Quote: " For the love of God Mouse, you're just looking for a fight aren't you?"
No, I'm not. But seeing as there are plenty of people here blithely flaming away at each other I don't see why it's such a vast crime for me to point out a handful of logical fallacies. Look at your own posts.
Quote: "Show me a statistic to back that up and I'll believe it. I'll say at this point, you seem to be pulling stuff out of your arse just to have something to fight over."
Ignoring the personal attack, no, I don't have a direct statistic. There was some 'trivia' website that did polls and tests that had an article, but it seems to be gone now. I have little doubt I'll be able to pull something up soon. I have no problem with you ignoring that until I can prove it, but the attacks get a little annoying.
Quote: "Your point?"
Obviously, that religious groups are even more of a minority here.
Quote: "No, I didn't make that assumption at all. I was using that as an counter-example. It wasn't an assumption because I've had experience with it, and I never said ALL Christians do it."
Your original post:
Quote: "FYI, what you're talking about isn't just something you'll see atheists do to theists. How often to have you heard a Christian tell someone they'll go to hell if they're not a Christian? I've heard it. From someone very close to me."
Since you're using the argument that "Christians say you'll go to hell if you're not a Christian" as the sole supporting point that you get people making ego-boosting attacks in all different stripes, either your post was a total non-sequitor or you were making the assumption that that phrase is a personal attack.
Back to your latest post.
Quote: "For another thing, I was Christian for a large portion of my life. Ever hear of OSAS? Once-saved-always-saved. Self-explanatory; basically, you can lose your faith but you can't lose your salvation. If a Christian tells someone they're going to hell because they don't have the label "C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N" stamped to their forehead, then they're probably assuming that person was never saved. I believe, in Christian terms, I was 'saved'. My beliefs however have changed."
I fail to see how this relates at all to any of the points being debated.
Quote: "Parental advisory:
BULLSHIT."
(Rich-- language filter needs fixing
)
Quote: "'Most people attacking religion...are...angsty teens or pre-teens who....think they're being open-minded...' WHAT? You have got to be kidding me. Most people who attack religion are not adults, is that what you're saying? Again, give me a statistic. It's flat-out not true."
Give me a statistic showing that it isn't true. And until then, look around on these boards. There have been plenty of adults debating about religion, but the only
attacks at religion in general I have seen have come from teenagers and children. Show me a single one that isn't and I'll eat my words.
Quote: "'...brainlessly following the agnostic path...' OK. First of all, I'm agnostic. Secondly, I didn't even KNOW agnostic was the term until, oh, around, half-a-year after I lost my faith. So, I'm an example of someone who didn't 'become agnostic' to 'be open-minded' or whatever the hell you're spewing out."
Okay.
Quote: "Thirdly, what agnostic path? To be agnostic, by definition, is to either believe it is impossible to know whether or not there is a God or Gods, or to simply be skeptical of religion. I'm the second definition. While I don't DISMISS religion, I'm simply unsure of it."
You just answered your own question in that one paragraph. My point, which you failed to realize, is that instead of actually considering and from logical thought or philisophical speculation coming to the decision that the agnostic belief is true, most of the people in the group previously reffered to have chosen it because they feel burned by religon and make a knee-jerk jump in the other direction.
Quote: "Mouse, I think if there IS a God, he wants us to use our BRAINS which HE GAVE US to determine whether or not he's there, rather than to MINDLESSLY FOLLOW WHAT SOMEONE ELSE has most likely told us."
Okay. This has nothing to do with any arguments I've been making. But it's a nice non-sequitor and I agree.
Quote: "I will not 'just believe something.'"
Nobody's trying to make you, but you're assuming that they are. This is just what I've been talking about.
Quote: "I take what you said as a personal insult,"
See above.
Quote: "and I sincerely hope you'll change your views."
I won't really consider that until you actually understand what I believe
.
Quote: "
I gotta tell ya. I hate these arguements. I hate them. I hate being on people's bad sides. I don't want to do it anymore, I should probably just bail out now."
You might want to stop finding personal attacks where there aren't any and then making up your own in response before you get involved. Debates can be 'heated' and 'intense' without being vicious flamewars. People can stridently disagree without arguing. You might notice that I have not made a single personal attack in this thread.
(Edit: Well, TBH, with the exception of my annoyed comment at Manticore. Note the code box on that thread though.)
