Tuesday, April 13, 2010

To Sister Lauren

On an otherwise stupid post about "New Atheists", filled with comments pointing out the flaws in the article, was a comment from Sister Lauren about the abuse she suffered from many of us "New Atheists". Her emotional trauma sounds real, and although she is a religionist, I recognize her as a generally compassionate and good person.

I wondered why, when I set out to start a new religion based on freedom, "new atheists" regularly made the argument that I was insane and should be locked up in a mental institution. That is not a lame threat, that is a very serious threat. I found it well enforced and positively life threatening.
-Sister Lauren

Some of what she says sounds, without me having additional evidence, paranoid. However, what most people fail to grasp is that many paranoid people would have their fears eased greatly if someone sat them down, listened to them, then explained why their fears are unjustified with facts.

I may think Sister Lauren is misguided in her attempts to find reason and meaning in the universe or in her religious beliefs, but she's a human being. I'm really sick of the internet atheists who think any good is done by calling otherwise good people who have God delusions "stupid" or "crazy". It represents a massive lack of maturity on their part and it is not what atheists should want to project. It just shows that atheists, just like religionists, can be d-bags too.

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