DOF offers his well-considered (as usual) thoughts on the subject, noting that atheists are lacking anything in common except the title:<\/p>\n
To some extent, most of us are constrained in our beliefs by scientific reality but to put it mildly, even within that enclosure debate goes on. There\u2019s no \u201catheist position\u201d on anything but the existence of God, which is that He\/She\/It is very unlikely to exist. Consistency on gun control, taxation, school vouchers, the Detroit bailout? Forget it. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
And, of course, even on the issue of Divine Existence, and what to do about it, atheists tend to be a pretty diverse lot.<\/p>\n
So my advice on \u2018Talking To An Atheist\u2019 is that all the normal rules of conversation apply: The conversation should flow in two directions. Don\u2019t make stereotypical assumptions. Remember that your impression of any group is often forged by the loudest members of that group, and by that group\u2019s opponents. Forget what James Dobson or Ray Comfort told you about \u201catheists\u201d and talk to the individual person. Don\u2019t be a bully or a doormat. Just engage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
Which is, of course, radical and revolutionary and … well, the right thing to do.<\/p>\n
And, in fact, is the right thing to do in most contexts (i.e., “the normal rules of conversation”), regardless of the theistic stance of the conversationalists. Take Christians. <\/p>\n
Sure, certainly there are stereotypical assumptions people make about Christians (probably more than folks would be willing to admit about making regarding Jews, or Buddhists, though probably fewer than are made about Moslems). But I think I could make a case that, despite the efforts of certain segments of the Christian community to pretend that the are the One, True, Set of Christians (as proven by how they claim that others aren’t Real Christians), Christians as a whole hold very few positions on anything except a few core dogma (though “even within that enclosure debate goes on”). Despite what Jerry Falwell or Rick Warren might assert, there are no universal (let alone Biblical) stances on “gun control, taxation, school vouchers, or the Detroit bailout.”<\/p>\n
Which is my way of saying that “your impression of any group is often forged by the loudest members of that group, and by that group\u2019s opponents.” So “forget what James Dobson or Ray Comfort told you about” Christians “and talk to the individual person. Don\u2019t be a bully or a doormat. Just engage.”<\/p>\n
Lather, rinse, repeat.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Note: I’m certainly not saying that DOF wouldn’t or won’t say the same thing about talking with Christians, as he is a civil and positive gentleman. He was just addressing, in context, talking with atheists, and it occurred to me that it could be extended to other groups as well. Like, say, Christians. Or the French. Or gamers.<\/p>\n
<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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I disagree with his political philosophy, not to mention his personal ethics, but all told he strikes me as a man with a certain measure of smarts. Which is why, when he says something like this,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2012"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2012","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2012"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/newtgingrich.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":132910,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/practicing-what-one-preaches.html","url_meta":{"origin":13504,"position":1},"title":"Practicing what one preaches","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 23-Feb-17 11:21am","format":false,"excerpt":"Pope Francis will probably, again, ruffle some feathers over his suggestion that it's better to be an atheist than a hypocritical Catholic. I will remind those beruffled that while Jesus didn't talk much about atheists, he spoke often and angrily about religious hypocrites who focused on outer trappings of virtue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47933,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/11\/questions-for-atheists-answered-by-someone-whos-not.html","url_meta":{"origin":13504,"position":2},"title":"Questions for Atheists (answered by someone who's not)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 11-Nov-14 12:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not an Atheist (but I've been accused of being one on the Internet).3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/atheist1%5B1%5D.gifimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/atheist1%5B1%5D.gifimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/atheist1%5B1%5D.gifimgmax%3D660.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45535,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/09\/28\/atheists-are-humans-too.html","url_meta":{"origin":13504,"position":3},"title":"Atheists are humans, too","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 28-Sep-14 10:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Speaking as a theist, there's a lot that atheism has to teach the faithful: skepticism about accepted teaching, dealing with the conflict between dogma and human knowledge, contention against authority, and understanding where many of the threads of modern faith come from (hint to modern Christians: a lot of it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28439,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/30\/atheists-obamacare-eek.html","url_meta":{"origin":13504,"position":4},"title":"Atheists! Obamacare! Eek!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 30-Jun-12 12:09pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Did you know that Atheists are responsible for Obamacare being shoved down our throats? \u00a0Amazing, but true! \u00a0I mean, if you can't believe the WorldNetDaily site, who can you believe?HOW ATHEIST'S CRUSADE BROUGHT US OBAMACARELandmark school-prayer case has sinister connection to Supreme Couirt todayApparently the connection is that EVIL ATHEIST\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19368,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/01\/discarding-reason-for-the-season.html","url_meta":{"origin":13504,"position":5},"title":"Discarding Reason for the Season","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 1-Dec-10 10:56pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So after discussing the Evils of Atheistic Billboards yesterday (or, more properly, the hypocrisy of Christians condemning Atheists for proselytization efforts), a few more items bobbed up on the subject. \u00a0Like this billboard: It came up at this page at Pharyngula in conjunction with PZ Myers objecting to an atheist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Holidays"","block_context":{"text":"Holidays","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/holidays"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/tongues-sticking-out.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/tongues-sticking-out.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/tongues-sticking-out.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}