behavior was filtered out. I didn't want to see him start that here.

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  10. So I am a troll because Anthony says so?

    (And I DON'T know KC James.)

    That said, your rush to judgment, Leah, shows how much you are about "critical thinking".

    Sure.

    So long.

    ReplyDelete

Religion, skepticism, and carving out a spiritual life post-Mormonism