Bad experience on atheist blog

[stelline]

I guess my title shouldn’t surprise many people here. Decided against my better judgment (the voice in the back of my head) to engage someone on their atheist blog. It amazes me that no matter how polite someone may try to be, if you DARE ask an honest question or share that you have a different opinion (in the most non-confrontational way possible!) prepare to have your head bitten off! Sometimes I wonder why I even bother being polite at all!..

As you might tell, I’m fresh from this particular blog website and it gets me thinking, have ANY of you ever encountered an atheist with which you can have a polite discussion/debate? I sure haven’t found any yet. I’m really asking–anybody??

Sorry for the rant, but I’m exasperated! There must be cool-headed atheists out there somewhere!

 

[AussieTrish]

I can say that there are some very reasonable long-term CAF atheist members.

 

[ClearWater]

Yes, I’ve encountered some, here, as well.

 

[Skeptic92]

I guess my title shouldn’t surprise many people here. Decided against my better judgment (the voice in the back of my head) to engage someone on their atheist blog. It amazes me that no matter how polite someone may try to be, if you DARE ask an honest question or share that you have a different opinion (in the most non-confrontational way possible!) prepare to have your head bitten off! Sometimes I wonder why I even bother being polite at all!..

As you might tell, I’m fresh from this particular blog website and it gets me thinking, have ANY of you ever encountered an atheist with which you can have a polite discussion/debate? I sure haven’t found any yet. I’m really asking–anybody??

Sorry for the rant, but I’m exasperated! There must be cool-headed atheists out there somewhere!

Yeah, just find somewhere specialised in Philosophy- they want a debate, not to attack. You just have to be prepared to offer Philosophical justifications for many of Christianity’s philosophical doctrines, and this can be tricky.

 

[TRH1292]

Yes, I have an atheist friend from my college philosophy class who is very cool headed and very kind. We debated these things many times. He spend a lot of time helping me with my math class as well.

 

[adawgj]

I was forum friends with one of them and he/she was very kind and was fun to discuss and talk to. Very open minded and respectable of ones religious beliefs.

 

[fastenatingguy]

My friend and colleague (who happens to own the company, so he is technically my boss) is an atheist at worst and agnostic at best. But he is a very kind and loving person who just doesn’t have an ounce of faith. He was raised Jewish but hasn’t practiced since his bar mitzvah (so 45 years ago).

We have really good discussions at lunch and when we are travelling distances on business. He admires my faith and has no issues with it, other than it isn’t for him. He used to think like a lot of liberals that Christians were loony and backwards because of “blind faith” but he has said recently (his mother is dying) that he wishes he could experience the comfort that he sees in people of faith. I told him I took that as a complement!

 

[Allegra]

Probably most of the atheists one knows that are cool-headed and polite, you don’t know they are atheists, because they aren’t trying start arguments with other poeple. Maybe the problem isn’t that atheists are rude and obnoxious, but people who write blogs spouting their opinion all over the internet tend to be rude and obnoxious.

 

[Loving_disciple]

I guess my title shouldn’t surprise many people here. Decided against my better judgment (the voice in the back of my head) to engage someone on their atheist blog. It amazes me that no matter how polite someone may try to be, if you DARE ask an honest question or share that you have a different opinion (in the most non-confrontational way possible!) prepare to have your head bitten off! Sometimes I wonder why I even bother being polite at all!..

As you might tell, I’m fresh from this particular blog website and it gets me thinking, have ANY of you ever encountered an atheist with which you can have a polite discussion/debate? I sure haven’t found any yet. I’m really asking–anybody??

Sorry for the rant, but I’m exasperated! There must be cool-headed atheists out there somewhere!

Yep plenty of my friends at school. Then again they aren’t jerk by nature

 

[Lawrence178]

I guess my title shouldn’t surprise many people here. Decided against my better judgment (the voice in the back of my head) to engage someone on their atheist blog. It amazes me that no matter how polite someone may try to be, if you DARE ask an honest question or share that you have a different opinion (in the most non-confrontational way possible!) prepare to have your head bitten off! Sometimes I wonder why I even bother being polite at all!..

As you might tell, I’m fresh from this particular blog website and it gets me thinking, have ANY of you ever encountered an atheist with which you can have a polite discussion/debate? I sure haven’t found any yet. I’m really asking–anybody??

Sorry for the rant, but I’m exasperated! There must be cool-headed atheists out there somewhere!

On the internet I’ve found only a handful of reasonable, polite Atheists, maybe three or four, out of dozens and dozens. The internet just does something to bring the crazy jerk out in everyone, not just Atheists. Just yesterday I exchanged long messages with one who kept calling the Church’s teachings “vatican country brainwashing,” he used the term “vatican country” for the Church and employed it every other sentence. He insisted on the dichotomy of faith and reason.

In real life, I find most Atheists aren’t Atheists for solid reasons. I’d describe most them as “nice” people (as opposed to some of the Atheist loons I encounter on the interwebz), but they are unreasonable or plain ignorant when it comes to matters of faith. Just about all of them I know suffer from assumed knowledge, they think they get Christianity, and they don’t accept it, so they don’t need/want to learn more. The most painful thing is when they invoke the title of “former Christian” or claim that they went to Catholic school/CCD as indicative of their understanding of the Faith, but clearly don’t even grasp the most fundamental aspects of the Faith.

 

[Faithdancer]

I visited an atheist forum once. I didn’t even stick around for dialogue, because it was filled with obscene pictures mocking Catholic priests.

 

[ClearWater]

I visited an atheist forum once. I didn’t even stick around for dialogue, because it was filled with obscene pictures mocking Catholic priests.

Oh, not good. If one wants to have a serious, respectful dialogue about matters of faith with atheists, you can come on the forum.

 

[Furius]

Fear not. Most atheists who I have encountered that are attacking like wild dogs, usually are hiding some deep seeded emotional issues with God. They pretend their reasons for the unbelief rest solely in intellectual arguments, but I usually find this not to be the case. The more vicious and rude the attack, usually means the more emotional their reasons are for their unbelief.
Atheists who tend to be atheists for intellectual reasons, are usually extremely polite and calm headed. They are usually never looking to embarrass or hurt you, and ironically, these are the atheists who I believe are the most difficult to convert. They are wonderful to talk to in my opinion, and sadly they are quite rare. Or maybe I should say, happily they are quite rare? I think you understand what I mean.
The frothing at the mouth, mad dog atheist is usually a smoke screen, and when by some miracle they lose their energy to rage against you, that is usually when their sadness comes out and they start opening up about how someone they loved died or some other tragedy befell them. That’s when you start having a real conversation at that point. I’ve only experienced this in person, however, since on the internet I have never hung around long enough to see an emotional atheist have their walls come down. Usually this is due to the impersonal nature of the internet and also because when these emotional atheists get in ‘herds’ (as often is the case on the internet), they tend to feed off each other’s rage and never come to a place of honest dialogue.

 

[Convert2013]

Fear not. Most atheists who I have encountered that are attacking like wild dogs, usually are hiding some deep seeded emotional issues with God. They pretend their reasons for the unbelief rest solely in intellectual arguments, but I usually find this not to be the case. The more vicious and rude the attack, usually means the more emotional their reasons are for their unbelief.
Atheists who tend to be atheists for intellectual reasons, are usually extremely polite and calm headed. They are usually never looking to embarrass or hurt you, and ironically, these are the atheists who I believe are the most difficult to convert. They are wonderful to talk to in my opinion, and sadly they are quite rare. Or maybe I should say, happily they are quite rare? I think you understand what I mean.
The frothing at the mouth, mad dog atheist is usually a smoke screen, and when by some miracle they lose their energy to rage against you, that is usually when their sadness comes out and they start opening up about how someone they loved died or some other tragedy befell them. That’s when you start having a real conversation at that point. I’ve only experienced this in person, however, since on the internet I have never hung around long enough to see an emotional atheist have their walls come down. Usually this is due to the impersonal nature of the internet and also because when these emotional atheists get in ‘herds’ (as often is the case on the internet), they tend to feed off each other’s rage and never come to a place of honest dialogue.

I agree! My experience has been the same …in person and what I’ve seen/ read on the internet. The “Angry Atheist” is the name I have heard and holds true. Anger is the most common emotion to cover up deep seeded hurt and other emotions. When in person I will say to them “think deeply about what happened to you in your life and you’ll make sense of why you say you hate the Church, don’t believe in God and use your anger as a shield”.

I will say too that not all Atheists are “angry” and act like that from my experience as I see others have stated and some here on CAF are charitable and logical in their discussions. However, they are few and far between. Just know that when they are angry like that, you are hitting a specific “nerve” with them. Best to leave it go and be an example of what it is to be Christian …peaceful and loving.

 

[stelline]

Thanks guys, for the comments and giving me some hope and sharing good insight. The internet does make people more bold (and jerkier) than when face-to-face. CAF definitely seems like a more civilized and well-moderated place to share ideas.

I definitely agree that many people (but not all) who give up on the notion of God have some underlying issue from the past that has made them bitter and biased against religion. When you inadvertently hit on a nerve the anger comes out! Very sad.

Thanks again for sharing–you guys help me feel better.

 

[crystal_waters]

I guess my title shouldn’t surprise many people here. Decided against my better judgment (the voice in the back of my head) to engage someone on their atheist blog. It amazes me that no matter how polite someone may try to be, if you DARE ask an honest question or share that you have a different opinion (in the most non-confrontational way possible!) prepare to have your head bitten off! Sometimes I wonder why I even bother being polite at all!..

As you might tell, I’m fresh from this particular blog website and it gets me thinking, have ANY of you ever encountered an atheist with which you can have a polite discussion/debate? I sure haven’t found any yet. I’m really asking–anybody??

Sorry for the rant, but I’m exasperated! There must be cool-headed atheists out there somewhere!

Id stay away from those kinda blogs…it isnt likely that they will suddenly become catholic by arguing with you…just pray for athiests worldwide to convert

 

[crystal_waters]

I guess my title shouldn’t surprise many people here. Decided against my better judgment (the voice in the back of my head) to engage someone on their atheist blog. It amazes me that no matter how polite someone may try to be, if you DARE ask an honest question or share that you have a different opinion (in the most non-confrontational way possible!) prepare to have your head bitten off! Sometimes I wonder why I even bother being polite at all!..

As you might tell, I’m fresh from this particular blog website and it gets me thinking, have ANY of you ever encountered an atheist with which you can have a polite discussion/debate? I sure haven’t found any yet. I’m really asking–anybody??

Sorry for the rant, but I’m exasperated! There must be cool-headed atheists out there somewhere!

Id stay away from those kinda blogs…it isnt likely that they will suddenly become catholic by arguing with you…just pray for athiests worldwide to convert

 

[Geist]

Internet atheists are generally a special breed of misanthrope.

Debating them is roughly analogous to arguing with a brick wall; you leave exasperated and the wall never even noticed you were there.

 

[Iheartcoffee]

My friend and colleague (who happens to own the company, so he is technically my boss) is an atheist at worst and agnostic at best. But he is a very kind and loving person who just doesn’t have an ounce of faith. He was raised Jewish but hasn’t practiced since his bar mitzvah (so 45 years ago).

We have really good discussions at lunch and when we are travelling distances on business. He admires my faith and has no issues with it, other than it isn’t for him. He used to think like a lot of liberals that Christians were loony and backwards because of “blind faith” but he has said recently (his mother is dying) that he wishes he could experience the comfort that he sees in people of faith. I told him I took that as a complement!

His comment makes me think he might have more faith than he even realizes, since he does appear to long for the benefits of faith.

 

[Isca]

Fear not. Most atheists who I have encountered that are attacking like wild dogs, usually are hiding some deep seeded emotional issues with God. They pretend their reasons for the unbelief rest solely in intellectual arguments, but I usually find this not to be the case. The more vicious and rude the attack, usually means the more emotional their reasons are for their unbelief.
Atheists who tend to be atheists for intellectual reasons, are usually extremely polite and calm headed. They are usually never looking to embarrass or hurt you, and ironically, these are the atheists who I believe are the most difficult to convert. They are wonderful to talk to in my opinion, and sadly they are quite rare. Or maybe I should say, happily they are quite rare? I think you understand what I mean.
The frothing at the mouth, mad dog atheist is usually a smoke screen, and when by some miracle they lose their energy to rage against you, that is usually when their sadness comes out and they start opening up about how someone they loved died or some other tragedy befell them. That’s when you start having a real conversation at that point. I’ve only experienced this in person, however, since on the internet I have never hung around long enough to see an emotional atheist have their walls come down. Usually this is due to the impersonal nature of the internet and also because when these emotional atheists get in ‘herds’ (as often is the case on the internet), they tend to feed off each other’s rage and never come to a place of honest dialogue.

I agree with you and thinking of the worst interactions I’ve had with atheists online, they have all revealed at some point that they were brought up as a Catholic or a Muslim and then rejected it “when they were old enough to realise it was all nonsense” (that’s putting it politely, they usually get furious that they can’t brow-beat you, as you say).

You NEVER get the same reaction back to them from the people of faith. Actually, faith is the problem - when you have gone round in circles, you can end up saying “I can’t prove it, you can’t disprove it, but I have faith”. This seems to enrage them, for some reason.

I am a well-educated person and yet I am often accused of being a half-wit because I am a Christian. This also enrages me, but I don’t lose my temper!