It theists wonder where this vitriole is coming from, realise THEY kicked down the door to the science classroom to force their beliefs. THEY started trying to rewrite the US Constitution to make out USA as a Christian country rather than one of the first Secular countries. THEY started trying to force through legislation based on scripture rather than reason.
Some of them even resort to terrorism, with faint condemnation by other theists.
I've always been very "vitriolic" towards theists and other superstitious people, ever since I heard of religion/superstition actually, I have always really loathed the ancient b.s and I think I'll keep loathing it/them. Pushing for instance bronze-age mythology in the space age should be illegal, and I'll spit on all gods and all superstitions until I die. : )
Everything got corporative in the 80's big business Globalism agenda.
That includes the Wicca Satanist Pagan troika and the very moment you're educated in real world history especially after the Norman conquests and the takeover of the Vatican in 1084 you know the monotheistic religions also all became corporative and as America found out in Reagan-omics the big suck corporation-ism of freewill thinking results in the dumbest common denominator rising to the top like shite in a sewer.
It's difficult not to be vitriolic towards Christians in the U.S. when they run our government and try to impose their archaic views upon us through the judicial process. Yet they play the victims, and complain how secular society is out to destroy them.
Realistically, someone who believes in something for no reason and tries to impose their faith based views upon others deserves no reverence. For too long America has been plagued by Christianity really.
@EvenStar303 lol, they don't have to be from mexico, if you know what your looking for, you can find them in your back yard. around here they grow like mad after a spring frost..... never tryed 'em, i prefer booze.
@EvenStar303 my buddies where big into 'em. the ones that grow here are found in graveyards or on cow paddy's most commenly, or in forest clearings with a lotta dead wood. They get seem to get a boost from the frost somehow. i seem overly sensitive to to every other drug i've ever taken, so i became hesitant to try shrooms or acid. at this point, i feel i've gotten to old to bother. to be honest all my acid and shroom buddies got away from it, for multipul reasons.
@EvenStar303 and just to point out man, I'll agree that booze is like battery acid, i call it that myself sometimes. i've seen first hand the damage it can do to your body, and hand to live with the second hand damage it can do to your family.
but remeber, anything that alters your state of mind, is basically a poison. it'll all ruin your life, your body and your brain when abused. your have your poison, i have mine. in any case man, enjoy! and Cheers!
Alos keep in mind that Christians see hostility as persicution and it drives the insanity that a devil is out to get them even deeper. So yeah it's important to be careful. It definatly inhibited me from atheism for a while.
@werebee Yeah, it's ridiculous and it sucks that it has to be played that way, but if I can alleviate some of the reaction to preserve their ego by not making personal attacks (that much) and in doing so make this world a little more secular, to me it's worth it. We are an animal that seeks out predators so when someone gets aggressive our initial reaction is to assume they mean us harm. Some of us just know better.
I believe in being vitriolic when it's called for, and openly mocking ridiculous beliefs-- I think both things are as likely as any logical argument, perhaps more so, to make a theist reconsider. I was a believer as a kid, and reading criticisms by men like Mark Twain and Isaac Asimov, and hearing jokes by George Carlin, went a long way toward showing me how silly my beliefs had been.
And how is that productive in a conversation other than to show the ultimate disrespect?
I suppose you can, "just because"......but really....I find that if one wants to have a civil discussion to begin with, one doesn't poke the hornet's nest on a personal level and than wonder why the conversation falls apart.
@9696286 It obviously WAS productive in my case, since I became an atheist after hearing my beliefs openly mocked. And I put it to you that a sane person doesn't do himself any favors to treat a patently ridiculous premise as if it were reasonable. If a man told you he could talk to Jesus over his hairdryer, you'd laugh in his face... But take away the hairdryer, and suddenly hos faith deserves respect!
I think it's fair to say that your experiences were your own. This doesn't work for everyone and I think that there are times when, just because we have an opinion...we don't always have to share it.
I have had internal dialogue which included eye rolls, smirks, and the ocassional "bullshit" thrown in but kept it to myself. Being confrontational over something as personal as a belief system is exhausting to me because it ends up like a dog chasing it's tail....nowhere.
@9696286 That is because you are trying to have a RATIONAL ARGUMENT with someone holding an IRRATIONAL BELIEF. Of course you're not going to get anywhere!
@GoblinXXX The sophisticated mockery of religion by Mark Twain and George Carlin (I'm not educated on what Asimov's written) is a far cry from the mockery by teenagers on the internet whose arguments boil down to "Religion's for dummies, lolololol!" or just regular name-calling even when accompanied by good arguments. Those cruder type of vitriol won't help anything. Calling out religious beliefs as unreasonable and even inexcusable, however, I wouldn't classify as vitriol.
Rao tin Ngày đã xế, bóng chiều đã dài. Hãy sữa lại đường-lối và việc làm của các ngươi. Trước khi dây bạc đứt, và chén vàng bể. Hãy rao những lời nầy và truyền ra. Hỡi con-cái Bên-gia-min, hãy trốn khỏi thành Giê-ru-sa-lem, để được yên-ổn. Tiếng kèn thổi là tiếng của Đức Giê-hô-va.
I promise to not be vitriolic with theists up until the point where they wish to limit my liberties based on their faith. When they tell me they are basing a restrictive law on what it says in their holy book or what some "holy"man tells them, I will do my very best to reveal them as idiots, charlatans, and the anti-social people they are..
I will not be a prisoner of their theist ideology.
The main reason I like Matt so much is that I can relate to his initial outlook. I too was a sceptic before I was an atheist and when one day I found that nothing was above question or reproach and finally questioned my beliefs in the god my parents told me to believe in, I found the explanation begging more questions. Only then did I realise the truth may hurt but it won't lie to you!
aron ra bloviates too much. its almost as if he has no concept of time or continuity or variety. he just drones on aimlessly with a single over-explained point, until you change the channel.
Matt is too aggressive and angry when taking calls. I don't really like his style because he is too vitriolic. He has used foul language and hung up on people somewhat needlessly at times. I agree with AaronRa.
Matt is to aggressive and angry when taking calls. I don't really like his style because he is too vitriolic. He has used foul language and hung up on people somewhat needlessly at times. I agree with AaronRa.
I do think people should keep things civil, however, I have no issues calling a moron a moron when the conversation calls for it. There are too many of these idiot Christians out there (and let's face it, that's the only group where this is a big issue) that have no intention of having a discussion, but to be absolute jackasses.
that last part is what we should be explaining to believers. the actual universe is more interesting and more awe inspiring than anything we've come up with with our monkey brains. maybe don't mention the monkey brains...
I'm amazed that people like AronRa and other activists are able to debate theists without going nuts. They put an almost scary amount of research, time and thought into what they do, only to be told "Nope...God did it....I win!" The stress of that alone has kept me a mostly closet atheist.
@dawala1000 This is the 21st century, people should think critically and not just accept claims because of centuries of indoctrination. Worked for me, I am a former Christian.
@dawala1000 I think it's more just showing theists how invalid and, quite frankly, old their arguments are and how easily they can be refuted with even the slightest bit of reason.
I wish I knew what it's like to be a christian/creationist.
There was a time in my life when I called myself a christian, but I always had STRONG doubts, & when I was very young, it was something I just didn't really think about. I basically just went with the flow in calling myself christian.
I'm always hearing stories about deconversion. I want to know what it's like to believe something that powerful, then realize it's insanity.
@Zentz29 You don't know pain like that, so be grateful. The entire universe, as you've been trained to understand it, dissolves. You're betrayed by all the leaders and role models you've every trusted and respected. You're abandoned by them, by peers, by friends and family. It's terrifying and completely disorienting. I was SO ANGRY, so VENGEFUL for too many years, trying to stave off depression. It's the most profound betrayal of my life, and I'm an abuse and incest survivor, so I know betray.
@Zentz29 I was born into Southern Baptist; I didn't really know anything else. I was trained from infancy to think the world was X and that Y & Z were evil. Credit to my mother for encouraging me to go to my school chum's bar & batzmitsvahs, catholic confirmations, etc. But they were misguided; MY faith was True; theirs was not. I believed all the bible stories as history, as true. Now, imagine you wake up & hear Chairman Mao actually founded USA and shit is food. It's surreal to experience.
@Zentz29 I'm expressing to you my experience as best I can. Comment space is limited. No, you don't know that it's like the whole universe is figured out for you, as long as you obey the rules and don't question. It's a totalitarian construct. Hitchens compares it to North Korea, but I've never been there. It's a small, closed universe that feeds back on itself. Everything outside is evil, temptation, decay, damnation. Stay inside, where it's safe. Propaganda all the way to white house. trust us
@amaxamon Wow, I didn't know I'd stumbled on some drug slang! By "let her rip" I meant: tear into people! Not in a mean way but I don't hold back. I think it helps.
If you are in a position where a religious body or person is twisting your arm, use your (god given) US rights, UK or whatever, to make them stop! Stop blaming old ladies and stupid men for killing people during the middle ages: they didn't do it so it's all good right now. Appease them: tell them you respect their right to believe-- it's the American way... If you want to engage them do it from a higher level of thought, not passion. Matt has a long way to go on that: he's a bad presenter.
I think your words can be applied to many political debates where politicians throw insults at each other for so long that it is difficult to come back from any particular position. If the debate was a bit more civilized then maybe it would take less time to get about to changing anyones mind.
@deathByStupid I think that as well, but we have to remember: when politicians argue they are "supposedly" doing it for the benefit of people that believe in them, not the other way around where theists defend an entity that they believe in, so the ballgame is quite different.Aaron Ra is quite correct in his criticism of Matt: there's a class of folks who may be closet atheists and refuse to come out because they do not want to be associated with people who call theists fools.It's not worth it.
@TheBiAtheist That statement applies to anything, and I agree. And? If we're talking about God concept, the Creator, the uncaused Cause of Existence (time, space, matter), then you'll have to reconsider what you mean by "demonstrate". Scientific formula? By definition impossible, since science deals only with the natural (time, space, matter). Although when science hits certain dead-ends, that should be a good indication of the *super*natural aspect of Existence. As if there aren't plenty.
@TheBiAtheist I've seen them all my friend. If not all, plenty. I understand skepticism; but I dislike it if it blocks you from connecting the dots and reasoning out things that come "from the heart", let's say. A firm, fully-realized Faith in God is a combination of knowledge and intuition; of cold logical deduction and emotional response. A "good reason to say we have a God" is not not having an answer to something, although in case of Universe that's an indication. It's many other things.
@SmokiSounds I don't think with the organ that pumps blood through my body. You clearly haven't seen the series that I'm talking about, because you would respond to the points it addresses. Faith is nothing more than making a virtue out of not thinking and trying to justify believing the unbelievable.
@SmokiSounds Argument from ignorance. You're trying to assert that because we don't know the answer it must be your god. Just because X doesn't equal Y doesn't mean it equals Z now. There are much more options. Disproving a claim does not make yours correct unless it's an A or B question. But it is not. So you must actually prove your claim instead of trying to attack others to link it.
@SmokiSounds It doesn't matter whether you were talking to me or not. You are talking about me, because you are speaking against Atheism. There are MANY options just because you are ignorant to them doesn't mean they don't exist. You can't even begin to assert that you know the answer until you figure out all the options, prove yours to be true and then disprove the rest. Which you have done NONE of.
@SmokiSounds Thor did it. :) or maybe it was aliens. or maybe the big bang. We don't know. Even if we didn't have any alternate explanations that doesn't make yours correct that's god of the gaps and an argument from ignorance. You have to present why your explanation is true rather than insert it because you don't know anything else.
@KingWithoutaCause Is this effing serious?? Man, Dr. Craig was right - the internet's a breeding ground for wannabe-intellectuals, pseudo-smart trendy atheists.
A personal God is by far THE most logical, rational, reasonable explanation for Existence itself, including your "aliens", including the Big Bang, including Thor myths, yeah. Shall we get into it, buddy, or you do a liiiitle bit of research yourself first? "God of the gaps", lol. You're a naive teenager.
@SmokiSounds How is that anyway near rational? There is no proof of this god whatsoever. You're simply stating that you don't know the answer so you're going to insert god in the spaces that you can't explain. That's an argument from ignorance. Just because you don't know something doesn't mean it's some supernatural power. It simply means you don't know. THAT'S ALL.
@KingWithoutaCause Failure. My argument is from Causality and Contingency. I suggest Dr. William Lane Craig's lectures to get some sense into your dumb skull.
@SmokiSounds Lol. I love how you just pronounce failure without giving any explanation. I love Christians that do that. They just try to claim victory with nothing to back them up. How is it "failure"? Because you can't refute it?
@KingWithoutaCause Refute WHAT, genius? I gave you a suggestion on who to watch and listen to, to understand my argument. Think I'm gonna put it all in 500 characters? Get outta here and LEARN something.
@SmokiSounds I literally broke down to you how you were arguing from ignorance and using god of the gaps and you had no response whatsoever. As for Dr. William Lane Craig's lectures, he's a simple theist who twists words to manipulate the other weak minded theists. Given the fact they are already so wrapped in their own delusions he just helps push them deeper. Any smart rational person could argue from a Theist point of view. It's easy. But most of them are Atheist. continue.
@SmokiSounds It's either special pleading, god of the gaps, or an argument from ignorance. There is no theists argument which does not contain at least ONE of these logical fallacies. When you point them out they simply either deny them or just continue to act as though you didn't just point it out to them. But then again you can't argue for the existence of something that doesn't exist without using a logical fallacy. It only adds up.
@SmokiSounds "A personal God is by far THE most logical, rational, reasonable explanation for Existence itself"
Could you please show how it is any of these? All you have done is asserted god is the most likely reason. We know it had something to do with the "big bang" because there is evidence for that. There are suggestions it could do with quantum fluctuations, because we have observed that also. What evidence and observations have you made so it is "rational" and "reasonable". And then can
@66tom99 Causality. It is a constant, a given, a law of Universe. Every effect has its cause, and consequently another cause, and so on. So far so good? Ok. Here's the logical part: if Existence (Universe) is subject to the law of Causality, and the Universe (time, space, matter) had a point 0 at Big Bang, then it logically follows that an Ultimate Cause had to exist in order to *create*. Creation = personal action, hence such Cause is personal, willing, transcendant (=God)....
@SmokiSounds For a start, the rules of our universe are so extremely complicated at a singularity, there are a vast number of laws which CEASE, so you can't say the universe was always subject to causality. Secondly you have assumed the existence of a being outside of space and time, and given him the property of not being bound by causality. I could quite easily also claim that the singularity at the start of the universe is no bound by causality (and actually this makes at least some sense ...
Other than the fact that we know this not to be universally true, what makes you think that classical causality extends beyond known examples? All we've ever known classical causality to apply to is ex-materia instantiation: NEVER have we been able to observe causality act on ex-nihilo instantiation. So on what basis do you assert this?
@SmokiSounds because before the big bang there was no such thing as time, so how can something has a cause and effect without time?). But in both cases, yours and mine, we have ASSERTED a property to something. Where you fail is that you seem to think that a god is the only thing that can have the property of having no cause. Yes this law must have been violated, but the two questions you must ask is was this ALWAYS a law, and if it was, what could have violated it?
« A personal God is by far THE most logical, rational, reasonable explanation for Existence itself »
No. A far more parsimonious *explanation* would be some substrate from which 'universes' emerge continuously, ad infinitum. This way we wouldn't have to inject some unfounded complex intelligence, and we'd still have every chance of finding universes with these particular parameters.
The Omnipotence Paradox(which most christian theists dismiss,insult or are simply unable to explain) pretty much disproves the state of omnipotence as defined by scripture(s) .
Hence if a God did exist(a very big IF), as described by the various Abrahamic scriptures , it would not be an omnipotent entity.
Same goes for omniscience,omnipresence,omni-benevolence and any other "omni" qualitythat can be attributed to God. So much for an all powerful , all knowing, all loving God.
She scandalised liberal colleagues with articles defending the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to contraception in the 1960s and 70s Later in life, she was arrested twice while protesting outside an abortion clinic in Britain, after abortion had been legalised. In 1956, while a research fellow at Oxford University, she protested against Oxford's decision to grant an honorary degree to Harry S. Truman, whom she denounced as a mass murderer for his use of atomic bombs at Hiroshima
@mynameszz It's not my show, I'm just a humble commenter. He would get owned though, just like every other apologist, but they'd still claim victory because 'they have God on their side'.
@TheBiAtheist How did you deconvert? Did it happen b/c ppl called you names, told u u r stupid, etc? Do you think, if ppl had been vitriolic 2 u, u might have stayed IN your faith, out of defensiveness?
@rriverstone1 No, I was never surrounded by people who told me I was wrong, because my entire social life was at church. My deconversion came about after feeling that God had 'called me' to defend Christianity, and that was when, over the years, every one of my arguments for being a Christian failed, yet I was still a Christian 'just in case'.
It was only after watching the series 'Why I Am No Longer A Christian' by user 'Evid3nc3' did I completely reject my beliefs.
@TheBiAtheist I went thru the same process, all alone. I wonder if we can create an environment or model an alternative to help facilitate this deconversion process, or if that would just be presumptuous and snotty. Maybe an "It Gets Better" campaign for atheists? SNAP! Maybe that's not stupid.
@rriverstone1 Being vitriolic certainly pushes believers away and reinforces what they already believe. If a believer genuinely has questions, the best thing to do is to be patient with them.
Take what they say seriously about changing another person's mind. I changed my mind about the existence of a god, and I can thank YouTube for exposing me to the other side of the debate that I never would have otherwise heard from my family, school, or church.
@WVJimbo I wouldn't go around saying you were exposed to the other side on this place. Because some woefully ignorant creationist will take it to mean you got indoctrinated. I think I was an Atheist well before I could come to terms with it. I'm from a family where my mom and her family is protestant from Italy and my dad and his family is catholic from Ireland, so yeah, you can imagine the heavy influence I got as a child. I just thought and thought and came to the conclusion of Atheism.
@WVJimbo One day, you'll look back on what you used to believe and wonder how on earth did you once believe in souls, heavens, hells, angels, demons, global floods, living inside giant fish etc.
@leffehoegaarden Feels good. While hell wasn't something I thought about often nor lived in constant fear of back when I used to believe, it's nice that that's no longer a possible source of unneeded stress. Losing my faith also feels intellectually liberating, I now enjoy the luxury of being able to look at things from an objective point of view which, for example, has helped erase a blind political bias that I used to hold pretty strongly towards one end of the spectrum
Personally I feel life can be considered a miracle in another sense. That being purly scientific of course, not supernatural. One of Darwin's quotes was very profound and damn it all, as I can't remember a word of it currently. But he said that the idea of life growing from simple single-cells to the ariety we have today is perhaps the grandest and most beautiful of natural occurances. I'm christian in a very broad sense, and I feel Darwin hit the nail on the head here. Evolution is amazing.
@RayTech07 I correct myself. You can become educated in religion, as it does exist. What I meant was how do you become educated about God when you can't even prove he is real.
@RayTech70 How could you possibly call Matt uneducated!? He has cone out with things that have moved me and many others greatly! He is a very intelligent man. You may mean that he in uneducated simply in the area of religion. That in itself seems silly to me, because how do you become educated in something that doesn't exist... As for the swearing, yeah he probably should not lose his temper, but when you deal with the same bullshit arguments over and over you would probably lose it too.
I am convinced that there are many rational, skeptical and intelligent theists, who compartmentalize their theism, exempting it from the kind of critical thinking they would apply to anything else. Deep down, they know it's BS, but they've made a choice to "be" a Christian, because they have a strong sense of identification with that community. Their family, friends, neighbors--everyone they love is a Christian--so they wall off that belief system and go along and get along.
@DandAinTac I agree, that can be said for my mother actually. She feels good about the GOOD parts in the bible and the community is there for her and she enjoys that closeness in the church, and I TOTALLY understand that. But you can have community outside of church and totally secular community at that. I'm closer with my fellow atheists now than I ever was with my Christian friends back when I was a believer. There is no "don't do that, god will be mad" BS every time I want a drink or sex. lol
@imaking42 You know, whenever I visit a church, I'm always struck by the sense of community. Just looking at the bulletin boards if nothing else. I think churches fulfill the same function that the campfire did for hunter-gatherer tribes, and religion is nothing more than what the same sort of myths and stories shamans babbled on about to ensure tribal cohesion as well as their own position of power. I would be fine with that if it weren't for the fact that religion has become so dangerous.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Matt can not control his temper... he's a moronic, angry, and uneducated dolt. He snapped last year and told a believer to "FUCK OFF" which is against public television and FCC laws. Matt needs to step down-- he is nothing but vitriolic and-- despite his claim being a Christian an then deconverting, he doesn't behave like someone who was a Christian because he asks questions that any Christian knows the answer to... Matt doesn't. Matt was NEVER a Christian. SO FUCK OFF!
@RayTech70 I'm sorry, but I think you are terribly mistaken here. Yeah, he may have told a caller to fuck off before, after all discussing something like this with someone who literally plugs their ears and repeats the same bullshit is going to get irritating. Now the irony of your statement is that more often than not Matt asks christians questions regarding the bible, when he already knows the answers, and he is just testing what they know. They never know the answers, or won't admit them.
@RayTech70 So let me get this straight, because Matt told a caller (allegedly) to fuck off, he doesn't behave like a christian.
OK,
So what does your telling us to "fuck off" prove about you?
Ray,Ray,Ray, I think it's pretty clear that those long nights turning tricks behind the truck stop glory hole have finally left you with a semen soaked and thoroughly addled brain. Before too long you wont be able to hold your own against a 3 year old. Tsk, tsk.....
It theists wonder where this vitriole is coming from, realise THEY kicked down the door to the science classroom to force their beliefs. THEY started trying to rewrite the US Constitution to make out USA as a Christian country rather than one of the first Secular countries. THEY started trying to force through legislation based on scripture rather than reason.
Some of them even resort to terrorism, with faint condemnation by other theists.
Treblaine 1 day ago
I've always been very "vitriolic" towards theists and other superstitious people, ever since I heard of religion/superstition actually, I have always really loathed the ancient b.s and I think I'll keep loathing it/them. Pushing for instance bronze-age mythology in the space age should be illegal, and I'll spit on all gods and all superstitions until I die. : )
winterstellar 1 day ago
Everything got corporative in the 80's big business Globalism agenda.
That includes the Wicca Satanist Pagan troika and the very moment you're educated in real world history especially after the Norman conquests and the takeover of the Vatican in 1084 you know the monotheistic religions also all became corporative and as America found out in Reagan-omics the big suck corporation-ism of freewill thinking results in the dumbest common denominator rising to the top like shite in a sewer.
spacelizardlaw 1 week ago
Comment removed
spacelizardlaw 1 week ago
Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem.
VITRIOL.
Mayitzin 1 week ago
It's difficult not to be vitriolic towards Christians in the U.S. when they run our government and try to impose their archaic views upon us through the judicial process. Yet they play the victims, and complain how secular society is out to destroy them.
Realistically, someone who believes in something for no reason and tries to impose their faith based views upon others deserves no reverence. For too long America has been plagued by Christianity really.
xxESPx 1 week ago
Here is something that will change YOUR minds.
Take 5 dried grams of Mexican Psylocibin Mushrooms!
If you dare!!!
EvenStar303 3 weeks ago
@EvenStar303 lol, they don't have to be from mexico, if you know what your looking for, you can find them in your back yard. around here they grow like mad after a spring frost..... never tryed 'em, i prefer booze.
GreaseStain 1 week ago
@GreaseStain If you have never tried them, than how do you know you prefer booze.
You have no bases for comparison.
And if you have never tried them, than how do you know that there is no difference between them. Mexican or otherwise.
Do the ones in your back yard stain/turn blue after a few seconds when you scratch the stem of them? If they don't they are not psychedelic.
Booze is like drinking battery acid.
It will ruin your life, body and brain.
Cheers! :0)
EvenStar303 1 week ago
@EvenStar303 my buddies where big into 'em. the ones that grow here are found in graveyards or on cow paddy's most commenly, or in forest clearings with a lotta dead wood. They get seem to get a boost from the frost somehow. i seem overly sensitive to to every other drug i've ever taken, so i became hesitant to try shrooms or acid. at this point, i feel i've gotten to old to bother. to be honest all my acid and shroom buddies got away from it, for multipul reasons.
GreaseStain 1 week ago
@EvenStar303 and just to point out man, I'll agree that booze is like battery acid, i call it that myself sometimes. i've seen first hand the damage it can do to your body, and hand to live with the second hand damage it can do to your family.
but remeber, anything that alters your state of mind, is basically a poison. it'll all ruin your life, your body and your brain when abused. your have your poison, i have mine. in any case man, enjoy! and Cheers!
GreaseStain 1 week ago
Aaron Ra is the man! But man, I wouldn't want to fight him in a dark alley! He looks like a real badass...
JDillaDudas 1 month ago
@JDillaDudas No, I'm pretty sure he's the kind of guy that you really can't judge by the looks. I'm sure he's a pretty nice guy deep inside.
InfinityDz 1 month ago
@JDillaDudas He kinda looks like Jesus to me. Imagine if a Republican met Jesus..he'd call him a smelly hippie.
Pilaf1984 1 month ago
Alos keep in mind that Christians see hostility as persicution and it drives the insanity that a devil is out to get them even deeper. So yeah it's important to be careful. It definatly inhibited me from atheism for a while.
whwsjackfrost 1 month ago
@whwsjackfrost I love when Christians go on about persecution when they make up 76% of America's population.
werebee 1 month ago 2
@werebee Yeah, it's ridiculous and it sucks that it has to be played that way, but if I can alleviate some of the reaction to preserve their ego by not making personal attacks (that much) and in doing so make this world a little more secular, to me it's worth it. We are an animal that seeks out predators so when someone gets aggressive our initial reaction is to assume they mean us harm. Some of us just know better.
whwsjackfrost 1 month ago
hes got awesome hair !! \m/
freedom71000 1 month ago
I used to work with this guy I am in Dallas Texas He was a mentor for call center "Assurnat" and he was antheist too
killldaNWO 2 months ago
AronRa you don't look like an atheist, you look more like a black magician or sorcerer, specially with that nice t-shirt ;)
Elorx 2 months ago
I believe in being vitriolic when it's called for, and openly mocking ridiculous beliefs-- I think both things are as likely as any logical argument, perhaps more so, to make a theist reconsider. I was a believer as a kid, and reading criticisms by men like Mark Twain and Isaac Asimov, and hearing jokes by George Carlin, went a long way toward showing me how silly my beliefs had been.
GoblinXXX 2 months ago
@GoblinXXX
"openly mocking"
And how is that productive in a conversation other than to show the ultimate disrespect?
I suppose you can, "just because"......but really....I find that if one wants to have a civil discussion to begin with, one doesn't poke the hornet's nest on a personal level and than wonder why the conversation falls apart.
9696286 2 months ago
@9696286 It obviously WAS productive in my case, since I became an atheist after hearing my beliefs openly mocked. And I put it to you that a sane person doesn't do himself any favors to treat a patently ridiculous premise as if it were reasonable. If a man told you he could talk to Jesus over his hairdryer, you'd laugh in his face... But take away the hairdryer, and suddenly hos faith deserves respect!
GoblinXXX 2 months ago
@GoblinXXX
I think it's fair to say that your experiences were your own. This doesn't work for everyone and I think that there are times when, just because we have an opinion...we don't always have to share it.
I have had internal dialogue which included eye rolls, smirks, and the ocassional "bullshit" thrown in but kept it to myself. Being confrontational over something as personal as a belief system is exhausting to me because it ends up like a dog chasing it's tail....nowhere.
9696286 2 months ago
@9696286 That is because you are trying to have a RATIONAL ARGUMENT with someone holding an IRRATIONAL BELIEF. Of course you're not going to get anywhere!
GoblinXXX 2 months ago
@GoblinXXX
But "rational" depends upon perspective.....at least regarding the issue of personal beliefs.
9696286 2 months ago
@GoblinXXX Can I borrow that hairdryer? I need to speak to Jesus really badly.
acr08807 1 month ago
@acr08807 I couldn't possibly do that, but I can let you speak to Saint Jude on my blow-comb.
GoblinXXX 1 month ago
@GoblinXXX The sophisticated mockery of religion by Mark Twain and George Carlin (I'm not educated on what Asimov's written) is a far cry from the mockery by teenagers on the internet whose arguments boil down to "Religion's for dummies, lolololol!" or just regular name-calling even when accompanied by good arguments. Those cruder type of vitriol won't help anything. Calling out religious beliefs as unreasonable and even inexcusable, however, I wouldn't classify as vitriol.
Megaritz 1 month ago
did Aron steal matt's hair?
81sams 2 months ago
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hoangtuyethalelugia 2 months ago
I promise to not be vitriolic with theists up until the point where they wish to limit my liberties based on their faith. When they tell me they are basing a restrictive law on what it says in their holy book or what some "holy"man tells them, I will do my very best to reveal them as idiots, charlatans, and the anti-social people they are..
I will not be a prisoner of their theist ideology.
drfoxcourt 2 months ago 69
@drfoxcourt AMEN brother--I mean--right on! And co-signed.
sepiasiren 2 days ago
Yog-Sothoth is All, Yog-Sothoth is One. He is the key, the gate, and the guardian.
UhOhRetardAlert 2 months ago
The main reason I like Matt so much is that I can relate to his initial outlook. I too was a sceptic before I was an atheist and when one day I found that nothing was above question or reproach and finally questioned my beliefs in the god my parents told me to believe in, I found the explanation begging more questions. Only then did I realise the truth may hurt but it won't lie to you!
matyaylicence 2 months ago
vitriolic [ˌvɪtrɪˈɒlɪk]
adj
1. (Chemistry) (of a substance, esp a strong acid) highly corrosive
2. severely bitter or caustic; virulent vitriolic criticism
Mattt8D 2 months ago 19
@Mattt8D thanks :P
MrWaddefak 4 days ago
aron ra bloviates too much. its almost as if he has no concept of time or continuity or variety. he just drones on aimlessly with a single over-explained point, until you change the channel.
DivineCypher 2 months ago
vitriolic = acerb: harsh or corrosive in tone; "an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose"; "a barrage of acid comments";
Casshyr 2 months ago
@Casshyr we thank you xD
mimikawaii7386 2 months ago
I can't imagine these guys and the likes of The Thinking Atheist as being theists, it's just weird now lol
Seldomsleeper 3 months ago
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Matt is too aggressive and angry when taking calls. I don't really like his style because he is too vitriolic. He has used foul language and hung up on people somewhat needlessly at times. I agree with AaronRa.
newfagscanttrif0rce 3 months ago
Matt is to aggressive and angry when taking calls. I don't really like his style because he is too vitriolic. He has used foul language and hung up on people somewhat needlessly at times. I agree with AaronRa.
newfagscanttrif0rce 3 months ago
AaronRa, you look like a demon but sound like a scholarly saint :)
ramans11 3 months ago
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@ramans11 "AaronRa, you look like a demon but sound like a scholarly saint :)"
how many theists do you think have told him he looks like "jesus"? :P
Rabsputin 3 months ago
AronRa looks like a badass rock demon! BADASS!
locsaretheshit 3 months ago
I do think people should keep things civil, however, I have no issues calling a moron a moron when the conversation calls for it. There are too many of these idiot Christians out there (and let's face it, that's the only group where this is a big issue) that have no intention of having a discussion, but to be absolute jackasses.
skywize 3 months ago
that last part is what we should be explaining to believers. the actual universe is more interesting and more awe inspiring than anything we've come up with with our monkey brains. maybe don't mention the monkey brains...
callumnik117 3 months ago
Ok, not vitriolic then... we can still mock them right?
jemborg 3 months ago
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@jemborg Life... *sniff* *sniff*... just wouldn't be the same if we couldn't!
skywize 3 months ago
@jemborg If the person is terribly misinformed, you have every right to point that out as long as you can back it up. But don't be a wise ass.
pat5168 3 months ago
@pat5168 Hahaha. Chill out mate. :D
jemborg 3 months ago
I liked Matts explaination of why "untestable claims" as 'evidence' is rubbish.
GalaxyShift 3 months ago
I'm amazed that people like AronRa and other activists are able to debate theists without going nuts. They put an almost scary amount of research, time and thought into what they do, only to be told "Nope...God did it....I win!" The stress of that alone has kept me a mostly closet atheist.
MileenasFloss 3 months ago
Personally im not hostile to religious people, im hostile to their religion, they just misinterpret my hatred
deathman1021 3 months ago
I love the way Aron ended this. :D
styot 3 months ago
is this video about making people change their minds about belive in god and comming over to the athiest side of thinking ?
dawala1000 4 months ago
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@dawala1000 This is the 21st century, people should think critically and not just accept claims because of centuries of indoctrination. Worked for me, I am a former Christian.
nhbiker1961 4 months ago
@dawala1000 I think it's more just showing theists how invalid and, quite frankly, old their arguments are and how easily they can be refuted with even the slightest bit of reason.
atheistjacob 3 months ago
His hair is so shiny
JSCwrd 4 months ago
@JSCwrd So is Matts scalp.
Petrander 4 months ago
I wish I knew what it's like to be a christian/creationist.
There was a time in my life when I called myself a christian, but I always had STRONG doubts, & when I was very young, it was something I just didn't really think about. I basically just went with the flow in calling myself christian.
I'm always hearing stories about deconversion. I want to know what it's like to believe something that powerful, then realize it's insanity.
Can I get a do over please FSM?
Zentz29 4 months ago
@Zentz29 You don't know pain like that, so be grateful. The entire universe, as you've been trained to understand it, dissolves. You're betrayed by all the leaders and role models you've every trusted and respected. You're abandoned by them, by peers, by friends and family. It's terrifying and completely disorienting. I was SO ANGRY, so VENGEFUL for too many years, trying to stave off depression. It's the most profound betrayal of my life, and I'm an abuse and incest survivor, so I know betray.
rriverstone1 3 months ago
@rriverstone1 I am grateful.
"The entire universe, as you've been trained to understand it, dissolves"
Are you a chiristian who has been "TRAINED"?
Your comment is very vauge....
Zentz29 3 months ago
@Zentz29 I was born into Southern Baptist; I didn't really know anything else. I was trained from infancy to think the world was X and that Y & Z were evil. Credit to my mother for encouraging me to go to my school chum's bar & batzmitsvahs, catholic confirmations, etc. But they were misguided; MY faith was True; theirs was not. I believed all the bible stories as history, as true. Now, imagine you wake up & hear Chairman Mao actually founded USA and shit is food. It's surreal to experience.
rriverstone1 3 months ago
@rriverstone1 I don't know what you mean...
The "leaders" of my country have betrayed me. They always do in some way.
My peers, friends & family have not betrayed me (for the most part).
I don't know how to have this conversation....
You are over generalizing...If you want to talk about specific topics, I will be happy to.
Zentz29 3 months ago
@Zentz29 I'm expressing to you my experience as best I can. Comment space is limited. No, you don't know that it's like the whole universe is figured out for you, as long as you obey the rules and don't question. It's a totalitarian construct. Hitchens compares it to North Korea, but I've never been there. It's a small, closed universe that feeds back on itself. Everything outside is evil, temptation, decay, damnation. Stay inside, where it's safe. Propaganda all the way to white house. trust us
rriverstone1 3 months ago
@rriverstone1 I can't know what it's like to be a fundie.
Thanks for trying to explain. You....
I just don't know what to say...
This is the end of the conversaion. Good bye.
Zentz29 3 months ago
I'm glad AronRa remains a classy guy.
Certain other Atheists on YT are really turning into assholes.. sorry to say.
lupine73 4 months ago
I've always liked AronRa, he's cool guy.
acujicky 4 months ago
Matt isn't nearly as hostile as Thunderf00t or PatCondell.
pat5168 4 months ago
seriously aaronra looks like matt in a fucking wig
PirateMonkeyFilmz 4 months ago
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I've never believed in gods or devils, but AronRa scares the crap out of me.
shabido1 4 months ago
I've never believed in godsor devils, but AronRa scares the crap out of me.
shabido1 4 months ago 41
@shabido1 Yeah. Ain't it cool?
TheChurchOfKali12357 2 months ago
@TheChurchOfKali12357 Ya it is cool indeed. Hair never gets old, well except for Matt, Russell, and Jen.
shabido1 2 months ago
@shabido1 It's probably the hair, mustache, and goatee.
werebee 1 month ago
@werebee And the satanic voice. If he looked like Venomfang with that hair it wouldn't have the same effect.
shabido1 1 month ago
LOVE THE FUCKIN' HAIR! ITS AWWWWWESOME!
cortnibay22 4 months ago
Skeptical Theists: Most of the founding fathers in the United States
whiteowl1415 4 months ago
I let 'er rip every time; it's what cured me, it's good medicine.
amaxamon 5 months ago
@amaxamon fuckin A! toke up and change the world!
Samuraibry1 5 months ago
@amaxamon I experience a peace, love, divinity, truth & oneness on shooms that I never experienced 20 years in the church
AscendingParadigm 5 months ago
@amaxamon Wow, I didn't know I'd stumbled on some drug slang! By "let her rip" I meant: tear into people! Not in a mean way but I don't hold back. I think it helps.
amaxamon 5 months ago
I had to look up vitriolic
effrin999 6 months ago 32
@effrin999 i just did lol
RunfromtheHeathen 6 months ago
@effrin999 that's honest. and funny
rriverstone1 3 months ago
@effrin999 I was going to as well, but then I heard him use it in context ;)
joemantex 2 months ago
Lots of hair on the left and none on the right - nice contrast.
antag0nismo 6 months ago
WOO JAMES RANDI!
koolanator 7 months ago
If you are in a position where a religious body or person is twisting your arm, use your (god given) US rights, UK or whatever, to make them stop! Stop blaming old ladies and stupid men for killing people during the middle ages: they didn't do it so it's all good right now. Appease them: tell them you respect their right to believe-- it's the American way... If you want to engage them do it from a higher level of thought, not passion. Matt has a long way to go on that: he's a bad presenter.
amberwhite122589 7 months ago
I think your words can be applied to many political debates where politicians throw insults at each other for so long that it is difficult to come back from any particular position. If the debate was a bit more civilized then maybe it would take less time to get about to changing anyones mind.
deathByStupid 7 months ago
@deathByStupid I think that as well, but we have to remember: when politicians argue they are "supposedly" doing it for the benefit of people that believe in them, not the other way around where theists defend an entity that they believe in, so the ballgame is quite different.Aaron Ra is quite correct in his criticism of Matt: there's a class of folks who may be closet atheists and refuse to come out because they do not want to be associated with people who call theists fools.It's not worth it.
amberwhite122589 7 months ago
It would be a lot easier to be nice when debating, if theists would actually use new arguments that haven't been debunked a hundred years ago.
And as AronRa so wisely proposed, yes I'm a former Christian and creationist. The so-called omnipotent God is no match for a drop of reason.
TheBiAtheist 7 months ago 70
@TheBiAtheist 'The so-called omnipotent God is no match for a drop of reason."
Well said, I'm going to use that :) (if you don't mind of course!)
Aviii 7 months ago
@TheBiAtheist God is the meaning of reason. You're ridiculous, buddy.
SmokiSounds 7 months ago
@SmokiSounds You're not going to convince any philosophically-minded Atheist by asserting something to be true without demonstrating it.
TheBiAtheist 7 months ago
@TheBiAtheist That statement applies to anything, and I agree. And? If we're talking about God concept, the Creator, the uncaused Cause of Existence (time, space, matter), then you'll have to reconsider what you mean by "demonstrate". Scientific formula? By definition impossible, since science deals only with the natural (time, space, matter). Although when science hits certain dead-ends, that should be a good indication of the *super*natural aspect of Existence. As if there aren't plenty.
SmokiSounds 7 months ago
@SmokiSounds Why would I be justified in believing something that there's no evidence for?
"Even if we don't have an answer, that's still not a good reason to say we have a God." ~ Matt Dillahunty
Watch the series I suggest in my 'About Me' section to understand why you're not convincing.
TheBiAtheist 7 months ago
@TheBiAtheist I've seen them all my friend. If not all, plenty. I understand skepticism; but I dislike it if it blocks you from connecting the dots and reasoning out things that come "from the heart", let's say. A firm, fully-realized Faith in God is a combination of knowledge and intuition; of cold logical deduction and emotional response. A "good reason to say we have a God" is not not having an answer to something, although in case of Universe that's an indication. It's many other things.
SmokiSounds 7 months ago
@SmokiSounds I don't think with the organ that pumps blood through my body. You clearly haven't seen the series that I'm talking about, because you would respond to the points it addresses. Faith is nothing more than making a virtue out of not thinking and trying to justify believing the unbelievable.
TheBiAtheist 7 months ago
@TheBiAtheist
if they would try to think with their brain instead of "their heart", world would be a much better place
realbojay 7 months ago
@realbojay The fool says in his heart, 'There is no god.' The wise man says it in his brain.
TheBiAtheist 6 months ago
@TheBiAtheist
"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no god.' The wise man says it in his brain. "
so very true..
i am caught somewhere in the middle i guess
instead to just let them be, i say that with my mouth :)
realbojay 6 months ago
@SmokiSounds Argument from ignorance. You're trying to assert that because we don't know the answer it must be your god. Just because X doesn't equal Y doesn't mean it equals Z now. There are much more options. Disproving a claim does not make yours correct unless it's an A or B question. But it is not. So you must actually prove your claim instead of trying to attack others to link it.
KingWithoutaCause 6 months ago
@KingWithoutaCause I wasn't talking to you. On the other hand...
A's, B's and Z's, eh. lol.
So what "much more options" do you imply when talking about either a caused, or uncaused Universe?
SmokiSounds 6 months ago
@SmokiSounds It doesn't matter whether you were talking to me or not. You are talking about me, because you are speaking against Atheism. There are MANY options just because you are ignorant to them doesn't mean they don't exist. You can't even begin to assert that you know the answer until you figure out all the options, prove yours to be true and then disprove the rest. Which you have done NONE of.
KingWithoutaCause 6 months ago
@KingWithoutaCause I'm sorry, WHAT options? Give it your best shot, smarty. Then watch me devour it. I'm all ears.
SmokiSounds 6 months ago
@SmokiSounds Thor did it. :) or maybe it was aliens. or maybe the big bang. We don't know. Even if we didn't have any alternate explanations that doesn't make yours correct that's god of the gaps and an argument from ignorance. You have to present why your explanation is true rather than insert it because you don't know anything else.
KingWithoutaCause 6 months ago
@KingWithoutaCause Is this effing serious?? Man, Dr. Craig was right - the internet's a breeding ground for wannabe-intellectuals, pseudo-smart trendy atheists.
A personal God is by far THE most logical, rational, reasonable explanation for Existence itself, including your "aliens", including the Big Bang, including Thor myths, yeah. Shall we get into it, buddy, or you do a liiiitle bit of research yourself first? "God of the gaps", lol. You're a naive teenager.
SmokiSounds 6 months ago
@SmokiSounds How is that anyway near rational? There is no proof of this god whatsoever. You're simply stating that you don't know the answer so you're going to insert god in the spaces that you can't explain. That's an argument from ignorance. Just because you don't know something doesn't mean it's some supernatural power. It simply means you don't know. THAT'S ALL.
KingWithoutaCause 6 months ago
@KingWithoutaCause Failure. My argument is from Causality and Contingency. I suggest Dr. William Lane Craig's lectures to get some sense into your dumb skull.
Waste of time...
SmokiSounds 6 months ago
@SmokiSounds Lol. I love how you just pronounce failure without giving any explanation. I love Christians that do that. They just try to claim victory with nothing to back them up. How is it "failure"? Because you can't refute it?
KingWithoutaCause 6 months ago
@KingWithoutaCause Refute WHAT, genius? I gave you a suggestion on who to watch and listen to, to understand my argument. Think I'm gonna put it all in 500 characters? Get outta here and LEARN something.
SmokiSounds 6 months ago
@SmokiSounds I literally broke down to you how you were arguing from ignorance and using god of the gaps and you had no response whatsoever. As for Dr. William Lane Craig's lectures, he's a simple theist who twists words to manipulate the other weak minded theists. Given the fact they are already so wrapped in their own delusions he just helps push them deeper. Any smart rational person could argue from a Theist point of view. It's easy. But most of them are Atheist. continue.
KingWithoutaCause 6 months ago
@SmokiSounds It's either special pleading, god of the gaps, or an argument from ignorance. There is no theists argument which does not contain at least ONE of these logical fallacies. When you point them out they simply either deny them or just continue to act as though you didn't just point it out to them. But then again you can't argue for the existence of something that doesn't exist without using a logical fallacy. It only adds up.
KingWithoutaCause 6 months ago
@SmokiSounds "A personal God is by far THE most logical, rational, reasonable explanation for Existence itself"
Could you please show how it is any of these? All you have done is asserted god is the most likely reason. We know it had something to do with the "big bang" because there is evidence for that. There are suggestions it could do with quantum fluctuations, because we have observed that also. What evidence and observations have you made so it is "rational" and "reasonable". And then can
66tom99 6 months ago
@SmokiSounds you explain the logical explantion, that is an explanation with no logical flaws, as obviously that would make it illogical.
So those two things please, you observations and your logic which allow you to make the statement that god is the best reason.
66tom99 6 months ago
@66tom99 Causality. It is a constant, a given, a law of Universe. Every effect has its cause, and consequently another cause, and so on. So far so good? Ok. Here's the logical part: if Existence (Universe) is subject to the law of Causality, and the Universe (time, space, matter) had a point 0 at Big Bang, then it logically follows that an Ultimate Cause had to exist in order to *create*. Creation = personal action, hence such Cause is personal, willing, transcendant (=God)....
SmokiSounds 6 months ago
@SmokiSounds For a start, the rules of our universe are so extremely complicated at a singularity, there are a vast number of laws which CEASE, so you can't say the universe was always subject to causality. Secondly you have assumed the existence of a being outside of space and time, and given him the property of not being bound by causality. I could quite easily also claim that the singularity at the start of the universe is no bound by causality (and actually this makes at least some sense ...
66tom99 6 months ago
« Every effect has its cause »
Other than the fact that we know this not to be universally true, what makes you think that classical causality extends beyond known examples? All we've ever known classical causality to apply to is ex-materia instantiation: NEVER have we been able to observe causality act on ex-nihilo instantiation. So on what basis do you assert this?
XGralgrathor 6 months ago
@SmokiSounds because before the big bang there was no such thing as time, so how can something has a cause and effect without time?). But in both cases, yours and mine, we have ASSERTED a property to something. Where you fail is that you seem to think that a god is the only thing that can have the property of having no cause. Yes this law must have been violated, but the two questions you must ask is was this ALWAYS a law, and if it was, what could have violated it?
66tom99 6 months ago
« A personal God is by far THE most logical, rational, reasonable explanation for Existence itself »
No. A far more parsimonious *explanation* would be some substrate from which 'universes' emerge continuously, ad infinitum. This way we wouldn't have to inject some unfounded complex intelligence, and we'd still have every chance of finding universes with these particular parameters.
XGralgrathor 6 months ago
@TheBiAtheist i could most probably think of some argument. But then again, about what?
Ko252 6 months ago
@TheBiAtheist
The Omnipotence Paradox(which most christian theists dismiss,insult or are simply unable to explain) pretty much disproves the state of omnipotence as defined by scripture(s) .
Hence if a God did exist(a very big IF), as described by the various Abrahamic scriptures , it would not be an omnipotent entity.
Same goes for omniscience,omnipresence,omni-benevolence and any other "omni" qualitythat can be attributed to God. So much for an all powerful , all knowing, all loving God.
mynameszz 5 months ago
I simply can't wait for the day when William lane Craig comes to your show and has that done to him which was done to CS Lewis by Elizabeth Anscombe.
mynameszz 5 months ago
She scandalised liberal colleagues with articles defending the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to contraception in the 1960s and 70s Later in life, she was arrested twice while protesting outside an abortion clinic in Britain, after abortion had been legalised. In 1956, while a research fellow at Oxford University, she protested against Oxford's decision to grant an honorary degree to Harry S. Truman, whom she denounced as a mass murderer for his use of atomic bombs at Hiroshima
SuperTruthlover 5 months ago
@mynameszz It's not my show, I'm just a humble commenter. He would get owned though, just like every other apologist, but they'd still claim victory because 'they have God on their side'.
TheBiAtheist 5 months ago
@mynameszz what i wanna do is put him in a wrestling ring with aronra a.k.a. chief mongol and watch him get his ass kicked.
topperheartramada 5 months ago
@TheBiAtheist How did you deconvert? Did it happen b/c ppl called you names, told u u r stupid, etc? Do you think, if ppl had been vitriolic 2 u, u might have stayed IN your faith, out of defensiveness?
rriverstone1 3 months ago
@rriverstone1 No, I was never surrounded by people who told me I was wrong, because my entire social life was at church. My deconversion came about after feeling that God had 'called me' to defend Christianity, and that was when, over the years, every one of my arguments for being a Christian failed, yet I was still a Christian 'just in case'.
It was only after watching the series 'Why I Am No Longer A Christian' by user 'Evid3nc3' did I completely reject my beliefs.
TheBiAtheist 3 months ago
@TheBiAtheist I went thru the same process, all alone. I wonder if we can create an environment or model an alternative to help facilitate this deconversion process, or if that would just be presumptuous and snotty. Maybe an "It Gets Better" campaign for atheists? SNAP! Maybe that's not stupid.
rriverstone1 3 months ago
@rriverstone1 Being vitriolic certainly pushes believers away and reinforces what they already believe. If a believer genuinely has questions, the best thing to do is to be patient with them.
TheBiAtheist 3 months ago
@TheBiAtheist Maybe we can do MORE than be patient. Maybe we can encourage. I'm cooking up an idea, but who knows? Needs more thought and feedback.
rriverstone1 3 months ago
I looked up vitriolic.
StormHornet56 7 months ago
@StormHornet56 Haha, me too. [:
TheBiAtheist 7 months ago
Does anyone else think that AronRa is Matt in a black wig?
nowgleaning 7 months ago 3
@nowgleaning no. no they do not.
GallusSapien 7 months ago
@nowgleaning No, Matt is AronRa in a bald wig...
rriverstone1 3 months ago
vitriolic means harsh and/or bitter, not hostile AronRa....
SlayingMinion 8 months ago
@SlayingMinion It also means hostile.
nowgleaning 7 months ago
The TAM just gone was in Sydney, Australia, and I had the chance to go but didn't. Kinda wish I had now :(
RayLiehm 8 months ago
Take what they say seriously about changing another person's mind. I changed my mind about the existence of a god, and I can thank YouTube for exposing me to the other side of the debate that I never would have otherwise heard from my family, school, or church.
WVJimbo 9 months ago 28
@WVJimbo I wouldn't go around saying you were exposed to the other side on this place. Because some woefully ignorant creationist will take it to mean you got indoctrinated. I think I was an Atheist well before I could come to terms with it. I'm from a family where my mom and her family is protestant from Italy and my dad and his family is catholic from Ireland, so yeah, you can imagine the heavy influence I got as a child. I just thought and thought and came to the conclusion of Atheism.
pat5168 4 months ago
@WVJimbo One day, you'll look back on what you used to believe and wonder how on earth did you once believe in souls, heavens, hells, angels, demons, global floods, living inside giant fish etc.
XTJimbo2010 4 months ago
@WVJimbo That's awesome! I respect you for your honesty and curiosity.
MagisterPridgen 4 months ago
@WVJimbo Well done Jimbo. How does it feel?
leffehoegaarden 3 months ago
@leffehoegaarden Feels good. While hell wasn't something I thought about often nor lived in constant fear of back when I used to believe, it's nice that that's no longer a possible source of unneeded stress. Losing my faith also feels intellectually liberating, I now enjoy the luxury of being able to look at things from an objective point of view which, for example, has helped erase a blind political bias that I used to hold pretty strongly towards one end of the spectrum
WVJimbo 3 months ago
if i took a shit in my hand it would look better then you
ATropicPenguin 9 months ago
Personally I feel life can be considered a miracle in another sense. That being purly scientific of course, not supernatural. One of Darwin's quotes was very profound and damn it all, as I can't remember a word of it currently. But he said that the idea of life growing from simple single-cells to the ariety we have today is perhaps the grandest and most beautiful of natural occurances. I'm christian in a very broad sense, and I feel Darwin hit the nail on the head here. Evolution is amazing.
NUTCASE71733 9 months ago
@RayTech07 I correct myself. You can become educated in religion, as it does exist. What I meant was how do you become educated about God when you can't even prove he is real.
elliesmellyjean 9 months ago
@RayTech70 How could you possibly call Matt uneducated!? He has cone out with things that have moved me and many others greatly! He is a very intelligent man. You may mean that he in uneducated simply in the area of religion. That in itself seems silly to me, because how do you become educated in something that doesn't exist... As for the swearing, yeah he probably should not lose his temper, but when you deal with the same bullshit arguments over and over you would probably lose it too.
elliesmellyjean 9 months ago 2
6:37 onward... very nicely put
kesky88 9 months ago
@kesky88 If everyone heard and understood this bit, religion would probably vanish overnight.
IckleMcMan452 9 months ago
Love both these guys, but when they look at each other, from that view, AronRa looks like Matt's evil twin.
Agrobiz 9 months ago
AronRa : Evidence that not all atheists are just angry at god for making them bald.
hardinmichael1981 9 months ago
1. Be a television producer.
2. Put 2 of the greatest sceptical minds in the world next to one another.
3. ??????
4. Profit!
Kabitu1 10 months ago
Not all of them are ex-believers - Carl Sagan was never a believer, but he was a huge proponent of scientific thinking.
ClamCrunchy 10 months ago
I am convinced that there are many rational, skeptical and intelligent theists, who compartmentalize their theism, exempting it from the kind of critical thinking they would apply to anything else. Deep down, they know it's BS, but they've made a choice to "be" a Christian, because they have a strong sense of identification with that community. Their family, friends, neighbors--everyone they love is a Christian--so they wall off that belief system and go along and get along.
DandAinTac 10 months ago
@DandAinTac I agree, that can be said for my mother actually. She feels good about the GOOD parts in the bible and the community is there for her and she enjoys that closeness in the church, and I TOTALLY understand that. But you can have community outside of church and totally secular community at that. I'm closer with my fellow atheists now than I ever was with my Christian friends back when I was a believer. There is no "don't do that, god will be mad" BS every time I want a drink or sex. lol
imaking42 10 months ago
@imaking42 You know, whenever I visit a church, I'm always struck by the sense of community. Just looking at the bulletin boards if nothing else. I think churches fulfill the same function that the campfire did for hunter-gatherer tribes, and religion is nothing more than what the same sort of myths and stories shamans babbled on about to ensure tribal cohesion as well as their own position of power. I would be fine with that if it weren't for the fact that religion has become so dangerous.
DandAinTac 10 months ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Matt can not control his temper... he's a moronic, angry, and uneducated dolt. He snapped last year and told a believer to "FUCK OFF" which is against public television and FCC laws. Matt needs to step down-- he is nothing but vitriolic and-- despite his claim being a Christian an then deconverting, he doesn't behave like someone who was a Christian because he asks questions that any Christian knows the answer to... Matt doesn't. Matt was NEVER a Christian. SO FUCK OFF!
RayTech70 10 months ago
@RayTech70 Oh noes, did the naughty word he said hurt your ears?
Do you have any examples of Matt asking questions that someone who had been a Christian would already know the answer to?
StealthDonkey007 10 months ago 2
@RayTech70 I'm sorry, but I think you are terribly mistaken here. Yeah, he may have told a caller to fuck off before, after all discussing something like this with someone who literally plugs their ears and repeats the same bullshit is going to get irritating. Now the irony of your statement is that more often than not Matt asks christians questions regarding the bible, when he already knows the answers, and he is just testing what they know. They never know the answers, or won't admit them.
Seraph821 10 months ago 3
@RayTech70 So let me get this straight, because Matt told a caller (allegedly) to fuck off, he doesn't behave like a christian.
OK,
So what does your telling us to "fuck off" prove about you?
Ray,Ray,Ray, I think it's pretty clear that those long nights turning tricks behind the truck stop glory hole have finally left you with a semen soaked and thoroughly addled brain. Before too long you wont be able to hold your own against a 3 year old. Tsk, tsk.....
moopism 9 months ago 2