[...] Carrying on round, we discover that an evangelist has set up a tent to proclaim his beliefs. There’s no need to call security (not that we have any round here, anyway) because it’s just the Evangelical Atheist offering us his Statements of (Dis)Belief. I’d advise you to stick around and listen to the whole thing because otherwise he’ll get angry and damn you to … well, I guess we’ll have to get back to you on that. I have the same problem recruiting people for door-to-door atheism – it’s very hard to get people to spend their nights arguing on strangers’ doorsteps when there isn’t a giant invisible metaphysical stick hanging over their head. [...]

I prefer to simply read. I guess you could call me one of the (usually) silent majority.

[...] d is that I want to waste no time in replying to a theist who commented this morning on my Statement of (dis)Beliefs. I will address Peter’s comments point by poin [...]

You know, one of the things that I have noticed about my many visits to a fairly large number (sorry, don’t know how many, have not been counting) of ‘atheist’ websites and blogs, are the very small number of people who actually visit them, this conclusion of mine being based upon the fact that I always come across the same people leaving messages on them (ex. ‘boywonder’, ‘vyjack’, ‘delta’ et cetera).
Can I conclude from this that atheism, which it’s practitioners claim is not a ‘belief system’ even though it has it’s very own ‘Ten Commandments’ now – a Statement of (Dis)beliefs, is well and truly in decline as a belief system? Could one of the primary reasons for this decline be the simple fact that, ultimately, it’s arguments against the existence of, for want of a better term, God, are so pathetically weak?
Also, why is it that I very rarely come across anyone on any of these sites who is willing and able to present a view that isn’t something along the lines of ‘yeah, that was telling him! That rotten, ignorant bible-thumper’?
I really liked number 7: “Proof is at my discretion”!!! Do you really expect anyone to go along with this ‘definition’ of proof??? ‘At your discretion’ is just another way of saying, ‘if there is evidence for the existence of ‘the supernatural’ or something like it, I will just close my eyes and ignore it – nothing must be allowed to disturb my blissfully ignorant state of mind’.
One last thing. Most (if not all) atheists are among the most strident of supporters of the existence of an ‘objective reality’, and for this the ‘burden of proof’ lies squarely with them; where is the proof that there is, in fact, only one reality that is valid. It can quite easily be argued that each individual is a universe unto her/himself, the manner in which each individual perceives and experiences their version of reality being different to everyone else’s.
But oh, silly me, of course. It is only ‘the scientific view’ that has any merit, a point of view that cannot explain the concepts of justice, truth, beauty, self-awareness, intuition et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, but since these ideas have no ‘objective’ reality, do they not exist? According to your clumsy ‘definition’ of reality they dont!

DamnRight:
Congratulations on beginning to think for yourself. It takes a lot of guts to make that kind of change in your life, particularly after four decades of belief. I don’t know how to say this without sounding condescending, but I’m proud of you. 1 comment like yours makes all the time I put into this blog worth it.