My buddy is in the blogsphere

Check out my friend's ultra-conservative blog: www.polititees.com

Tragedy

I just read that Sean, the founder of the atheist website that has garnered our attention of late, was found dead in his bed last Friday. His father had died just two weeks earlier. Please keep him, his father and his loved ones in your prayers.

Why all the hatred?

UPDATE: The moderators at the atheist website deleted my comment. So much for tolerance.

I wasted some time exposing myself to the hatred at God Is For Suckers. I had to comment on a post about an documentary called "Jesus Camp." The commenters were furious at the way some christians were passing the faith on to their children. Here is what I wrote:

Lets review what some commenters have said about Christians on this thread:

“Anyone who sees this movie and thinks that it tells the truth or what is really supposed to be going on in this world needs to be shot!” - Truth

“That fat bitch in the movie should be harvested for lamp oil.” - Jimmy Dean

“F— THE JESUS CAMP A–HOLES!” - ChuckA

“Hmm. How ’bout we fence in North Dakota, tranq dart [christians] by the truckload, and release them in to the new ‘New Christendom’. They could build sodhouses, grow wheat, and proselytize each other to their hearts content? We might also want to cropdust with some sort of aerosol birth control to keep them from overrunning the fences- like the rabbits in Australia.” - Raindogzilla

“Oh, and to keep with the theme of this site, Christians are f–king stupid!” - James

I have not seen the “Jesus Camp” film myself. As a more moderate Christian, odds are I might find it somewhat appalling. That being said, how can you hold such hatred toward your fellow human beings? Isn’t there something about being human (no matter what your race, religion, ethnicity, sexual desires, etc) that demands a certain dignity? Or is the belief that we should respect (dare I say love) other people, even when we disagree with them, just a Christian thing?

- Tom

"If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first." - John 15:18

Welcome "God Is For Suckers" blog commenters...

I happened upon an interesting web site today, a group of atheists who are rather, um, vocal about their hatred of Christianity and the profound stupidity of Christians. One post asked the question of "How was Jesus dying a sacrifice if He came back to life three days later?". Being too "enlightened", I suppose, to actually do any research into the question to determine whether to assent or dissent from the orthodox Christian viewpoint, they mostly offered third-grade level analysis and lots (and lots) of ranting.

Like a couple of months ago with the "Goddess Rosary" people, you know I couldn't resist. I posted the following comment on their "Response To Another Drive-By Xian" post:

Interesting site.

After perusing the various posts and seemingly endless comments (you have quite a following) on your blog, I suppose the biggest questions I have are:

How exactly do you hope to contribute to the realization of your utopia of a world without religion? What are your plans for people like me - degreed professionals who are also devout (Catholic) Christians and have not been at all persueded by the philosophically specious ramblings of (to name a few) Hume, Russell, Comte, Dawkins (an ethologist who thinks he’s a theologian/philosopher…how cute), etc.? Will you just continue to flame away at us on blogs, or do you have anything more concrete in mind?

Since some of questions you pose are ones that even a cursory search of the internet or local library would reveal are questions theologians and philosophers - real ones, not the fundamentalist evangelist du jour - have been wrestling with for centuries (the Problem of Evil, the nature and essence of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, etc.), do you have any interest whatsoever in what they have to add to the discussion? Or is any indication in ‘xian’ belief on anyone’s part enough for you to simply dismiss them out-of-hand?

Besides your experiences with a few fundamentalists, on what basis do you conclude that Christians do not appreciate this earthly life? Because we believe there is another one to come? If I know that I will have a ice cold, richly satisfying beer next Friday, does it necessarily diminish my enjoyment of the ice cold, richly satisfying beer I have in my hand right now? My experience says ‘no’; does yours say different?

Does “living life, and enjoying life and fully appreciating the awe and wonder of this world” necessarily include spending hours on a blog ranting against Christianity and anyone that dares to believe in it?

Just curious…

Cordially,

John G. Beckett

(I make it a policy not to engage in blog-comment post wars. I really don’t have all day to sit here and respond to every flame to follow, and believe that anonymous comments are not worth my time to read. However, if you would like to respond to anything I have written, I have included my blog address in the “Website” field to anyone who would like to respond to my comment. Also, in a show of good faith, I will include my email address johngbeckett@yahoo.com Since I have not posted anonymously, it is not unreasonable to ask that any replies to me be done personally. Thank you.)

I know it was quite a gamble to post my personal email, but the posters and commenters on the site seemed to be such kind, loving, open-hearted folks that I couldn't resist....

If you're a guest from that site, welcome. I look forward to your thoughtful and respectful comments.