Puttering around the other day, I came across the Atheism vs.
Christianity group. It was so refreshing to read words such as "lively
and heated debates occur under our Open Free Speech Policy... Thick
skins are required," and headlines such as, "Why it is not ad hominem
to accuse someone of being too stupid to use the term 'ad hominem'
correctly." Moderation by moderators on other forums who don't
understand the concept of moderation can be frustrating, to say the
least.
Mostly, however, I've been impressed by the commitment of the
architects of this group to the prospect of public forum DEBATE---that
beautiful boon of the ancient Greek and Roman grandfathers of modern
democracy, not to mention THEIR ancients, in places as far removed in
space and time as the murky mists of primordial humanity which gave
rise to the Mohenjo-daren and Harappan jewels of the ancient Indus. So
important to the health of a democracy is healthy public forum debate,
and a dying art to be sure. These days, exchanges between believers
and nonbelievers so quickly degenerate, usually at the hands of the
former, into rallies cried and battle lines drawn, rather than any
humble desire to achieve a meeting of the minds---to communicate, to
commune. (And really, is there any more point to this than ad
infinitum back-and-forths of "Tastes great!" and "Less filling!"?)
Just once, before Danny Boy dies, he'd like to see a triple rainbow, a
double bifid four-leafed clover, and a single believer who shows the
integrity to concede a point s/he's failed to empirically and
logically support.
Specifically, I especially enjoyed the comments under the "Rudeness"
subheading of the "Argumentation and Debate" article at
http://groups.google.com/group/atheism-vs-christianity/web/argumentation-and-debate?hl=en
: "There is...an argument to be made that one can catch more bees with
honey than with vinegar. There's also an argument to be made that some
people really do need the shock value for the message to register." As
the cop-out wolf-cry of "Rudeness!" in lieu of actual answers to
refutations of arguments is a pet peeve of mine, I thought I'd
introduce myself by way of an unstructured, stream-of-consciousness
editorial rant against such contrived casualty in the face of cutting
criticism. Don't get me wrong: I recognize the importance of
structured debate but, try as I might, I can't dream up the counter
arguments on my own that those of irrational ilk continually invent. I
find the counterpoint they may offer in response to such an
unstructured stream to be useful in helping me determine good starting
points for overlaying some structure on further, more formal
exposition of the subject---ultimately strengthening the rational
arguments for the case against Christianity, while the pious pundits'
political pidgin of buzz, spin, and rhetoric just gets more convoluted
and less relevant. I believe in the one-two punch; I believe in a
little fire to fly in the faces of the dogmatically desensitized. It
wouldn't be my first choice in a perfect world, but...well, you know
the rest.
Welcome to the OCD-induced shit storm that is my perpetual internal
mental dialogue, for which I've yet to find an off switch. Please help
me structure it by attempting to refute it, Mr. Christofferson---if
you can. In all seriousness, thanks.
[Christian Christophilus Christofferson asks, "Why do so many atheists
feel the need to be so rude?"]
Well, Mr. Christofferson, "rude" is purely subjective and thus in the
eye of the beholder. Many atheists feel that whatever snark they
inject into their arguments (not snark INSTEAD OF argumentation, but
IN ADDITION to it) is nothing more than a reflection of righteous
indignation regarding the public sociopolitical action you and yours
take in democratic societies (in which every public voice matters to
every person) based upon nothing but empirically baseless religious
belief. There's a lot of indoctrination in Christian practice, so you
may or may not even be aware that you're calling out as rudeness that
which is offered in response to the generally like behavior of you and
yours. Many of us feel it is important to hold up a mirror in front of
you as we establish our rational argumentation---to include, not an
eye for an eye, snark for snark, insult for insult, or sarcasm for
sarcasm, but THE TOKEN OF snark for snark, THE TOKENS OF insult and
sarcasm for insult and sarcasm: reflection for projection. It
explicitly calls out and helps to combat the false portrayal of
Christians in the West as perpetually persecuted victims rather than,
often enough, victimIZERS who historically give at least as good as
they ever get.
In Western society, we're all indoctrinated -- by archaic secular
societal mores originally informed by Christian ideals, born in eras
when Christianity wielded far more sociopolitical power than today --
to believe that anytime anyone says anything at all negative about
Christianity or the public sociopolitical actions of Christians, that
s/he is categorically engaging in religious persecution. As such, many
important points go unmade and many voices fall silent in the public
forum out of fear of being labeled a "religious persecutor." ("I am
treated as evil by those who feel persecuted because they are not
allowed to force me to believe as they do." --author unknown) In
truth, however, the word "persecution" in Western society is grossly
abused by believers in order to help them slip into the high-ground
role of the blameless victim, for empiricism is not their friend and
they must clutch at something.
The only societally germane definition of persecution in societies
that enjoy freedom of personal conscience in matters of spirituality
is the act of literally preventing others from practicing their
religion in the privacy of their own lives, which is actually very
rarely the case when, "Persecutory wolf!" is cried in our society. The
moment that religious practice strays into the public arena, where it
directly affects believers and nonbelievers alike, every single person
who is affected by such religious practice has every ethical right and
moral impetus to speak to the subject of that public religious
practice, for good or ill. Doing so does not even remotely qualify as
religious persecution in any societally meaningful way.
A lot of your confusion, Mr. Christofferson, comes from your
insistence upon viewing Christianity as a purely religious
institution. If this is true, then these curiously engaged
nonbelievers are going out of their way to come into your private
religious practice and find fault with it, which would seem petty and
uncalled for indeed. In truth, however, Christianity insists upon
acting not only as a private religious institution but as a public
sociopolitical institution as well, taking public action that directly
affects believers and nonbelievers alike. Thus, the moment it does so,
it opens ITSELF up for democratic criticism by any and all who are
affected by such public action. You yourselves have invited this
criticism, Mr. Christofferson. The call is for all in the public forum
to recognize the distinction between (1) Christianity, the private
religious institution that directly affects none but believers, and
(2) Christianity, the institution that insists upon taking public
sociopolitical action that directly affects believers and nonbelievers
alike. Many atheists simply don't care to speak to the former, but as
they are affected by the latter, they can and should speak up.
Complaining about the subjective concept of rudeness, often enough
associated by religionists with a weaker form of persecution, is a cop-
out. It places far too much emphasis upon Emily Post FORM rather than
the meat of the CONTENT, and serves more often than not to merely
detract and obfuscate. Premised Fact: Humans have an emotional sphere
which colors all aspects of human perception, right down to the
neurophysiological level. Premised Fact: All experience by individuals
regarding issues of human existence begins with, and is therefore
predicated upon, human perception including its attendant emotional
dimension. Inescapable Logical Extension: The exposition of the
emotional state of the speaker is integral to achieving a robustly
communicative meeting of minds in the public forum about issues of
human existence which affect us all. It is simply a logical fallacy
that the stylistic form and sidedish accoutrement of an argument
somehow bears on the validity of the argument's meat-and-'taters
content.
True, the approach of departing from generally accepted cultural mores
regarding politeness and decorum is often abused, in order to provide
an embered bait-and-switch substitute for the otherwise absent fire of
rational argumentation and empiricism, and thus is often a sign of a
weakness, or complete absence, of rational argumentation; however, it
does not logically follow from this alone that such a departure from
the proverbial dictates of Emily Post CATEGORICALLY has no place in
oration and debate among those who sometimes prefer to use both reason
AND rancor, logos AND pathos. Again, we are just as much emotional
beings as analytically thinking beings. Categorically suppressing the
human emotional sphere with respect to debating issues of human
existence must obviously be counterproductive at best, as it strips
the debate about issues of human existence of a significant component
of what it means to exist as a human. (While it is certainly true that
whether the proportional validity of certain emotional states in
response to the actions of others can be called into question, if
accompanied by evidentiary support, it would seem that the CATEGORICAL
denial of honest exposition of those emotions in public forum debate
as ever being appropriate has no grounding whatsoever.)
Honestly, where are you bleeding, Mr. Christofferson, from the
piercing needles of impassioned words? Nowhere? Then get over it. The
pettiness would seem to be yours, not of those whose passionate words
comprise a departure from stiff decorum and PC nicety. There is a
distinction between rudeness for its own sake and righteous
indignation.
[Christian Christophilus Christofferson asks, "Well, if you're not
using rudeness for its own sake, then why precisely are you using
it?"]
Well, Christian -- may I call you Christian, Mr. Christofferson? --
there is much scientific literature on the subject of the psychology
and sociology of believers. Many nonbelievers' personal experience
with believers mirrors the conclusions of a large swath of this
scientific literature---that believers seem to erect and maintain a
psychological wall of self-delusion around themselves, that they
selectively ignore all evidence which casts in doubt what they've
prejudicially decided to believe and only pay attention to evidence
which supports, or seems to support, or can be obfuscatively twisted
around to ostensibly support what they've already decided to believe.
(Proverbially, these zealot minds will ne'er be swayed by reason,
proof, or logic laid, to leave behind delusions dear, for truth, which
they so dearly fear.) However, logic and reason are a double-edged
sword, which many believers seem more than willing to live by when it
suits them, but rarely die by. How does one pierce another's wall of
self-delusion from the outside, when that wall of self-delusion is
being continually fortified by the brick-layers of blind faith from
within?---give the brick-layers pause; elicit a negative emotional
response that gives your opponent a taste, just a taste, of the honest
emotions s/he has elicited in you. Not an eye for an eye, but a line
of emotional communication predicated upon mutual empathy. Sometimes,
smug, sarcastic, and snarky are the only things that will overcome
this otherwise impenetrable wall of self-delusion, so that the light
of reason has a path inside. Smug, sarcastic, and snarky don't fly on
their own, but not unlike Red Bull, they give logic wings, especially
among the masses who treat the tool of logic like a fair-weather
friend, thrice denied when the heat is on.
I have seen the predications of precariously piled platitudes fall
like houses of cards in many erstwhile religionists who, newly freed,
declare their long-suffering frustration at knowing, just KNOWING,
they were right but never being able to refute the barbs of plainly
observable reality and their anger at those who dared chide them for
their blind allegiance to men who claim to speak for gods, at the last
praising that fire that had been lit under their asses by those who
couldn't give a rat's ass about decorum---not at my meager hands, mind
you, but I have seen it many times. So yes, I am a believer in the one-
two punch, a believer in a little fire to fly in the faces of the
dogmatically desensitized, a bellicose balm for a blissful blindness.
I am a believer in debate with an open free speech policy that values
content over mere form, and tersely bids, "Get over it," to glass-
jawed prima donnas who have enjoyed the French tickler end of a double
standard for far, far too long.
"Fix reason firmly in her seat and call to her tribunal every fact,
every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God;
because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason
than that of blindfolded fear." --U.S. President Thomas Jefferson in a
private letter to his nephew, Peter Carr