Comments on: Let Sleeping Sheep Lie

By: Techfun

Techfun — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:58:24 +0000

Anne, thank you SO much for commenting. I did a lot of Googling of your name to try to find anything you had written regarding evolution but didn’t find much. I did see in your About.com bio that you were granted your Ph.D. in biomedical science so I pretty much assumed that you were not a “Six Day Creationist” like Kristi from BC.

I too was surprised to see someone trying to use your description of scientific terminology as a way to try to discredit evolution and natural selection.

By: Anne Helmenstine

Anne Helmenstine — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:47:09 +0000

I should probably point out About.com is part of the New York Times, and as such is a pretty credible source, if I do say so myself. I also was amused that anyone would use a quote from my site to try to argue against evolution.

By: Techfun

Techfun — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:39:40 +0000

Tiffany, I have seen plenty of threads started by people with an axe to grind with religions, but I don’t think those are as common as threads that are started with the presupposition that the forum community is entirely Christian. In fact, after just going through the most recent 8 pages of threads, the anti-Religion threads are very active and tend towards controversial subject names, but are still a minority. And – we may disagree on this – I see many of them as a reaction to the last couple of months of religious heavy posts.

Its not a reaction that is at all productive and it just aggravates the situation. Baiting people when you already have learned how to push their buttons is like shooting fish in a barrel and bores me. But I can understand why people create those threads out of frustration with certain people.

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:15:36 +0000

While I agree with most of what you’ve said here–especially the part about how engaging in these conversations is futile for all concerned–I feel compelled to point out that a large number of the religion-related threads and religion-related thread hijackings on BC are started by anti-religious people. Not all of them, but at least as many as are started by Christians attempting to evangelize. Like Will, I tend not to bother to open those threads (whichever side they come from), but this post and many other comments I’ve seen on the issue make it sound as if there’s an onslaught from the Moral Majority going on over there, with no acknowledgment of the fact that many, many of the “religious” threads are topics like “Was Jesus a Terrorist?” and “How Can Anyone Believe the Bible?”

By: Techfun

Techfun — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:09:11 +0000

There is something very wrong with the USA when people take things that are not remotely directed towards them release their ire on a writer. People in the original colonies were fleeing religious intolerance. I guess enough generations have passed that thew reality of our history has been forgotten. So many Christians (not all by any means, but a very vocal subset of them) have become the very thing their spiritual ancestors fled in coming here.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:55:01 +0000

Yes, if I see from the topic title where a BC thread is going, I don’t even peek. On a side note, it can be hard sometimes to avoid the wrath even when you don’t think you are encouraging anything. I posted a negative review on my blog about a History Channel show and was puzzled by a couple of emails I got and a comment about the post on another site. Turned out that my, (I thought humorous), reference to an “all inclusive rapture” was viewed as heresy by some.

Sometimes you can’t think of everything in advance and despite no intentions to do so, offend someone. It seems that people such as you refer to above are the easiest to offend, so sometimes are just best avoided.

By: ender

ender — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:26:16 +0000

i’m always so certain that a rational discussion can be had amongst open-minded individuals about any topic … that we can agree to disagree on certain points yet still discuss other areas of the issue. and then i am forcefully reminded that some people do not have open minds … through experience or fear or whatever, they have found a way to shut down and see just one small area and are convinced that is all there is of the world. or, at best, that everyone should inhabit that sliver of the world with them. kudos to you for even resolving to stop engaging them. it’s hard!

By: Techfun

Techfun — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:23:44 +0000

The New York Times is famous, world wide, for its self correcting mechanisms and its continuous publication of corrections and such when a mistake is made. I can understand disagreement over some of their opinion material but in this case, the article was simply a report on an assessment released by House of Representatives committee. It’s pretty hard to mess that up since the source material is easy to check.

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:19:54 +0000

I have been just avoiding those threads on BC cuz it’s just too frustrating to argue with such ingrained and _willful_ ignorance. OTOH at times I question and doubt the veracity of some things in the NY Times and Wikipedia myself…

By: Techfun

Techfun — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:46:18 +0000

Glad to see that I am not alone Dawn. The thing is, I know many people of different faiths who can discuss issues like evolution, life after death, the value of prayer, and other issues in a calm and engaging manner. I’m spoiled I guess by that. The reason for the post was to remind myself that I need to really pay attention and recognize the queues that tell me if that sort of engagement is possible or if it is just lain not gonna happen. On BC I find things tend towards the second condition.

By: AntiBarbie

AntiBarbie — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:32:07 +0000

The same comment got to me too. It gets bad over on BC sometimes. The comments some of the more vocal folk on there get so ridiculous at times it tends to make me cringe. It’s hard for me not to argue too but it’s pointless to argue with people who aren’t looking for truth but just want a platform on which to preach about God to the masses.