Originally Posted by
JBI
And you accuse me of generalizing or creating a straw man? Which religions exactly? One wouldn't want to accuse you of following the Dawkins bunch in only knowing of two religions, Islam and Christianity. The actual argument of religion as perpetuated by fear only works in some circumstances - the actual truth is though, that I cannot see any connection between fear and belief in, for instance, the Classical Folk Religion of China (which estimates say 400 odd million people believe in, to some degree), are we to say also, that Shinto traditions only exist because people are afraid? or that Jews adhere to the old ways because they are afraid to change (even though the holding to the old ways has, and is, a constant perpetuator of injustice in many regions of this world)?
It all comes down to that Asimov story (can't remember the name) from the beginning of I Robot, where the robot in the space ship is convinced he is the superior being, and is convinced he is at the centre of the world, meanwhile is required to ensure the survival of the satellite, and the earth - and, despite not understanding anything, still manages to do his job fine, even though he does it for bizarre reasons. The point is, in the end the job gets done - who cares what the motivation is - why should anyone care what other people choose to believe in, unless it begins to effect someone else?
The fact that, according to your above post, you make a sort of hobby of it, in truth, seems like the exact opposite; I am not thinking it is too maverick a position to think that perhaps you commit the exact same offense that you accuse such theists of committing, that of raining on everyone's parade for the sake of perpetuating a single belief system, I won't accuse you of that, for Brutus is an honorable man, but I can see how people would.
Now don't get me wrong, I like to yell at people who come cutting and pasting cuttings into public forums, which, is against the rules keep in mind, but I am not about to tell people they are idiots for believing in it, or that they are afraid of some cruel world, or whatever - so, in truth, the rationalist response to preachers, and imposers of opinions, who don't like to listen, and merely like to rant and make "a hobby" out of coming on public forums to preach, is to call them immature, annoying ignoramuses, with perhaps nothing to really offer besides some cheap jokes, fancily worded rhetoric, and downright boring pages of Onanist tripe, but They Are All Honorable men.