I was and am interested in the amount of forethought and lack of raving used to get your point across... Of course it hardly seems fair as debunking the existence of a god is like shooting fish in a barrel... But you are still nice (and well thought out) about it in the blog...

I am not interested overly much in the discussion as it seems like a lot of effort for something that gets nowhere, yet, I also expect there are many trapped in a place (not unlike the Mormon fellow in your recent blog) that really need some support in thier confusion regarding many types of organized religions... and ones possition in the insanity of the same...I guess it would be a good thing to say thanks to you from those of us that have neither the time or patience to undertake this kind of service...So, I thank you for everyone that finds comfort, or at least some community that was missing for them before...

Hmmmm.... vile hate mail? Is that a God fearing or Christian thing to do? I always wondered... How is it any Christian, Muslim etc has the ego to think that anyone has to protect a supreme being? Well... there I go being all logical...

Thanks for your kind words about my responses on this blog.

Although you are right that in many cases debunking the existence (or qualities) of god is pretty easy, there are enough variations in argument to keep it interesting. There are also some arguments for the belief in a deity (if not for the existence of a deity) that I don't think one can effectively argue against, and some arguments that require some pretty detailed explanation. All of this keeps the subject interesting to me.

I disagree that the argument gets nowhere. In fact, I see a number of benefits (some of them peripheral) from this kind of discussion. Namely:

• Encouraging theists to examine their beliefs, which will (I hope) lead them to be more philosophically rigorous if they are not already.


• Encouraging atheists to have intelligent, reasoned responses to religion, rather than being mindlessly anti-religion or meeting arguments for the existence of God with derision.


• Demonstrating that atheists can have polite, respectful conversations with religious people.


• Helping atheists who have no community see that there are like-thinking individuals out there.

Interestingly, I have taken some heat from atheists who think that I should be steadfastly anti-religion or condemn people for being theists even if their only reason for believing in a deity is that it brings them comfort. I don't do that, and I don't see any value in doing that.

As for the hate mail -- I really wish I could find out more about the thought behind some of it (particularly the hate mail that seems to equate atheism with homosexuality, which baffles me to no end). No, it's not the Christian thing to do. But then, there are plenty of people in all religious and non-religious groups who would benefit their peers by simply keeping quiet.