Goodbye Friendly Atheist

Last updated on: June 23, 2012 at 9:26 am by Dave Griffey

Goodbye Friendly Atheist 2012-06-23T09:26:00-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In an attempt to broaden my horizons, I spent some time trying to find atheist blogs that didn’t come off with all the love and tolerance of a Fred Phelps website. It wasn’t easy, as so many are a bizarre cross between fundamentalism and radical Phelps-like hatred. I stumbled on the Friendly Atheist blog because, well, it said Friendly Atheist. And at first, though obviously from an atheist perspective, the posts didn’t seem that far off. Sure, they seemed a little fundamentalist-like, but they weren’t horrible. The problem is, they never got good. Like most fundamentalist natured things, the blog existed in a shell of its own making, with many commenters feeling that dropping F-bombs and calling names was appropriate for anyone who didn’t think like they did and conform to their dogmatic definitions of free thinking. So after a few months of trying to give differing viewpoints, only to be met with the usual fundamentalist comebacks of insults, prove 2+2=4, and you types are the cause of all suffering, I decided to call it quits. I just don’t have time with my busy schedule to deal with the fundamentalist atheist who believes all atheists are beautiful, all religion is evil, atheists are dying by the millions in America because of evil Christians, and P.Z. Myers is brilliant. There are other atheist blogs I’ve been pointed to, and to those I go. Here is my farewell post to that strangely named blog, no doubt leaving cheers from those atheists who survive best when everyone is there to confirm their bizarre fantasy worlds:

“Actually -, you’ve revealed why it is I have such a hard time on this blog. I don’t get along well with fundamentalists – of any stripe. One of the classic traits of fundamentalist mentalities is, of course, a willingness to deny what’s accepted as fact. Try explaining to a 6 day creationist that the universe likely wasn’t created in 6 days. Just try it some time. You *think you have evidence on your side. But you’ll see that you don’t. The 6 day creationist will argue, argue, accuse you of lying, twisting facts, dismiss the evidence you give. They will demand you account for things that at other times they will even admit!*

So we have here, people suggesting I made up this whole violence among kids today in schools is worse than ever. Now, this very blog has had posts about bullying, how it’s worse than ever, and many have agreed. That is, of course, part of the trend. Not that violence never happened before. Increasing violence began as early as the 40s, during the war. But it has gotten worse by every account. Nobody denies it. Until now.

Because I’ve come to see that this is really a fundamentalist blog, atheist style. It should have been obvious, but compared to some atheist blogs, this seemed the height of open tolerance and respect. Some are so crass and horrible, they make Fred Phelps seem sane by comparison. So this blog stood out like a shining star. At first.

But as so many would approach me as you have, which is not uncommon behavior. As I noticed the subject of so many posts having that whiff of ‘woe is us, poor us, we’re always beautiful, they’re always the bad guys’ (classic fundamentalist perspectives), as some posts seemed to be completely outside of an ability to see the obvious (proud that Jesse Ventura is an atheist? Thinking P.Z. Myers is brilliant when there are atheists who cringe at what he says?), then you can see that I probably won’t make any headway here. Just as I never have with fundamentalists of any stripe, since one thing nobody has ever accused me of being is a fundamentalist. And at my age, I have not the time nor patience to deal with folks who must deny reality and live in a semi-fantasy world of self-imposed limits on what is and isn’t true.

I think I’ll go to some of the other atheist blogs I’ve been pointed to. Not all the commenters here are of that sort, of course. But enough are. Enough to spin the conversation toward useless bickering, rather than accepting the obvious truth that religion isn’t the cause of evil, people are. And the reasons are complex and varied, and then looking for cause and solution accordingly. Actually engaging, rather than the usual fundamentalist retorts (with extra F-bombs and strange fantasies about people’s sex lives thrown in).”

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 22, 2012

Tolkien and the Great War

Next Post

June 23, 2012 The emperor Obama's new campaign

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the father of John the Baptist?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joseph Zechariah Simeon Nathan