Teh Interwebs- There's Criticism

atheism, atheist, christian, jesus, religion, christianity, tom estes,

Tom Estes of Hard Truth* has a little trouble with the part of Teh Interwebs I enjoy most- the interactivity. On good days, I'm funny, maybe even insightful, and get compliments. On great days, I say something that sparks a fascinating, if only tangentially related, conversation in the comments. On my off days, I say something stupid, you call me on it, we all have a little laugh and move on.

That's the internet. If you don't want to deal with criticism, don't post on the internet. Write your thoughts in your journal and hide the journal under your mattress.

Mr. Estes just can't seem to figure that out. He posts something stupid, people call him on it and he changes his comment policies. First there were the ridiculous commenting rules, which could be boiled down to "unless you plan on kissing my ass, don't comment". Then Hard Truth became an "almost atheist-free zone", a little odd for a blog devoted to "exposing the adverse effects of atheism on our world**".

Most recently, Mr. Estes posted on Lord May. If you're not familiar with Lord May, Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, simply typing "lord may" into google will give you a wealth of information, something Mr. Estes clearly didn't bother to do.

This article is about a scientist who calls himself, and not making this up, Lord May. That's right, Lord May. I guess he did it to simplify conversation. Now, when someone wants to ask him a question, their sentence can begin with their question, and his name at the same time. One could say, "lord, may I hear your ridiculous opinion on a particular matter?" See how that works? It kills two birds with one stone.

The comments to this post, of course, were hilarious, as one commentor after another excoriated Mr. Estes for his stunning inability to use google. Mr. Estes, never one to take criticism well, has gone scorched earth on the comment policy.

Here's the thing, the atheists that come here don't own this site, and it's time for them to understand that, so here is how things are going to work for a while.

My posts will no longer be enabled to receive comments.

All comments will be made in the forums.

There will be two forum pages; Christians forum topics, and atheist forum topics.
You will be free to comment in either forum, but if Christians want to comment on atheist topics, you must discuss the topics as framed by the atheist who started it. And if an atheist wants to comment on a Christian forum topic, you need to understand that all comments need to be from a Christian perspective. If an atheist wants to start a Christian topic that's fine, and vice versa, but nothing condescending, it needs to be out of genuine curiosity.

As always, no foul or hateful language of any kind will be permitted.

So, nobody gets to see Mr. Estes called on his hateful stupidity, and atheists will be forced to comment from the Christian perspective in the forums? What does that even mean? I suspect it means that unless I'm crediting Jesus with helping me find my keys this morning, I'm out.

Here's a hard truth, Mr. Estes: if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. If you can't handle it when someone calls you on your bullshit, don't post it on the internet. Go preach to the choir from the pulpit and soak up the sycophancy if that's what you need, but the internet is clearly not for you.

*Totally juvenile, but seriously, T.Estes of Hard Truth? Really?

**Atheism: the real reason polar bears are disappearing. What can I say? They're tasty!

Preaching to the Choir

tom estes, hard truth, atheism, atheist, atheophobia, hate, bigotry, christian, christianity,

Tom Estes at Hard Truth has a dream. No, not that dream. Not that one either. Probably not the one involving me, Naveen Andrews and a shocking lack of clothing. That would be weird.

He has a dream of an atheist free zone. Yes, I know, we call those "churches", but the internet tends to be a little more egalitarian than that. And somebody needs to do something about that.

Well, I was hoping that when I changed the rules for comments basically, you couldn't disagree with Mr. Estes. If he said the world is flat and made entirely of the broken dreams of orphans, you couldn't point out obvious facts such as "the world is round". and set my blog up to where only those with membership accounts could comment, that a lot of the militant atheists would go elsewhere. we wanted you to see our jackboots! I was wrong. They continue to come here and try to hijack our discussions with logic and reason. it's so rude. something atheist blogs frown on with much disdain the blogs frown on it? really?, and basically just try to be a thorn in the side of anyone who comes here and is a Christian. I've decided that needs to stop. It's time to make this an almost "atheist free zone." other atheist free zones: churches, US politics and most of the noninternet public sphere.

Please allow me to explain why: please

When I started this blog, I wanted to show non-Christians that truly rational thought is one that understands that we have an all-powerful, loving God who created us in His image, and sustains the world we live in. like atlas? wasn't that his job? And while this obviously is the truth, if it were obvious, wouldn't we all see it? a large segment of atheists that spend time on line one word are either unwilling or unable to see the rationale and logic behind such thinking. actually, by definition, all atheists, online or not, would not believe that. or they wouldn't be atheists. ergo, wherefore, and other such phrases

The more I worked on this blog, the more I learned about logic. Logic can be used as a tool if you're dealing with people who think the same as you, or share your world view, but it's completely useless with those who don't. i think you need to learn a little bit more about logic. There have been many times when I felt that I was able to construct a concrete logical argument that couldn't be argued, only to have the very first atheist commenter attempt to rip it to shreds. frustrating, but don't blame us all for your inability to construct a logical argument. And conversely, many atheists have responded to my posts with what they felt were solid, logical arguments that I was able to rip to shreds. logical argumentation: not for the faint of heart. Many times this resulted in them calling me a liar because they felt so strongly about the argument they had presented, that they felt it would impossible for anyone to actually disagree with it. you mean, like you?

Mr. Estes reveals his complete misunderstanding of logic for a few more paragraphs, then ends with a perversion of logic that makes me happy we don't have immortal souls, because if we do, then Aristotle's is weeping in shame.

But when our reasoning begins with God's Word, our thinking and our logic move vertically ???. The more we know about the Bible, the more we understand about God, and by extension the more we will understand about the world we live in. yes, if only physicists would consult the bible, we would have had Unified Field Theory ages ago. And as any Bible student knows, we will eventually get to the point where we cease to be able to understand good thing scientists don't take this tack. Einstein: fuck it, we can't understand anymore, i'm gonna go play golf. relativity? who cares? , but we know that God possesses all knowledge and will increase our abilities to think and reason Biblically as He sees fit. see Einstein, above. or, I'm ignorant because god wants me to be!

But atheists don't see the Bible as a foundation. They see it a great piece of old literature and that's about it. With that in mind, what do atheists and people like myself really have to talk about? Honestly, not much. i dunno, do you like Lost? what about video games? Settlers of Catan? Bohnanza? there's more to me than atheism, and I would hope there's more to you than christianity.

Mr. Estes then digresses into his hatred of PZ Myers, funny story that.

Which is why most of the atheists are here. Because they either hate God do you hate tiny pink unicorns, Mr. Estes? you can't hate what doesn't exist., and what His followers stand for. rank hypocrisy and desire to see me and mine gone, yeah, i don't like that. This is something they have every right to do, but not here. fair enough, but wait for what comes next. That is why there will be no more atheists allowed to comment on here with two exceptions. Curious as a Chimp, and Nigel the Bold. do i know these two?

Here's the HardTruth. that makes me laugh. for obvious reasons.

I want this to be a place where Christians can read about and discuss the adverse affects of atheism on our culture, without having to get attacked immediately by several hateful atheists. i want to be able to discuss what to do about atheists without actually having to hear from any atheists.

let's try something: I want this to be a place where Christians can read about and discuss the adverse affects of Judaism on our culture, without having to get attacked immediately by several hateful Jews.

or

I want this to be a place where Christians can read about and discuss the adverse affects of blacks on our culture, without having to get attacked immediately by several hateful blacks.

yeah. hate on atheists, and that's fine, because like fat people and trannies, we're still acceptable targets. it doesn't make you a good person, Mr. Estes, and it's still bigotry.