Excellent rant, sir. You definitely stuck the landing from my POV. Interestingly enough, I've been thinking about this same subject, but from a slightly different perspective. I think that some people just react badly to someone suggesting to them that they don't really "know" the things they think they "know."
Whether it's a theist arguing that they "know" there is a god, or a grudge-holder arguing that they "know" the true motives of someone they hold a grudge against, it's the same scenario IMO. The "crime" is not believing what you believe, it's *not* believing what they believe. "You know you've created God in your own image when he hates the exact same people you do." - Gordon Charrick [http://media.salon.com/2011/02/the_rise_and_fall_of_the_bible_rethinkin\ g_the_good_book-460x307.jpg] --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltablues@...> wrote: > > I think I figured out something important concerning the dialog between theists and atheists. When theists argue against atheists, it usually concerns the actual existence of a God. The arguments are often at the most abstract range of philosophical discussion where metaphysics and ontology (the study of what exists in philosophy) wander into a local Starbucks, and after ordering bloatedly caloric peppermint and gingerbread lattes,sit together eating cake balls off sticks (actual Starbucks overpriced confectionery)like a couple of dorks. > > If I hear one more theist announce that you "can't prove that God does NOT exist" as if proving a negative is even logically possible for anything, I might just have to replace all those Starbucks' cake balls with C4 plastic explosives, order my $1.53 coffee-of-the-day, and sit down to enjoy the fireworks. (Surprisingly little brain matter gets splattered from the cake-ball-on-a-stick eaters.) > > Wow, sorry about that. I didn't realize my homicidal rage at this faux Tootsie-pop till I started writing. But in my defense, I sat through the whole mini cupcake fad without a single peep. It was only when they covered the little bastards in chocolate and put them on a stick that I had to say my piece. So where was I...so easily distracted by food... > > Oh yeah, the problem atheists have has nothing to do with the existence or non existence of any of the various god ideas that people enjoy. And the move by theists to frame the discussion in those terms can now officially cease with this post. > > I have never heard any atheist (and I've read a few) make a case for the non existence of God. The actual existence of God is not an up topic. It literally doesn't come up much. It is completely eclipsed by the actual problem atheist's have is the theist's claim that anyone knows what God wants. > > That is the problem atheists have with theism. They don't believe that any of the self-appointed managers for the big guy, are actually receiving W-9s (Yeah, God never gives health insurance benefits of fulltime employment just like Maharishi. We are all independent contractors to save on taxes.) with heaven listed as the address of the employer and the employment ID number being Pi. > > So if someone holds up say, a Bible, and says, "this is the word of God and we are going to follow everything in it except the part where we need to kill people for working on the sabbath because we might run out of Bud-lite during the football game and might need a 7-11 run including but not limited to pork rinds and Yahoo. And we can't openly support slavery or beating women with a rod the thickness of your thumb, but when you try to bring these cases in front of a judge, don't worry we will work something out for you. But that thing that says that gay people are an abomination is the word of God, and we are the right ones to be making these distinctions..." > > the atheist puts up one of his fingers and says, "I don't mean you are number one". > > It has nothing to do with the possibility that there might be some kind of super being out there, or in here or wherever, it has to do with whether or not it is credible that this particular book can be distinguished from any other wonderful examples of people making shit up and repeating the stories again and again until other people forgot that someone made it up. And back in the day before celebrity publishing dominated, the catch phrase for anything someone wanted to promote as the next best seller was that God wrote it, or dictated it, or had it ghost written for him or her or him dressed like a her.(Yes I mean you cross-dressing Krishna. The Christian Bible says you are an abomination with your blue Jersey Shore spray tan.) > > So this is my cause for the New Year. Bringing up this critical distinction between what atheists actually are saying, and what many theists want them to be saying because it would be much more convenient if the burden of proof could be shifted away from the person claiming to speak for God. > > I want to start the New Year off right by stating unequivocally that I have never met any human being who I believe is so different from the rest of us that this specialness can only be explained by actual contact with the creator of the universe. What I do see are one out of a million of us, audacious enough to claim to have this connection, and whole bunches of the rest of us deferring to this claim without demanding more proof than that he stays up late a lot, giggles at his own jokes and one time a plane or boat didn't leave without him when it usually leaves on time. (actual proof offered of Maharishi's special state of mind) > > I am resisting the temptation to stick the landing with some cutesy reference to those damn cake pops to tie this whole post together because I'm serious this time. > > Atheists don't know if there really is some God being. Neither do theists. Or if they do, they have not made a convincing case to atheists. But that is a moot point. > > The real point is that nobody knows that God hates gay people so lets get the F off their backs (unfortunate image I know) and let them enjoy the hell of marriage like straight people. Because we may not be living eternally, but being married can sure make it feel as if you are. > > That's as stuck a landing as I'm gunna get. >
