ON ATHEISM
(Posted 2005-09-07 23:31:00 by Ray Lopez)

I've recently read a semi-interesting discussion between some atheists and
theists on Howard Rheingold's Brainstorms.  I find such discussions there
almost inane, because I really can't see the point of a bunch of people
just going over their same, tired views over and over, with no chance of
anyone learning anything.  

As a theist myself, one thing I did glean from the discussion is the very
wide viewpoints among atheists.  I was an atheist myself once, in my youth,
and I don't recall there being much diversity in the ways in which we
viewed the world around us and theists themselves.  It was an extremely
arrogant type of viewpoint, one fed by the fires of a young brain sucking
in new knowledge and new experiences.  It all fell apart for me over the
course of a few years.  The beginning of the end of my atheistic views
occurred when I met the late Madelyn Murray-O'Hare, one of the most vile
and nasty people I have ever met.

I see little point in discussing faith and theism with atheists, unless
they're really willing to learn.  Most of them fail to recognize the
difficulty (I would say impossibility) of putting faith in terms of
rationality.  As a result, most communication I have with these people ends
up with them basically telling me what a nice, dumb little brown person I
am, and to please go away and let the big, smart, white people talk.  So,
it's a pretty useless exercise, soul-draining and futile.

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