Your kids in a godless world

[Siz]

I think that's where Dawkins excels - he likes to preach atheism to the masses and is very good at it.

Do you really consider him to be preaching atheism?  I've always thought of it more as defending and explaning atheism.

Yes, in so far as he actively projects a message of atheism for the ears of the masses. I'm not saying he particularly 'preachy', he's just more of a natural preacher than Hitchens. There's nothing negative in that accusation.

[Norfolk And Chance]

it's Hitchens I have a problem with.  I don't disagree with him but his manner puts my teeth on edge so I can see where the religious could easily take offense and not bother to consider his point, even if they were otherwise inclined to be open-minded.

An open minded religious person? Do they exist?

I like Hitchens' style, and the more abrasive and sarcastic the better - let us not forget that we are dealing with a bunch of adult fairy believers here, that really should have grown out of it.

Theism deserves nothing more than mocking, and even Hitchens stops short of that.

Anybody ever seen any Pat Condell videos on religion? Many people call him racist because, though hating all religion he often specifically picks on Islam. Quite how not liking a particular religion makes someone racist escapes me.

[Tank]

it's Hitchens I have a problem with.  I don't disagree with him but his manner puts my teeth on edge so I can see where the religious could easily take offense and not bother to consider his point, even if they were otherwise inclined to be open-minded.

An open minded religious person? Do they exist?

{snip}

How do you think you get de-conversions? Luck?

[Norfolk And Chance]

Yeah but if they de-convert and turn atheist then they aren't an open minded religious person are they? They're an atheist. 

Theism absolutely requires closed mindedness and belief. If you want to stay that way.

[Tank]

Yeah but if they de-convert and turn atheist then they aren't an open minded religious person are they? They're an atheist.  

Theism absolutely requires closed mindedness and belief. If you want to stay that way.

But they had to be open minded theists in the first place, irrespective of what they ended up as. So there were, are and will be open minded theists. But that does not mean that all theist are open minded or closed minded.

[Norfolk And Chance]

By the way, have you ever seen a real life de-conversion happen over time on a forum? I conclude you've been on atheist forums a considerable time.

PS not talking about somebody already showing doubts taking the further step, but a theist turning atheist.

[Tank]

By the way, have you ever seen a real life de-conversion happen over time on a forum? I conclude you've been on atheist forums a considerable time.

PS not talking about somebody already showing doubts taking the further step, but a theist turning atheist.

I first started hanging around atheist sites in Jan 2006. I have seen a few deconversions. One particularly spectacular de-conversion was a creationist who joined Richard Dawkins Forum under the user name of Darwins Bulldog (initially as a piss take). It took about 800 'ish posts but he came around in the end. CursusWalker trolled atheist forums and got deconverted in the process 

One definitly also sees the 'bugger I'm losing this!' reaction. HF was a bit like that.

The key thing is to really just keep one's cool in the face of the same old lame refuted arguments coming up again and again and again!

[Norfolk And Chance]

That's amazing and I've missed out. Are Darwins Bulldog and CursusWalker still about, but posting about atheism, or did the realisation that their beliefs were bunk eefectively end their need to post on atheist forums?

[Tank]

That's amazing and I've missed out. Are Darwins Bulldog and CursusWalker still about, but posting about atheism, or did the realisation that their beliefs were bunk eefectively end their need to post on atheist forums?

Darwins Bulldog and Cursuswalker are both very active posters on atheist and theist forums. One could almost call them evangelical 

DB is a teacher in Australia and actively campaigns on aspects of education law to make sure evolution is taught in all science classes and creationism isn't.

[Norfolk And Chance]

Wow that is fantastic  They were seriously theists that converted and now spread OUR word?

[Tank]

Wow that is fantastic  They were seriously theists that converted and now spread OUR word?

Yep. 100%

There was another chap, who's user name escapes me, who went through agonies as he tried to rationalise his creationism. One week he'd be one view and the next week the other. He just stopped posting in the end, poor sod.

[Norfolk And Chance]

Wow that is fantastic  They were seriously theists that converted and now spread OUR word?

Yep. 100%

There was another chap, who's user name escapes me, who went through agonies as he tried to rationalise his creationism. One week he'd be one view and the next week the other. He just stopped posting in the end, poor sod.

That's not good to hear, sounds like mental torture. A lot of x-tians probably do go through torture when they question their faith.

[Magdalena]

Every year I forget that once a year on a given Friday I shouldn't eat meat. At work, I keep telling people they got "a little something" on their forehead, and they say, "It's ash Wednesday." 
My son thinks the sign of the cross is people pointing at the "holes" they have in their body... seriously, he thinks they point at their mouth, belly button and nipples. He even said, "Now I know why they do that, I could never figure out why people did that, I thought they were just doing the letter T!" The other day, we left him with his aunt and when we picked him up he said, "Good thing you guys came for me, they were about to take me to church!"
All this is because I have never talked to him about god, religion, spirits, virgins, angels, afterlife, etc. He has asked, but I always ask him what He thinks about it. I don't want to influence him either way, but he does want to know what I think.
The other day my husband told him he should thank god for the food, and he said, "I don't think there is a god." My husband looked at me and said, "What have you told him?" I told the truth, I said, "Nothing." He told out son that he believed there was a god. Our son said, "O.K, maybe there is one."

[Asmodean]

At work, I keep telling people they got "a little something" on their forehead, and they say, "It's ash Wednesday."  

What's that..? Some sort of fireman holiday..?  

That kid of yours... Asmodean approves. And he usually disapproves of any very small human.   I mean, they ARE pointing at their nose and nipples and I myself have been told to have held that belief at one point. And food..? Should you not just thank whoever has prepared it, given that you can't nor are you expected to personally thank the farmers, the processing plants and the entire distribution network..? The fuck does god have to do with me tacos anyways?!

[Tank]

First day at Catholic school