![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-k4d7JdM374g\/TYqJhXZePVI\/AAAAAAAABWY\/PilXxjiaI2M\/s1600\/dirty+hands.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nIn a post earlier today<\/a>, I disagreed with the conclusions of Jen Fulwiler\u2019s critique of Atheist Awareness Week<\/a>, but there\u2019s an element of truth in her article I want to acknowledge. \u00a0There\u2019s something exhausting and unpleasant about spending a lot of your writing\/thinking time trying to argue with people you don\u2019t respect. \u00a0When you think of your job as smacking down morons, it hard to imagine you\u00a0approach\u00a0it with a spirit of charity, and it\u2019s more than likely the contempt and arrogance you practice could spill over into other spheres of your life.<\/p>\n But atheists aren\u2019t uniquely at risk for this kind of behavior. \u00a0Political operatives and pundits often fall into the same trap. \u00a0And, although everyone in my ideal line of work could stand to behave a lot better, it\u2019s hard to remain patient and nuanced and kind when you debate with people who are irrational or nasty. \u00a0I wouldn\u2019t want to write a blog that primarily addressed fundamentalist evangelical beliefs or actions for many of the same reasons I would hate to spend all my time discussing politics with fans of Glen Beck; I\u2019m sure it would be bad for me. \u00a0It would be dispiriting and feed into some of my worst\u00a0tendencies.<\/p>\n I can bow out, but someone needs to respond to these people; they\u2019re too popular to be ignored. \u00a0Taking on that<\/em> job will definitely take a toll on your spirit, so I end up torn about how to respond to nasty or dismissive atheists. \u00a0I have plenty of sympathy for the people who put themselves in the middle of a really unpleasant and necessary fight, but I don\u2019t want their behavior to be admired or imitated by anyone else.<\/p>\n Talking about people martyring their own character for the sake of the cause or to keep back the barbarian hordes takes a bad situation and gives it a tragic, romantic quality that can be very attractive. \u00a0That kind of rhetoric is very close to praising people for what we call \u201ca willingness to get their hands dirty\u201d but is really just the courage to do bad things.<\/p>\n I stick with calling out behavior I think is disrespectful or counterproductive and keep my sympathies private. \u00a0If I were Christian, this is the kind of context in which I would like to pray for the offending person to rise above the stress and temptation of their circumstance, but, as an atheist, I don\u2019t have a way to help these public figures I don\u2019t know personally. \u00a0I put my focus on the people I might reach, atheists who shouldn\u2019t take this behavior as inspiration and Christians who should know it\u2019s not indicative of us all.<\/p>\n I\u2019d be interested in all of your thoughts on the best tack to take.<\/p>\n In a post earlier today, I disagreed with the conclusions of Jen Fulwiler\u2019s critique of Atheist Awareness Week, but there\u2019s an element of truth in her article I want to acknowledge. \u00a0There\u2019s something exhausting and unpleasant about spending a lot of your writing\/thinking time trying to argue with people you don\u2019t respect. \u00a0When you think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism","category-debatetactics","tag-sin-eatersdirty-hands"],"yoast_head":"\n