You cite the policy of free speech and simultaneously advocate the silencing of 'stupid people'. Nice.
In addition, it is not your duty to call bastards bastards. In fact, it is very rarely productive and often only serves to degrade the situation.
I have little interest in the debate myself (although fwiw I am a strong atheist who believes that religion formed the basis of civilised society and that 'religious' wars are really just the product of nationalism and xenophobia), but I am disappointed with player1's conduct.
I don't advocate silencing Revan. I advocate calling his arguments baseless, and pointing out his failed use of such technical terms as "axiom", "logic", "fallacy", and etc. Something is not axiomatic simply because he wishes to call it so; there is also the stricture of self-evidence. He cannot simply redefine his terms, utilizing them freely to mean whatever he wants them to mean, three thousand years of Western rhetorical tradition to the contrary notwithstanding. He started the game, by trying to cite "first principles". That was his choice. As you can see, kind and simple-minded folk may be easily taken in by this sort of thing, and rush to defend the very devil in their midst who is trying to control their minds, indeed, to bedazzle them with seemingly incontrovertible arguments which are in reality nothing but a load of bluster. "Sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace." It is indeed my duty to point out such people, and their failed schemes of misusing logic to validate that which is nothing but chauvinistic hate-mongering. If you cannot see him for the troll that he is, then I will be happy to point it out to you each and every time I witness it.
He did not say that the Bible is good, or useful, or inspiring to him personally. He said that the Bible, and the Bible alone (which version of it he still has not stated yet) is the One and Only True Word of God. What you atheists apparently cannot seem to understand, is that this is an act of war against the private religious and spiritual beliefs of anyone who does not accept that statement to be "axiomatic"; that is, to be self-evidently true to the casual observer. It is an intellectual outrage, a blow against religious freedom of expression (as well as the right
not to believe) and a slap in the face to millions of devout believers of other faiths throughout the world, throughout history: pious souls who have never even heard of his one and only holy book of books.
Perhaps you don't live in America, where fundamentalists of every stripe seek to subvert discourse, to utilize the tools of logic and reason to suppress logic and reason, and demand equal time for "alternative science" which is nothing of the sort, since it precludes falsifiability, the very basis of the scientific method. We have a CFR member from Maine whose grandfather financed fascists posing as a good old boy from Texas while trying to dismantle the Constitution, hobble due process, and introduce thousands of signing statements as an end run around the Legislature, while at the very same time attempting to roll back science education into the fundamentalist Dark Ages. This is indeed a very slippery slope. Don't think for one minute that if these people were granted the power over your mind that they so deeply crave, that you would enjoy the intellectual independence to doubt the existence of God and the freedom of speech to express that view which you now take for granted.
I, sir, am disappointed that you wish to let book-burners and unbeliever-stoners promulgate their pogroms on what should be a space free for everyone to express his or her views with no mention being made of one religion being unarguably superior to all others. If you can't see how insultingly presumptuous this theological thug is being, you certainly deserve the America you are about to inherit, if these people are allowed "equal time" to express "family values" and "traditional viewpoints", at the expense of all others.
As Jesus said: I come with the sword, to pit brother against brother, son against father, husband against wife.
@Revan: Don't try quoting C.S. Lewis. You wouldn't understand the merest metaphor and you continually spout idiocies.
@techhead: I emphatically applaud your common good sense.
@+OPTI+: We are saying the same thing. I, too am a devout believer who still questions everything every day. I have no quarrel with you, or your personal spirituality. Stop defending people who are trolls. Let him stand up for himself. If you defend him any more, then the trolls really have won. He's a big boy. He pulled "axiom" out of his ass. Let's say you sit out this round and see if he's really a devout believer, or just another bullshit artist trying to be a smartass. Spec player. He's cheating.
@Amanieu & Kaleo: Cool. Thanks for expressing your views. Thanks also for calling them your opinions, and not trying to utilize any false appeals to some sort of rigorously-argued rhetorical method.
@humancontroller: You're full of shit, and you always will be.
@tito: thx 4 stopin bai u kin go nao doof
