I'm getting sucked into the religion forum....

[uriel1972]

Is there hope for me or am I doomed to wander the Earth wailing and gnashing my teeth?

[trotsky]

1. Well, you're doing a fantastic job...

and you haven't been declared an untouchable by the Arbiter of All Things yet, so keep up the great work!

[uriel1972]

3. Give me time... give me time... nt

[Arugula Latte]

8. Ha ha. I know exactly who is the A of A T.

The sense of importance in that one is breathtaking.

[Warpy]

2. I post very little in there

probably about the same I post in the gungeon. I've also learned to post and then walk away from threads that zealots of all stripes are likely to start breathing fire at.

[skepticscott]

4. Breathing fire?

You flatter them too much. Puking sludge would be more accurate.

[mr blur]

5. I managed to kick the dirty habit,

(probably just before I was thrown out.)

I failed to show the proper respect that a bunch of pompous, smug, deluded bigots felt was their right because they believe in ridiculous fantasies.

[onager]

17. Ha! Same here.

I got in trouble for responding to one of those "let's make common cause and sing Kumbayah" posts.

Said I couldn't really make common cause with god-botherers, whether they bowed to the creampuffy God of the Left or the reactionary God of the Right.

She Who Must Be Obeyed quote-mined that outrageously for a while. Never using my name but always asking breathlessly "what about somebody who says THIS?"

SWMBO knocked it off when I graciously thanked her for the publicity in several threads.

As an aside to that, I'm constantly amazed at all the people on DU who seem to think all atheists automatically join the Democratic Party. This really came out when Edwina Rogers, a Republican, became the head lobbyist for the Secular Coalition of America.

That caused many howls of outrage, and some gnashing of teeth, in the Religion forum. I didn't understand that. As long as Rogers is an effective lobbyist for secularism, I don't care how she votes. On the Internet and IRL, I interact with atheists who run the gamut from anarchists to Libertarians to diehard Republicans.

There are few enough atheists in the world as it is. I'm in favor of us agreeing on that, even if we disagree on everything else.

[Locut0s]

6. Why bother?...

I haven't read your posts there so I'm not commenting in any way about your posts I'm just curious, why bother? No mater how well spoken and iron proof your reasoning is you aren't going to change the minds of most religious people. I tend to prefer arguing atheism and the state of the religious world with other atheists or when actually provoked my someone religious.

[uriel1972]

7. I see your point..

but for now I guess it's curiosity with an urge not to give up a space where we can be heard. Also, there may be those willing to listen lurking, you never know. eh I'm officially crazy, so there you go.

[trotsky]

16. I don't do it to change the minds of those who post.

I know there are many lurkers though, who read the exchanges. Those who are committed to keeping atheists quiet and in their place aren't going to change no matter what we say, but those who are willing to listen should be given the opportunity.

[Vashta Nerada]

9. Your post was more diplomatic than mine.

[deucemagnet]

10. They should be thankful to have you in that forum.

In fact, they should be happy to have all of the non-believers who bother to post in that forum, even the ones that they vilify. At least those of you posting there care enough to try to engage them in an honest discussion (not that it will ever happen). I, on the other hand, do not care.

Besides, if all of the non-believers left that forum, it would simply be an echo chamber for believers to discuss Serious Theological Matters(TM), and we already have the lively and contentious Interfaith Group for that.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. I tried that once or twice.

Definitely not worth it to me. And I have no problem with people who have religion, the only issues I have are ones of my rights to my beliefs or the separation of church and state. And that can cause trouble. Go figure.

Enjoy it while you can. There are some who seem to enjoy it all the time. Maybe you will too. Just don't get your panties bunched up over there. Good luck.

[Gore1FL]

12. I go there from time to time.

There are believers I piss off in that forum, and I get along with elsewhere on DU.

[defacto7]

13. Yes, there is a huge sucking force over there.

Sometimes the suck very much sucks. It just depends on how much irrational argument you like dealing with. If it's entertaining go for it. But as for me and my house, we will serve the trash group button.

[LostOne4Ever]

14. Personally I find that group rather fun

But Im used to a political facebook group I used to belong where I debated right wingers who had to resort to endless arguing and flat out ignoring points to try and win arguments. I also don't post a ton either.

Even the most pigheaded of person on DU is infinitely better than the rightwinger who finally made me quit that group. I explained to him OVER and OVER what an atheist was, what we believe, that I am an atheist and hes not and that I know what I believe better than him, and that it is not a religion and despite links to wikipedia, dictionaries, American Atheist, The Freedom from Religion foundation, religious tolerance, and other cites he responded to be by saying:

No. Your wrong. Atheist is a person who believes there is no god and its a religion.

That was all I could take and I raged quit saying that there is no way to argue with someone who takes their own opinion and elevates it above all authorities and sources and won't admit they were wrong. He also had this annoying habit of turning a 2 sentence thought into a 20 page dissertation over EVERYTHING.

/arrgggggghhhhhh

DU's religion group is (forgive the pun) Heaven on Earth compared to arguing with him.

[JNelson6563]

15. Run! Run away!

Even I know enough to barely stick my toe into that vortex every once in a great while. Even then, never more than a toe.

I have no desire to get sucked into that redundant department of redundancy.

Julie

[pink-o]

18. It goes to show the power of mythology and fear...

people who're liberal and critical thinkers re social issues and politics can still be so reactionary when it comes to "faith". Someone who posts on "Democratic Underground" should at least be open to opposing views...

The other threads that get the most reactionary posts have to do with food and diet. It amazes me how those two concepts really touch a raw nerve. I guess humans are not as evolved as we'd like to think--even the progressive ones!!

[dimbear]

19. If we don't keep up a presence there, we default. Show the flag, friends. n/t

[mr blur]

20. When whatever you post gets alerted on, it gets very boring, though.

especially when you know that it's a very, very rare DU jury that will speak out in favour of an atheist who dares to laugh at the notion of supernatural nonsense.

[amuse bouche]

21. My advice is don't do it

Occasionally, I get sucked in unintentionally. I post a comment on a thread on the front page, not realizing it is from the religion forum

The delicate flowers are always offended and alert. pfft. Don't care as I have nothing but disdain for the nonsense cults

[awoke_in_2003]

22. It isn't worth the headache, IMO. nt

[Arugula Latte]

23. I think it's hilarious that the main people there become FURIOUS if you ask theological questions.

I mean, how dare you try to discuss religious topics in Religion? If you just want to know what mainstream Xtian thinking is, and you ask how a certain thing works, they become unhinged. It is truly astounding how so many broad religious topics are off limits there because shining a light on things and asking questions about specifics is considered the height of RUDENESS (especially by the two main hall monitors).

[uriel1972]

24. have to agree...

Asked a couple of them a while ago. At least I didn't ask for the trinity to be explained

[edhopper]

25. I have noticed of late

that some of the defenders of faith who think themselves more clever than they are, try to answer everything with word games that don't give a real answer or tell what they really think. And their little tactics are obvious from the get go.

[Heddi]

26. Oh yes. And notice how they say "so what you're saying is...."

and then fill in the blank with something that was never said.

IT's an old tactic they've learned works well when trying to get a jury to hide a post.

"So basically what you're saying is that you'd like all religious believers to be burned alive and their children put up for sale on the black market, right?"

When you respond

"no, I never said I wanted all religious believers to be burned alive and their children put up for sale on the black market!"

your post, where you correct the lie, will be alerted on. THe alerter (usually the one doing the baiting) will say "LOOK! This poster clearly states in several posts above that they want all religious believers to be burned alive and their children put up for sale on the black market. Now they are trying to take back the very words they said. Please, jury, hide this bigoted anti-theist. We don't need this kind of shameful hate on teh board!!!!!1!!"

and juries, generally being too lazy to look at the entire thread will take the alerter's word, think that the alerter is being truthful, and delete the post that is up for alert.

It's happened numerous times.

So beware when you see posters doing this. They're not trying to clarify your stance. They're trying to get you to repeat their words so they can alert on you.

[mr blur]

27. That's more or less why I left - the dishonesty and hypocrisy of certain smug types

[Heddi]

29. hello yourself

It's -288 here. It's so cold I keyed my cars with my nipples this morning

[Heddi]

28. And beware the False Ignorelisters.

There is one prolific, always right poster in the religion forum who is quite well known for ignoring anyone who points out her blatant hyporicy, distortions, bigotry, broad-brush, and lies.

Only you're not on her ignore list.

You can tell this because when you're on someone's ignore list, that person who is ignoring you can see neither your posts, nor any replies to your post. Basically, any conversation thread that is started by one of your posts will be invisible to the user that has you on ignore.

BUt this poster is just "ignoring," in the literal sense. Because she doesn't reply to you, she replies to the people that replied to you, or spin-off threads that were started from your posting. Which would be impossible if you were, in fact, on her ignore list.

Which shows just how incapable she is of following her own advice. She implores others to ignore us, the worst offenders on the war on religion. But she can't do it herself.

I saw this very thing earlier this week. NEver replies to my posts directed at her, but replies to responses that my posts get.

So, you know, she can still read what you are typing in response to her. And she still trolls this forum to quote-mine with her buddies.

For religion apologists, it's all about control:

control the mind---'How do you know there is no God" "how can you criticize deeply held beliefs!!"

control the body -- no birth control or abortion for you

control the conversation through quote mining, troll alerting, and infantile tactics akin to LALALALALALA I CANT HEAR YOU

control the dialogue "Delusion has ONE definiton and ONE definiton only, and that's the definition I use to suit my own purposes. Besides, I have a quote here from Miram Webster where he was QUITE critical of religion, so you really can't trust any "definition" in his book of lies."

control control control.