Comments on: Friday Quote: The Atheist Meltdown http://telicthoughts.com/friday-quote-the-atheist-meltdown/ An independent blog about intelligent design Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:03:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: JOHN_A_DESIGNER http://telicthoughts.com/friday-quote-the-atheist-meltdown/#comment-117770 JOHN_A_DESIGNER Sun, 01 Jul 2007 01:19:00 +0000 http://telicthoughts.com/friday-quote-the-atheist-meltdown/#comment-117770 Sciphi, you said: <blockquote>A deep "unbridgeable" divide with neither side willing to give any ground.</blockquote> What I want to see is tolerance: tolerance for religion, tolerance for non-religion, tolerance to consider and explore new ideas, like the ideas that are genreated when we explore ID. Does my side, the tolerance, the side that needs to give in? I guess I'm a little bit confused by your last statement. Please clarify. Sciphi, you said:

A deep "unbridgeable" divide with neither side willing to give any ground.

What I want to see is tolerance: tolerance for religion, tolerance for non-religion, tolerance to consider and explore new ideas, like the ideas that are genreated when we explore ID. Does my side, the tolerance, the side that needs to give in? I guess I'm a little bit confused by your last statement. Please clarify.

]]> By: thesciphishow http://telicthoughts.com/friday-quote-the-atheist-meltdown/#comment-117365 thesciphishow Sat, 30 Jun 2007 03:58:47 +0000 http://telicthoughts.com/friday-quote-the-atheist-meltdown/#comment-117365 I did an interview with Orson Scott Card recently about his book Empire, and he noted that the sort of polarisation we see today, and that PZ is apprently all in favour of, is exactly the sort of thing you saw in society prior to the civil war. A deep "unbridgeable" divide with neither side willing to give any ground. I did an interview with Orson Scott Card recently about his book Empire, and he noted that the sort of polarisation we see today, and that PZ is apprently all in favour of, is exactly the sort of thing you saw in society prior to the civil war. A deep "unbridgeable" divide with neither side willing to give any ground.

]]> By: JOHN_A_DESIGNER http://telicthoughts.com/friday-quote-the-atheist-meltdown/#comment-117351 JOHN_A_DESIGNER Sat, 30 Jun 2007 03:28:55 +0000 http://telicthoughts.com/friday-quote-the-atheist-meltdown/#comment-117351 About a year ago I had the privilege of hearing a businessman, who in the mid 1990's had sold his business and moved his family to a remote corner of the Amazon so that he could help a tribe of hunter gatherers adjust (develop a rudimentary economy etc) to the outside world. Because I had other plans that weekend I had only planned to attend the first night (Saturday) but after hearing Steve speak I cancelled those other plans because he was such an inspiring speaker. Ironically, though he wasn't a trained speaker or preacher he spoke on those four nights, on a different topic each night, for 30 or 40 minutes, without notes or an outline. What did he talk about? He spoke mostly his own life's personal experiences. But also about faith, forgiveness and the impact people could have if they are willing to demonstrate truly selfless love towards their fellow human beings. I can't remember a single moment where he became negative or preachy. Indeed he had a great sense of humor and kept the crowd of 700 people most the time in stitches. He also had gone through some very tragic and dark experiences in his life; so dark, in fact, that I found myself momentarily thinking that I would not have blamed this man if he had renounced his faith and turned his back on God. However, it was then, through some real tears (ours and his) that he turned to us and inspired us to have real hope, because there is indeed real purpose and hope in life. Anger, hatred and cynicism are never the solution to life's troubles. For some reason I thought about Steve again after reading PZ Myers little rant. What a contrast! Why are these people so full of hate? Self-righteous hatred no less! What has hate ever accomplished? When missionaries I know want to convert a group of people they always approach those people with love, kindness and friendship. If they do preach, they preach against sin (selfish behavior) not the sinner. Is that what Myers doing when he wrote: "We're proud to be polarizing when the other side is such a catastrophic collection of stupid ideas; we are not hurt or remorseful when we are accused of being militantly against religious idiocy"¦" I don't even remember hearing any of the fundamentalists preacher's I've heard being quite that nasty. And of course this leaves me once again scratching my head and wondering, "˜what are these people really trying to accomplish?' About a year ago I had the privilege of hearing a businessman, who in the mid 1990's had sold his business and moved his family to a remote corner of the Amazon so that he could help a tribe of hunter gatherers adjust (develop a rudimentary economy etc) to the outside world. Because I had other plans that weekend I had only planned to attend the first night (Saturday) but after hearing Steve speak I cancelled those other plans because he was such an inspiring speaker. Ironically, though he wasn't a trained speaker or preacher he spoke on those four nights, on a different topic each night, for 30 or 40 minutes, without notes or an outline.

What did he talk about? He spoke mostly his own life's personal experiences. But also about faith, forgiveness and the impact people could have if they are willing to demonstrate truly selfless love towards their fellow human beings. I can't remember a single moment where he became negative or preachy. Indeed he had a great sense of humor and kept the crowd of 700 people most the time in stitches. He also had gone through some very tragic and dark experiences in his life; so dark, in fact, that I found myself momentarily thinking that I would not have blamed this man if he had renounced his faith and turned his back on God. However, it was then, through some real tears (ours and his) that he turned to us and inspired us to have real hope, because there is indeed real purpose and hope in life. Anger, hatred and cynicism are never the solution to life's troubles.

For some reason I thought about Steve again after reading PZ Myers little rant. What a contrast! Why are these people so full of hate? Self-righteous hatred no less! What has hate ever accomplished?

When missionaries I know want to convert a group of people they always approach those people with love, kindness and friendship. If they do preach, they preach against sin (selfish behavior) not the sinner. Is that what Myers doing when he wrote:
"We're proud to be polarizing when the other side is such a catastrophic collection of stupid ideas; we are not hurt or remorseful when we are accused of being militantly against religious idiocy"¦" I don't even remember hearing any of the fundamentalists preacher's I've heard being quite that nasty.

And of course this leaves me once again scratching my head and wondering, "˜what are these people really trying to accomplish?'

]]> By: MikeGene http://telicthoughts.com/friday-quote-the-atheist-meltdown/#comment-117323 MikeGene Sat, 30 Jun 2007 02:05:11 +0000 http://telicthoughts.com/friday-quote-the-atheist-meltdown/#comment-117323 Ol' Steeltoes again. When he's not being a bully, he's clamoring that he's a victim. Ol' Steeltoes again. When he's not being a bully, he's clamoring that he's a victim.

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