Dear useless ones, if you have nothing to add to the conversation, then please do us all a favor and jusr shut the heck up. You know who you are, those that believe they know best as to what we should all believe, and how we should act. What you don’t get is that most of us, in fact the majoity, don’t give a damn about what you say.
The vast majority of atheists and skeptics pay absolutley no attention to what those believing they are our betters, mesanig they know more than we do, have to say. we don’t give a single damn ablut your politicsl or social stands and don;t care one wat or the other.
You certainly have the right to express youself, but don’t be surprised when you receive a huge amount of negative feedback. And I’m not referring to just one political side or another, but from every corner of the spectrum.
As atheists and sleptics i think we need to have a more positive message. Not that we’re out there to convert anyone, but to alleviate the negativity that most people have about us. it’s not difficult, it’;s just that we need to make the attempt to show those that are not atheists thst we, too, are good people.
How hard is that? Do we need to stand up in front of (small) crowds and say “Fuck religion”? Does that in any way make allies of anyone, religious or not? Shouldn’t we, instead be attempting to make some allies, yes even with those thst are belivers, that agree that there should be a clear seperation of church and atate? I thinkk that if anyone takes the tine to look arounf, they’d find those that would agree with that basic, Constituional principle.
As atheists, we can’t depend on others to do that work for us. We beed to be there, not only demanding the separation, but also the free exersise, as our Consitution dictaates. Maybe, just maybe, there could be a happy medium where atheists and believers could come together.
If only we could stop attacking one another.
Conservative Skeptic 
Jim, don’t do this.
Or at least experiment with letting negative comments and ad hom stuff roll.
I guess it’s possible that your core audience may be more uptight and more easily offended than others, but don’t you think that you could at least give a Wild West forum a chance?
I had lots of experience in a chatroom that was a real free-for-all.
It was exciting and drew lots of attention and participation.
Then a group of vigilantes decided to defend their fellow atheists and flagged off dissenters or hounded them out (rude ones first, followed by reasonable ones.)
Once the Board became a one-opinion place, it soon became a NO opinion place.
People just stopped participating because it was no more than an echo chamber.
The content moved away from atheism into personal chat, and that drove even more drops.
On Quora, I INVITE people to disagree with me
It’s much more fun, and maybe I will learn something that I don’t already know, even though that’s unlikely because I am an obnoxious know-it-all.
Wouldn’t you like to be the host of a blog which contained this stellar post from a hostile Christian, addressed to me, in the Glory Days of intense debate (not always polite by a long shot!)
In response to some snarky post of mine, an angry Christian said to me:
“I will be feasting with Jesus while you starve naked before skin-eating demons!”
Hahaha!
It was the hit of the day!
All the atheists loved it.
It got a ton of sarcastic upvotes.
I sometimes use it even now, throwing it up in my atheist friends’ faces when we need to lighten up a little.
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I’m not trying to restrict anyones speech. If you’ve noticed, I don’t do that here at all. My point, maybe not well made, was only to stop the bickering amongst ourselves as it does nothing to move atheism forward. I dislike those that do nothing but criticize other atheists/skeptics because those happen to disagree with some ideological position. There’s nothing about atheism or skepticism that dictates we all think the same. Thiose that can’t accept that, and want to tear down others because they think differently, need to sit down.
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Yes, I see.
I will say that the regulars on the Board I referred to were extremely loyal to one another, and we cut each other a lot of slack.
That made the intrusion of critics easy and fun to cope with.
Bickering and picking on one another didn’t happen.
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I’m certain you’ll piss of some while the rest of us are 👏
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Do you proof read before you publish? Apparently not…
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I am confused. Was your rant about this site?
I understand your frustration fully, but I agree with Ann when she writes:
“Once the Board became a one-opinion place, it soon became a NO opinion place.”
I have spent around 15 years on a Christian website that used to take all comers and rocked with debate in the various forums, all religions and none, social forums and serious religious debate, current events and popular culture…intelligent and civil debate. Then FB started and at the same time this site began restricting comments, banning people and shutting down discourse at odds with a strict Evangelical attitude…and slowly it has spiraled down the drain to little more than a blog for one or two, plus Christian outreach interspersed with spam topics and almost no activity in the forums.
In the end, if some sites raise your ire to such a degree that your rant suggests, then you should think about leaving them.
I have left several, because I decided that the stress was too much to have in my life.
Hugs to you, just because I understand.
-Jeanne
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It was really more about this piece I recently read: https://www.skepticink.com/avant-garde/2018/10/22/kavin-senapathy/
I was thinking, “Here we go again!”.
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