tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post4685209493849743972..comments2024-02-13T12:50:30.457-05:00Comments on Rants Within the Undead God: Second Debate with a “Thinking Christian”Benjamin Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-4252293060332060962019-01-17T07:58:09.554-05:002019-01-17T07:58:09.554-05:00It looks like you were prescient in speaking of &q...It looks like you were prescient in speaking of "the inevitable eventuality of a purge and ban." Just a few days after you wrote that, Gilson found a pretext to ban me from commenting on his website.Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-5129229881837672602019-01-12T07:21:49.465-05:002019-01-12T07:21:49.465-05:00It seems like you may have had a run-in with that ...It seems like you may have had a run-in with that "thinking Christian." I agree that Gilson isn't philosophical in his handling of critical comments on his blog, so he's not responding in good faith. He's much more interested in winning points for "Christianity" and protecting his readers' "faith" (self-serving Americanized presumptions) and stereotypes about atheists and nonbelievers than he is in exploring ideas and getting to the truth. He's dogmatic because he thinks he's found the absolute truth, and he's quick to go ad hominem because he's a Christian of the American variety, so the cultural arrogance from dominating the planet with the world's biggest military rubs off on the evangelical American Christians. Thus the debate, such as it was was one-sided.<br /><br />What I get out of it mainly is my side of the writing which I've posted on my blog. I wonder, though, when you speak of "the inevitable eventuality of a purge and ban," do you mean from the Thinking Christian blog? He did come close to shutting down the conversation because of what he called my language which betrayed my "hatred" of God and Christians. This was in spite of the fact that I've been showing great restraint there. That doesn't matter, though, because the flock must be protected from unpleasant influences. This is why "thinking Christian" ends up being oxymoronic. Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-34166638214004025782019-01-09T11:35:39.600-05:002019-01-09T11:35:39.600-05:00There's a point beyond which too much charity ...There's a point beyond which too much charity can turn into actively enabling a degenerate lifestyle.<br /><br />Describing any exchange with the venal partisan hack Tom Gilson as a "debate" is unwarranted charity well past that point.<br /><br />At least when one debates with a dogmatist, who by definition is arguing in bad faith since he is obligated never to change his mind, the dogmatist can be counted on to state his ideas clearly and consistently, and their blogs frequently attract intelligent and interesting commenters willing to explain their factual and moral errors in detail.<br /><br />Gilson is a pure propagandist for white male grievance and a crypto-Nazi apologist who traffics exclusively in the only commodities his viewing audience wants to buy: ad hominem attacks, irredentist cultural whinges over lost privilege, ressentiment, and masturbation fantasies of persecution. I have never in almost a decade seen him put forward a concisely stated philosophical or scientific idea to be "debated" so much as he stacks little insults and coded applause lines on each other's shoulders and wraps them in a debate-shaped trench coat.<br /><br />I will say that, as always, I've enjoyed reading your edifying contributions, and hope you maintain a record of them for the inevitable eventuality of a purge and ban. That elegant bit of conversational judo vis-a-vis his censorship itself being a performative demonstration of your historical point was particularly nice, and did not go unnoticed.Staircaseghosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02647353730607650698noreply@blogger.com