“I have increasingly encountered Christians who accuse me to my face of being a liar, of being wicked, of not wanting to talk to God, of willfully ignoring evidence -- because that is the only way they can explain my existence. I cannot be an honest, well informed pursuer of the truth who came to a fair and reasonable decision after a thorough examination of the evidence, because no such person can exist in the Christian worldview, who does not come to Christ. Therefore, I must be a wicked liar, I must be so deluded by sin that I am all but clinically insane, an irrational madman suffering some evil psychosis.
There is nothing I can do for such people. Nothing I ever show or say to them will ever convince them otherwise--it can't, because they start with the assumption that their belief in Christ has to be true, therefore right from the start everything I say or do is always going to be a lie or the product of some delusion. They don't need any evidence of this, because to their thinking it must be true. Such people are trapped in their own hall of mirrors, and for them there is no escape. They will never know they are wrong even if they are. No evidence, no logic, no reason will ever get through to them.”
--Richard Carrier
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a little off topic...does anyone know the feed URL to this blog? Do we have a feedburner account or something comparable? I ask because I am was trying to email Planet Atheism, but they need this. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteThis is why it is pointless to try and reason with the Raniacs; they just don't want anything else to be true, so it isn't.
They say ignorance is bliss, but it can make you look like a right twat sometimes.
Clostridiophile,
ReplyDeleteAccording to the page source and my feedreader, the feed is:
http://raytractors.blogspot.com/feeds/8282222278065676575/comments/default
Thanks,
ReplyDeleteAdrian
@expatmatt
ReplyDeleteThis is why it is pointless to try and reason with the Raniacs; they just don't want anything else to be true, so it isn't.
I couldn't agree more. I started commenting on Ray's blog having been driven slightly to distraction by his inane comments on science, and though I couldn't really give a crap what sort of religious opinions anyone holds, I inevitably got drawn into the God debate.
It is a complete waste of time posting comments, though I am always curious how his minions will reply.
I am posting less these days. I can't help feeling that Ray is yanking my chain - posting deliberately inane comments which are ultimately designed to attract traffic to his blog and money to his bank account.