Christian Objectivists: Dialog with Atheist Objectivists? No.

I got this question today from a Christian.

Should Objectivists and Christians talk? Do reasonable [people] disagree, and if so, is it profitable for them to understand one another?

--M


Dear M:

I don't believe there is any other kind of Christian but a Christian Objectivist. If there is, he is saying that the tenets of Christianity are not objectively true.

Ridiculous.

Sadly, though: I don't think many Christians would know what "objectively true" even means.

Even more ridiculous.

So maybe the question is, "Should Christian Objectivists and atheist/agnostic/skeptic/apatheist (AASA) Objectivists talk?".

It seems like the answer should be "yes," but I actually believe it's often better if it's "no."

The vast majority of atheist individuals I've posted with or seen post are so vitriolic about Christianity that I think their emotions get in the way of their ability to be rational. At that point, no meaningful dialog is possible.

There are websites by ex-atheists that explain this phenomenon. Those were helpful to me in understanding why Christianity drives atheists into a frenzy, and helped me understand why some atheists are driven to spend--report the ex-atheists--virtually all their free time learning arguments with which to attack Christians on the Internet.

But what's new? Non-Christians have wanted to rip Christians apart since the beginning, as evidenced by the resulting torture and murder of Christians on a huge scale.

Beg to differ with that allegation? Save it. I have the statistics.

So yeah. The idea for the non-Christians is that you kill/hate/attack--not PEOPLE who come to different conclusion--but CHRISTIANS who do that. Now THERE'S tolerance, o ye "good guy" atheists. No. Wait. Did I say, "tolerance"?

What? Were you going into the little speech about "Alllllll the killings perpetrated by Christians?" HA! Let's end that crap once and for all. Check your premises. Atheist regimes hold the FIRST 30 SLOTS in the world history of number of people killed under their authority. So pack up that crap and see if you can sell it on ebay. Don't try shoving it off on any educated Christian.

Granted, 99 percent of Christians are, frankly, idiots on stilts when it comes to understanding what they themselves purport to even believe in, and the nature of it, and the empirical proofs of it.

Not necessarily their fault.

But Christian teachers who spent their time teaching their classes how to make Christmas ornaments for the handicapped instead of teaching them what the hell metaphysics and epistemology are and the proofs of their faith--don't get me started--are going to have some 'splainin to do on the Big Day.

Nonetheless, there are so many logical contradictions in atheist/agnostic/skeptic Objectivists feeling that Christians don't have a right to their own rationally deduced value choices that I don't even have time to get into that.

Today.

At the bottom, isn't the act of "talking" actually the act of each person asserting his position? And in a conversation where each is strongly motivated to dissuade the other, isn't that too toxic an atmosphere for dialog? What progress could either make that wouldn't make the other's emotional state ramp up?

But the CHRISTIANS! Oh, I'm shaking my head with a "Tsk, tsk, tsk" at them.

Until Christians wake up and get their minds working about what Jesus actually taught, and about the definitions of the words they use, and about the existing proofs, I actually think it is detrimental to the cause for those Christians to open their mouths.

Their illiteracy just gives more ammunition to atheists, and causes the poor atheists to put in so much silly work rejecting a straw man--a straw man that the Christians built by alleging teachings that are NOT the teachings.

I completely exclude apatheists from the above description. Apatheists (apathy + theist = apatheist) simply don't care whether there is or isn't a God, so they aren't even going to engage in any dialog beyond letting you know they don't care.

I find THAT position to be the scariest of all.

Then again, maybe that's one common ground for atheist Objectivists and Christian Objectivists--to form an alliance to at LEAST bring back the caring. :)

Hot or cold, people!

Beth