Don’t change it!

(Also brings to mind Dan Barker’s ditty, “Friendly Neighborhood Atheist,” excerpt here:

http://www.atheistalliance.org/aaw/Dan_Barker-Friendly_Atheist.mp3

From the eponymous, highly recommended CD.)

That made me want to stay and get to know the people here as real people and not just “atheists.” I have and I’ve learned much from everyone, even the “mean” ones. Your tough challenges made me angry and defensive (and hurt) on more than one occasion (yeah, I admit it.) However, I no longer see those comments as mean but those people having their stronger opinions for whatever reason I am not privy to. That’s me. But if I see someone else being hurt by those remarks, I will try to call it to your attention (such as the recent events surrounding Lindsey).

Now I drift in and out as time allows, but what brings me back every time is the realness and honesty of the people – sadly, much more real and honest than the Christians (I hate to admit). And, of course, the quality of the posts.

Larry Huffman said,

Actually, I long for the day when the term atheist has no relevance.

Meeeee toooo! And all the other labels as well. But I have a feeling we’ll be waiting a long time.

I know I am not the only Jewish atheist out there!

Yeah, and I’m not the only broad writing letters from, y’know, abroad. However I may well be the only “friendly American exmormon atheist Mom living in France Switzerland.” If there’s another one, I’d be curious to meet her.

I know I am not the only Jewish atheist out there!

JA, you are not. Most non-Orthodox Jews are, I think, agnostic, and many would probably not be uncomfortable with the term “atheist”.

I used to read your blog and occasionally post comments, but there were issues. You can email me if you’re interested in hearing about them. I use the same pseudonym on Blogger that I do here.

When I first started commenting on blogs about atheism and theism, it was on the Washington Post’s site “On Faith.” That was like a pool crowded with sharks all eating each other, and after a while I got sick of it. The viscious, negative, hateful invective flying in all directions from all sides was too much. I almost abandoned communicating on the web all together.

Sally Quinn was up here at Harvard a couple of weeks ago. She gave an address and participated in a panel discussion with students from various faith organizations (no evangelicals, though). I’m sorry to hear this about her site, which I haven’t yet visited. She struck me as wanting sincerely to foster dialogue.

Another good one might be “heaven-bound atheists”. Since some theists claim that we must have more “faith” being atheists, and since many theists think that “belief or faith” is what gets you into heaven, then atheists must be a shoe-in for going to heaven.

“some atheists are friendly and value respect but I still find you’re in the minority amongst the more vocal ones.”

Fill in the blank below with the name of almost any socio-political-cultural group and it would be true as well.

‘some _____ are friendly and value respect but I still find you’re in the minority amongst the more vocal ones.’

the ‘more vocal ones’ of any group always feature a higher-than-average percentage of confrontational types.

Some site called the “Peaceful Christian” doesn’t imply that most Christians are violent – it just emphasizes the priority of the blogger.

Yeah, I think that’s a fair call. I call my site Glocal Christianity for similar reasons, to emphasize I’m speaking out of a context that’s more culturally diverse and religiously pluralistic than most, not to suggest every other Christian on the planet is living in isolation.

I have sort of contradictory views… in a way, I do think we’re an exception to most atheist blogs. I’m not saying atheists are more snarky or condescending or mean online than other groups can be, but there are definitely hordes of snarky atheists online. They tend to make an impression. So the title makes it clear that we’re at least an exception to the stereotype and that we’re making a conscious decision to keep the discussion courteous here.

The other thought I have is that “friendly” definitely doesn’t have to refer to us as an exception. It’s just putting an emphasis on what we value. Some site called the “Peaceful Christian” doesn’t imply that most Christians are violent – it just emphasizes the priority of the blogger.