Ex Christian Opinion Poll on engaging with Christians

[TheRedneckProfessor]

1 hour ago, LogicalFallacy said:

LMTO requested his account be deleted

Looks like we Lost_more_then_one christian this past month. 

[florduh]

So should we draw straws to see who can respond to every Christian? How many would be allowed so they don't feel overwhelmed?

[LogicalFallacy]

We could give it a go. Maybe 1 mod and 2 members engaging at any one time? Keeps things lively without it being a pile on?

 

And possibly work within our individual strengths? For example on matters that get heavily into Cosmology I'd defer to Walter or Josh. And if it got heavy into Evolution I think TRP has knowledge in that area? However, deferring to others could have the side effect of making a Christian feel like they have a small victory. Not that I'm too concerned about that.

 

Could set up a random excel generator to pick the names.

[Geezer]

I’ve been active over at Ex-Church of Christ Support Board for several years now. I’m frankly amazed the mods and administrator haven’t band or blocked me. I left the Church of Christ in 2005 and Christianity altogether in 2012. I’ve been active over at Ex-Church of Christ since 2005.

 

I definitely went through my troll stage, and they were very tolerant of me. I think I’m one of the few atheists over there now. I’ve definitely put an emphasis on educating them in regards to the historical evidence as to the origins and evolution of the Bible and the Christian faith. 
 

I’ve convinced a few of them that the Bible and the Christian faith are made made, but they don’t care. The social element is their draw now, and many of them have affiliated with some liberal denomination or version of Christianity. That site has two boards. I don’t venture into the fundy board. I did for awhile but that proved to be a pointless exercise.

 

The liberal side is tolerant and accepting of different ideas and religions. My point being not all Christian sites are closed minded and intolerant. I try to be tolerant of Christians when they come here. They’ve been brainwashed so they don’t know any better. They think God sent them here to seek out some lost sheep. They’re just trying to get some brownie points built up for the Day of Final Judgement. They are acting out of fear. And they fear their imaginary God more than us.  

[◊ crazyguy123 ◊]

On 2/13/2020 at 1:31 PM, LogicalFallacy said:

 

Yes. LMTO requested his account be deleted. He felt the pile on was a bit much. Looking back at the thread one has to agree attempting to simultaneously engage with 5 to 10 others is a bit much. We 'attack' as a group of lions, instead like the movies one on one to make things fairer as TRP was saying.

 

Aw, that's too bad. I actually liked him. Oh well, on to the next Christian I guess!

[LogicalFallacy]

1 hour ago, crazyguy123 said:

 

Aw, that's too bad. I actually liked him. Oh well, on to the next Christian I guess!

 

Me too. He wasn't a bad sort. Sure people got frustrated with him, but seriously is there any Christian that we won't get frustrated by? Most of us have probably been hearing arguments over and over depending with how much interest we follow the 'god debate'. But many of these Christians have never studied the arguments for and against and think that this is the first time we've heard about how their personal experience proves god.

 

I can't remember the last time I heard a Christian argument and thought "well that's completely new". Even 'new' sounding ones are often rehashes of older ones. Most of them break down into one of the major fallacies. (God of the gaps, incredulity, ignorance etc) 

[Joshpantera]

22 hours ago, LogicalFallacy said:

Me too. He wasn't a bad sort. Sure people got frustrated with him, but seriously is there any Christian that we won't get frustrated by? Most of us have probably been hearing arguments over and over depending with how much interest we follow the 'god debate'. But many of these Christians have never studied the arguments for and against and think that this is the first time we've heard about how their personal experience proves god.

 

I was reading this article and it relates to our thread of discussion: https://www.zmescience.com/science/the-dunning-kruger-effect-feature/?fbclid=IwAR2ul2eNQQVBZnXka34S5eJR43xnWzHPKT5L04zVLcY0km9gzmEfgfr-EWw

 

Quote

During their research, Dunning and Kruger found that good students would better predict their performance on future exams when given accurate feedback about the score they achieved currently and their relative ranking among the class. The poorest-performing students would not change their predictions even after clear and repeated feedback that they were performing badly. They simply insisted that their assumptions were correct.

 

 

Jokes aside, the Dunning-Kruger effect isn’t a failing on our part; it’s simply a product of our subjective understanding of the world. If anything, it serves as a caution against assuming we’re always right and highlights the importance of keeping an open mind and a critical view of our own ability.

 

But if you’re afraid that you might be incompetent, you could check by seeing how feedback affects your view on your own work, knowledge, skills, and how that relates to others around you. If you truly are, you won’t change your mind and this process is basically a waste of time but fret not — someone will tell you you’re incompetent.

 

And you won’t believe them.

 

 

Looking to human psychology can shed more light on the issue. The Dunning-Kruger effect has a strong hold in religion, among politics and other places as well. But it's very relevant to the issue of christians being willfully ignorant going into these discussions. And demanding that they are right. Even in the face of being demonstrably wrong. It explains a lot. And the article is quite frank. But this is why it's so frustrating trying to get through to some people. 

[MOHO]

I voted to keep them out.

 

1. I do (did) my own research.
2. A debate is useless.
3. The xtian participants I have read here seem to be into showing off and don't' seem genuine.
4. xianity has to be presented from a woo woo perspective to be legitimized and I am not interested in that.
5. They could, potentially, cause someone to have a relapse.
6. Most have been obnoxious and I get enough of that crap from home and Mrs. MOHO's critty-bitty friends.
7. Participation here legitimizes their position.
8. It all allows them the sharpen their bullshit spinning. (Yes, I know we can sharpen our skills too but I don't argue with critties anymore as it is pointless and frustrating.)
9. This is a safe haven for me when I've had too much of the xitan bullshit and likely is for other as well.
10. We are not going to deconvert them.

[disillusioned]

Another thing I didn't mention before is that there are and have been certain Christian members here who have made valuable contributions to the overall discussion,  at least from my perspective. End3 and ironhorse come to mind. I know we like to pile on, but they are (and, sadly, were) good sports,  for the most part at least.

 

I do think it's beneficial to have people around who disagree with us,  but who we nevertheless respect. Finding these people can be difficult, and most Christians certainly don't fall into this category. But I think that the ones who do shouldn't be forgotten in this discussion.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

34 minutes ago, disillusioned said:

I do think it's beneficial to have people around who disagree with us,  but who we nevertheless respect.

Yes.  I miss the discussions we had with End3 and Ironhorse.  I would welcome other christians who want to come and make an earnest and honest contribution to our community.

[LogicalFallacy]

Well looking at the poll results it's hard to gauge how many actually took part but the results show that there is more support for having discussions than for running Christians off.

 

5 of you think Christians are intruders should be discouraged outright.

 

The rest of the answers lean towards discussion of some form with 3 wanting to convert them, 7 not caring, and the rest enjoying a discussion.

 

So the question then becomes how best to engage with our Christian guests... which we've already discussed.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

8 hours ago, LogicalFallacy said:

So the question then becomes how best to engage with our Christian guests...

I was engaged to a christian once.  It didnt work out...

 

Also, she was psycho.

[older]

18 hours ago, TheRedneckProfessor said:

I was engaged to a christian once.  It didnt work out...

 

Also, she was psycho.

  

She was Christian and she was psycho. Isn't that redundant?

[Joshpantera]

A lot of psycho's love them some jesus, that's all I got to say......