Christians are not stupid

Christians and other theists are not stupid. How do I know this? I've known some incredibly brilliant people, called many of them friends, who are Christians or some other sort of theist, plus I used to be one. Too many atheists I've read, at least on the internet, write Christians off and attack them as morons. Don't get me wrong, there are many who claim to follow Christ who are complete idiots, but there are plenty who wave the banner of atheist that are dumb as a box of rocks as well.

Yes, I'm an atheist ex-Christian, but that does not mean I have lost respect for Christians. There are some who claim Christ, who are such hateful idiots that not even most Christians claim them. The vast majority of Christians I know are people who live normal lives and do their best to show the love of Christ to everyone they meet.

Got a problem with a belief system? That's fine, but don't belittle yourself and hurt your argument by using ad hominem attacks against those you argue against. You're smarter than that, aren't you?

Atheists and Christians Community Blog has been added to The Atheist Blogroll

Atheists and Christians Community Blog has been added to The Atheist Blogroll. You can see the blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information.

Considering another tattoo

It started with this idea:



Clearer?

Do Liberal Christians Deconvert?

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. It seems to me that quite a few of the folks who deconvert from Christianity come from conservative, biblical literalist traditions. Now, when I was a part of those traditions I was disgusted by liberal Christians, I saw them as apathetic and lukewarm or worse. What I find now is that liberal Christians can be just as passionate as the fundamentalist Christians, but in a life affirming, positive way. It seems this escape from a legalistic view of scripture can lead to a vibrant and enduring faith. Before I deconverted I was much more liberal in my approach to scripture and yet for me it was the lack of God's presence that really drew me away. Fundamentalists would say it was my liberalism that drove God away, but I know of many Christians who hold these same liberal views and experience what they would call God's presence daily. I'm very content with my life as it is, and yet I always thirst for knowledge. If a god exists in some form, I am open to experiencing that, but for now I will just live my life and try to shed a little light wherever I go.

Peace, Love and Coexistence.

Invisible Friends

Ok, I know the subject sounds like I'm going to start ranting about how theists are so stupid for having invisible friends, but I'm not. In fact this post is pretty much the opposite. It frustrates me when atheists arguing with Christians resort to such tactics. It only serves to anger their opponent and the conversation quickly degenerates into something useless to both sides.

You can respect someones right to believe something without respecting that belief. Even if I think your belief in talking acorns makes you completely loopy I will still talk about your belief with respect. I'm sure I will express incredible disbelief, but I'm not going to call you names.

I know a lot of anger exists out there with atheists angry at Christians and vice versa. In many instances there are good reasons for this anger, but anger only hurts you. We can agree to disagree because when it comes down to it we each think the other side is a slave to their cognitive dissonance.

Maybe the purpose of this site is futile. Maybe atheists and Christians will never get along, but I like to think it's at least possible.

Protected Intolerance

This pretty much speaks for it's self.



From Cectic.com

I never wanted to be an Atheist.

Since de-converting from Christianity many who claim to follow Christ have accused me of wanting to lead a life of sin or wanting to hide from God, or just plain turning my back on God. I had one Christian named Dan, after I said the sentence that is the title of this post, tell me "Then you shouldn't be, shame on you. It's called faith for a reason. Sure God could reveal himself to us quite easily but he wants us to have faith in Him and Trust Him not just believe and not to be tempted."

It's odd to me that I do not attack their character and yet they attack mine, that somehow does not seem very Christian to me. I have some wonderful Christian friends and family. I have also made new Christian friends who I have met through various web sites.

I began this post yesterday and am continuing it today. Today I asked Dan a simple question. "Do you think I'm telling the truth when I say I don't believe God exists" his response: "In a word...No." I've given Dan no reason to call me a liar so I told him so and then unsubscribed from his blogs and comments from his blog.

I don't call Christians liars for believing in God, yet some of them are so sure of their belief that they would call unbelievers liars for saying they don't believe in the Christian God. I guess I understand this because I felt the same way when I was a Christian, though I never accused anyone of lying. I felt they had fooled themselves, not that they were flat out lying.

I understand this anger against atheists, I was pissed off when atheists attacked Jesus too, when I was a Christian, but I was pissed off at individuals not all atheists. Even then I knew that not all atheists made their business attacking Christ.

I loved being a Christian, I didn't have any negative experiences, I just began to look at other things in the world, and wondering how if so many others believed so sincerely then how could I think their sincerity was somehow less than mine? I began to really look for evidence of God in my life, I began to really listen to see if I was truly hearing God's voice or if it was just my own. To this day I still pray from time to time: "God, if you are real, please let me know."

I never wanted to be an atheist. I just had to be honest about no longer believing.