July 25, 2007
Am I too argumentative?
Update: a reply! Supposedly, my comments were blocked by a rule which removes posts with more than two links. Given both my comments1 only had one link, this seems unlikely.
Just to being with, I’ll just say that in general, I don’t agree with Atheistic evangelism. I get really pissed off when Christians (I only single them out because no one else has ever tried to convert me, but I’m sure they’re not the only evangelists) don’t understand that I have no interest in joining their religion (or any other, for that matter). It is for exactly that reason that I disagree with atheists doing exactly the same thing. I don’t care if we’re right – I’ll happily debate with someone, and explain my position, but I’m not arrogant enough to think that everyone else should necessarily share my views. Before you say “why are you giving these religious people so much respect?” (as I’m sure many Dawkinians might), I would treat peoples political beliefs or choice of ice cream flavours in exactly the same way. “You don’t like rocky road? But what could possibly be better than the mix of smooth sticky marshmallow with crunchy nuts?” … “You don’t like nuts? Well ok, then…”.
I’ve had three discussions/arguments with various Christians/creationists recently2, two of which have been quite interesting, and possibly even productive.
That said, blatantly stupid comments still draw my ire – fine – be religious, believe in a personal God. I’ll disagree with you, but it’s still your right. Claiming that “we’re working on it” is not a better answer than “goddidit”, and you’ll get my argumentative juices flowing. Further trying to claim a law professor is somehow an expert in evolutionary biology, and even further that biology is not a natural science is beyond me.
I can’t imagine (note: sarcasm) why the Gay Conservative didn’t post my most recent comment3:
Last time I checked, biology IS a natural science.
Secondly, if you want to quote someone reputable about evolutionary biology, an ex-Berkley law professor4 is not my idea of a credible source… Find me a reputable biologist (or even a reputable scientist in a related field), and I might take more notice…
Did I have a point? Was I too argumentative? Feel free to read through the comments on Gay Conservative’s post, and see if anyone else can get their comments published.
Popularity: 12% [?]
- Apologies if the CoComment site doesn’t display the comments properly, but this is the only method I can find for a permalink [↩]
- One in the comments of my post “Misquoting Jesus“, one on Facebook, and the other one I’m discussing here. [↩]
- which should follow directly under Steves post of the 20th July [↩]
- Phillip E. Johnson [↩]
Posts
My Apologies to the Atheists… « Welcome to GayConservative.org said,
July 26, 2007 at 1:14 am
[...] We had some atheists hell-bent on making Christians direct enemies of science. After I pointed that out, another atheist stated the contrary, and finally in this post, I am accused of censoring comments and believing that biology is NOT a na…. [...]
Scavella said,
July 26, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Just a point of clarification, if you are referring to my comments in your thread. Please don’t assume that to be a Christian, one must believe in creationism. I am a Christian who is sceptical about all things to do with origins; we extrapolate them from what we observe, or we accept them from what we believe. Truth about origins, depending on your perspective, is guessable or revealed. I am wary of people who claim absolute knowledge about origins in any field.
Beyond that, thank you for your respect. I don’t find you too argumentative at all. Cheers.
Richard said,
July 26, 2007 at 11:26 pm
I realise you’re not a creationist. I was refering to a different discussion i’ve had recently with a self-confessed creationist.
I must admit, i’ve found you to be one of the most thoughtfull christians i’ve had a serious discussion with. (i still don’t fully agree with you, of course)
I hope you stick around, and argue with me some more!
kumarei said,
July 27, 2007 at 12:30 pm
You like rocky road? More to the point… you like nuts? Eew. I don’t think I can comment here anymore.
Anyway, as long as debate doesn’t get personal (and there’s no invocation of Godwin’s Law), I think it’s usually all in good fun. Unfortunately, for some people, certain subjects are kept close at heart. I’m not sure why those people are posting about these subjects on the internet when this is the case.
On another note, I’ve had what I would consider to be good conversations with a number of Christians. And I’ve seen flame wars with some crazy atheists. I think it’s just down to the fact that the internet seems to breed some kind of weird drama.
Richard said,
July 28, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Do I like rocky road? Yeah, a little…. it’s definitely not my favourite, but I was more using the example to make a point.
That said, I’m sure Hitler enjoyed a good rocky road. (Does Godwin’s law say anything about intentionally bringing up Hitler or the Nazis to prove the law right?)
kumarei said,
July 29, 2007 at 1:12 am
(Actually, it does in one of the corrilaries. Basically, if you deliberately fulfill Godwin’s law, it doesn’t count.)
Richard said,
July 29, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Bugger…