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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 03/18/2009 : 14:17:01
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This is from PZ Myers: Category: Godlessness
Posted on: March 18, 2009 4:08 PM, by PZ Myers
Not all of my email consists of metaphorical daggers hurled my way. I actually get a fair amount of praise and comments about how I've won people over to the cause of atheism — I just tend not to post those, because of my awesome modesty and because you all know this stuff, anyway. This one is interesting because I didn't convince the fellow to be an atheist, but instead made him think…which is what we're all after, anyway.Good day, Mr. Myers.
My name is Josh. I just wanted to send you a message about how you, in the strangest way, changed my life, and my faith for the better.
I'm quite aware of your feelings toward religious people. And I honestly can't blame you. We don't have a terrific public track record, and more often than not, we tend to be the closed minded conservative bigots everyone blames us for being, and I'm honestly sad to say that I was just that way, and probably hurt a few people while I sat around being Mr. Holy.
But all that aside, I feel I owe where I am now in my life to you, and whether or not you care how you've improved the faith of a young, struggling Christian, I wanted to tell you anyway.
Last semester I took a Religions of the World course, and as an extra-credit assignment, I was given the option to attend an event at the Missouri State University, at which you spoke. I went, and let me tell you, it was probably one of the most jarring and terrifying moments of my life. I'd always known there were those who strongly opposed religion. In fact, one of my best friends in high school was an extreme skeptic, who constantly asked me the tough questions, you know, the ones that usually can only be answered with "He works in mysterious ways." But I'd never been in a room packed with people who whooped and cheered every time a stab was taken at the way I'd chosen to live my life. It was chilling and upsetting and I wanted to leave every second since you'd first opened your mouth. I didn't hate you for saying it. How could I? It was your belief and you were sharing it, which you have every right to do.
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One of the things I find most interesting in the letter from this Christian, is that PZ Myers' "New Atheist," take-no-prisoners style of atheism is what induced this reasoning fellow to reconsider the uglier parts of his faith. Rather than being off-putting, a strong approach like Myers' seems to be the way to get through to people, even, sometimes, people from fundamentalist Christianity like Josh.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 03/18/2009 14:18:31
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TG
Skeptic Friend
USA
121 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2009 : 09:41:04 [Permalink]
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| But I'd never been in a room packed with people who whooped and cheered every time a stab was taken at the way I'd chosen to live my life. |
Having been to a number of Skeptic Society talks where non-believers have (correctly) pointed out the absurdity of some religious belief ... which is predictably met with laughter and derision by the audience, I have to say that it makes me a little uncomfortable.
To this individuals credit he was able to move beyond that and look critically at the content of what PZ had to say, but I suspect most believers react negatively and simply dig in their heels.
Given human nature, I think a calmly delivered, well reasoned critique without the whooping and cheering is far more effective in the long run. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2009 : 13:49:59 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by TG
| But I'd never been in a room packed with people who whooped and cheered every time a stab was taken at the way I'd chosen to live my life. |
Having been to a number of Skeptic Society talks where non-believers have (correctly) pointed out the absurdity of some religious belief ... which is predictably met with laughter and derision by the audience, I have to say that it makes me a little uncomfortable.
To this individuals credit he was able to move beyond that and look critically at the content of what PZ had to say, but I suspect most believers react negatively and simply dig in their heels.
Given human nature, I think a calmly delivered, well reasoned critique without the whooping and cheering is far more effective in the long run.
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I think this may be to some extent be confusing a rational argument against religion by a speaker with an audience's reaction to that argument. Like the other side, we, too, may have strong feelings.
The fact that an audience reacts with emotion shows that they are motivated, and doesn't have to detract from the message they may have received. Also, given how many people have been abused by religion, it's inevitable that many will feel a certain amount of shared schadenfreude when they hear religion metaphorically getting knocked about.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Zebra
Skeptic Friend
USA
354 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2009 : 23:21:47 [Permalink]
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We skeptic-atheists need some place to let it all hang out - in real life, I mean...not just online ;-)
Those jaw muscles can get kinda tired from biting one's tongue all day long, ya know. (Like yesterday, at work. Lady blabbing all about her church, the choir, Jesus, yadda yadda, apparently under the impression that this is something we all want to hear. But saying something could have led to Ramifications for my job, so I bit the ol' tongue, yet again.)
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I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone* -Dick Cheney
*some restrictions may apply |
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An inspirational letter from a Christian
