It’s done it, everybody!
Admittedly, this number is slightly inaccurate. Because of the singular nature of this post and the response it got (and continues to get), I didn’t do any editing of any of the comments (except to remove obvious commercial content if I saw any). As a result, there are duplicate comments that I normally would have deleted but didn’t. On the other hand, there are unbelievably abusive and even threatening comments that I normally would have deleted in a heartbeat but that, for this post, I kept up. So it all balances out.
“Get over it bitch. Maybe if you had a god he’d save you.”
Well, maybe not so winning. I wish the 1,000th comment had been one of the many supportive and thankful ones… but in a way, I guess this is appropriate. Alas, I can’t link you directly to it — Typepad still can’t link directly to a comment if there’s more than 50 on a post — but it’s at the very bottom of this page, if you want to see it for yourself.
Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever had a comment that hateful posted at my blog. (Nor has anything I’ve blogged about come anywhere near the kilo-comment mark.) For what it’s worth, **I** thought your post was great.
I’ve had comments that hateful before and I don’t really get it. But, as to the nature of that comment, if God really did exist, I wouldn’t want him to save me anyway, judging by his apparent lack of sense and compassion. I realize I’m in the minority here, but I don’t much cotton to the idea of being ruled by a tempermental teenager with the ability to cosmically spank me for reasons I can’t hope to understand, reasons that change without notice, and sometimes no reason at all.
I break up with guys for less than that.
“Joreth”
http://www.theinnbetween.net
http://joreth.livejournal.com
http://www.polytees.com
http://www.stagehandtees.com
This is going to seem like I’m plugging my blog, but really I’m responding to the second comment for this post: http://moopthas.blogspot.com/2007/04/ungodly-unhelpful.html
I agree with the Hitchensian position that the Abrahamic God is no deity worthy of respect and that I wouldn’t want to be “saved” one way or the other.
Incidentally, your Atheists and Anger post is what brought me to this site, it’s what drove me to get my “Significance in Insignificance” post tacked onto the Carnival of the Godless you hosted on Halloween and was pretty much right on the money across the board. Sorry for the mixed metaphors. =)
Another aside, I went through Broncho-Pneumonia about 10 years ago and it’s about as much fun as a kung-fu kick to the mushy inside-bits of the lungs; I sympathize and wish you a speedy recovery. “Get well, get well soon, we want you to get well!”
Congratulations. Atheists and Anger was the post that inspired me to bookmark you.
I echo Nan’s sentiments. Atheists and Anger was inspiring.
When are you going to respond to the comment that I left though? 😉
I’m a polytheist, but I totally agree with nearly everything you said in that post. It’s vitally important, both to express our anger and reasons clearly, and not to let ourselves be bullied by those who try to use anger as proof of derangement, in order to hide from the incidents that make us angry.
Congratulations! ::throws virtual confetti::
That post is what brought lil ol’ lurker me to your blog, and I’m grateful, because I’ve enjoyed reading everything here.
It is too bad the 1000th comment had to be from an idiot, but you can’t have everything.
What you said, Joreth!
I’m still trying to figure out why people can’t not believe in God without being so aggressive about it. I call myself an atheist, but if people want to believe, that’s their business. Just keep it out of my way, please (i.e. laws).
What if churches had to pay taxes like the rest of us?
Jen – speaking for myself, it’s kind of like not being at all interested in baseball but still caring passionately about the fact that someone is beating me over the head with a baseball bat. I don’t think you can really say any atheist out there is being more aggressive than any of their theistic equivalents. True, we *shouldn’t* have to stand up and demand our views be taken seriously, that we not be harassed and attacked for them. But we do. I’d be perfectly happy to leave believers to their own devices, if only they’d extend me and other atheists the same courtesy. But they don’t.
Jen, you write “I’m still trying to figure out why people can’t not believe in God without being so aggressive about it.” I tend to be pretty quiet, myself, but consider three things.
First, people whose writings you read are obviously going to be the most vocal ones; it’s a self-selecting sample. I don’t feel driven to write on the subject, so you won’t read me much.
Second, I think there’s also a “zeal of the convert” bias. If you look, a lot of vocal atheists are people who were raised religious and had to decide to reject it, then “come out” to their families. That requires a certain amount of bloody-mindedness.
Finally, I think the “new atheism” is very much a reaction against the oppressive power that evangelical christianity has in U.S. politics. Political action requires a considerable amount of aggression.
“Christians” in that debate is used sloppily as an abbreviation for “the opposition” or “would-be theocrats”, who are the ones that force themselves into my awareness. Other Christians that don’t want to be presumed to agree with Mike Huckabee need to stand up and say something.
The fact that I have Huckabee as an example is why I’m glad to see some aggression. That this American Ayatollah was, even as a long shot, considered a serious candidate for President, is a profound condemnation of modern politics.