Tip #39 There Are Many Others
Oct. 25th, 2015 11:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wingedbeastIn the fantasy world in which I am actually getting read by people looking to convert nonbelievers, you might have had a response to the scenarios in Tips 10 and 35. When being told of someone who denied your basic humanity, you might have thought that you wouldn't be so offended at such a thing. After all, it's so obviously untrue and they so obviously don't have the power to enforce their views. You might even be amused.
The first time I heard that all atheists believe something that could be accurately described as "nothing caused nothing to explode into something," I was amused. It wasn't just untrue of myself, it was obviously untrue that that was the only alternative. Several times later and I just rolled my eyes in mild annoyance. And, it kept happening even when I expressly told people otherwise. I became offended.
The next time I respond to someone who makes that claim, my response will not be proportionate to an isolated incident of one isolated individual saying one isolated thing once.
This part may be unfair to you. You might be one of those people who not only doesn't "mean to offend" but actually takes the effort to be respectful of nonbelievers. You might have genuinely just made one mistake... or get a response to a mistake you haven't even made.
It's unfair to nonbelievers, suffering through many, many who have come before you, seeking to ply obvious guilt and insult and peer pressure and scare tactics and accusations that we're actually believers, to have to treat each and every person who tries to convert us as though the entire evangelizing and apologetics field has not greatly offended, and even hurt us.
Neither case would be fair. It's a basic reality. You'll deal with the consequences. If you genuinely want this conversation in good faith and respectfully, I'm sorry that you'll have to deal with the consequences of so many who either could not or would not make that attempt. There it is.
The first time I heard that all atheists believe something that could be accurately described as "nothing caused nothing to explode into something," I was amused. It wasn't just untrue of myself, it was obviously untrue that that was the only alternative. Several times later and I just rolled my eyes in mild annoyance. And, it kept happening even when I expressly told people otherwise. I became offended.
The next time I respond to someone who makes that claim, my response will not be proportionate to an isolated incident of one isolated individual saying one isolated thing once.
This part may be unfair to you. You might be one of those people who not only doesn't "mean to offend" but actually takes the effort to be respectful of nonbelievers. You might have genuinely just made one mistake... or get a response to a mistake you haven't even made.
It's unfair to nonbelievers, suffering through many, many who have come before you, seeking to ply obvious guilt and insult and peer pressure and scare tactics and accusations that we're actually believers, to have to treat each and every person who tries to convert us as though the entire evangelizing and apologetics field has not greatly offended, and even hurt us.
Neither case would be fair. It's a basic reality. You'll deal with the consequences. If you genuinely want this conversation in good faith and respectfully, I'm sorry that you'll have to deal with the consequences of so many who either could not or would not make that attempt. There it is.
