fact: i am infallible AND have a mustache
benthemiester: I'm from LA. I used to live on Sunset blvd and Hyperion. Some of my dearest friends are gay. Many are religious and attend church weekly, many are not. And almost all use the the word fag and queer when their angry with other gays. A more recent famous example is the Perez Hilton Will I am Fiasco. Historically atheist and totalitarian dominated countries have been just, if not more brutal than even Muslim nations have been, and much more brutal than anything they go through in the US or Europe.
Me: There is a huge disconnect between 'atheist' and what you described. It really doesn't matter that those governments were atheistic. What matters is that they were overly dogmatic to (what I consider to be) an evil dogma. It's pretty much the same for any overly dogmatic government.
In the same way that just being Christian doesn't mean you think the crusades was theologically justified; being an atheist doesn't mean you think that Pol Pot was philosophically justified.
bibliognosthere: Fair enough. But the difference in real life is almost no Christian spontaneously goes to the atheist and whines about Pol Pot. How many forums like this do anti-Christians bring up the Crusades?Or Inquisition? Or any historical excess as if that challenges the veracity of the Christian faith? I have no control or connection to what some non-Christian pope did to this group or that,anymore than the atheist does to the excesses of Pol Pot. Fact though:more dead at hands of atheists than clerics.
Me: If an atheist thinks that the crusades makes the Christian faith null and void, then they are too stupid to continue an argument with. Honestly, none of the atheists I know think this. If one did, I would actively tell them they're a fucking idiot.
We rail "against Christianity" because a small, but vocal, minority of Christians are making life difficult for progress. Pretend that every time your hear "Christian," from an atheist, that you instead hear "Fundamentalist young-Earth Creationist."
Me (again): Fact: more dead at hands of government than anarchists.
Fact: more dead at hands of people with dangerous dogma than those without.
Fact: more dead at hands of people with mustaches than people without.
Fact: more dead at hands of people in power than people being oppressed.
Fact: more dead at hands of solvable hunger than soldiers.
Fact: more dead at hands of fanatics than rational thinkers.
(from the comments to Why Are American Atheists So Angry?)
I didn't even get to the No True Scotsman of biblio's comment. And, I know, arguing in youtube comments is a lost cause. I just thought the 'facts' I outlined was a good rebuttal to his fact; but, the subtlety of turning his fallacy against him might be lost on him.
Me: There is a huge disconnect between 'atheist' and what you described. It really doesn't matter that those governments were atheistic. What matters is that they were overly dogmatic to (what I consider to be) an evil dogma. It's pretty much the same for any overly dogmatic government.
In the same way that just being Christian doesn't mean you think the crusades was theologically justified; being an atheist doesn't mean you think that Pol Pot was philosophically justified.
bibliognosthere: Fair enough. But the difference in real life is almost no Christian spontaneously goes to the atheist and whines about Pol Pot. How many forums like this do anti-Christians bring up the Crusades?Or Inquisition? Or any historical excess as if that challenges the veracity of the Christian faith? I have no control or connection to what some non-Christian pope did to this group or that,anymore than the atheist does to the excesses of Pol Pot. Fact though:more dead at hands of atheists than clerics.
Me: If an atheist thinks that the crusades makes the Christian faith null and void, then they are too stupid to continue an argument with. Honestly, none of the atheists I know think this. If one did, I would actively tell them they're a fucking idiot.
We rail "against Christianity" because a small, but vocal, minority of Christians are making life difficult for progress. Pretend that every time your hear "Christian," from an atheist, that you instead hear "Fundamentalist young-Earth Creationist."
Me (again): Fact: more dead at hands of government than anarchists.
Fact: more dead at hands of people with dangerous dogma than those without.
Fact: more dead at hands of people with mustaches than people without.
Fact: more dead at hands of people in power than people being oppressed.
Fact: more dead at hands of solvable hunger than soldiers.
Fact: more dead at hands of fanatics than rational thinkers.
(from the comments to Why Are American Atheists So Angry?)
I didn't even get to the No True Scotsman of biblio's comment. And, I know, arguing in youtube comments is a lost cause. I just thought the 'facts' I outlined was a good rebuttal to his fact; but, the subtlety of turning his fallacy against him might be lost on him.