The Raving Atheist >>> The Raving Theist

[PanAtheist]

In the beginning was the blog, and the blog was "The Raving Atheist", and it was good ...

"Irreverant" does not even scratch the surface. It held nothing back as it ripped into the idiocy of religion in a wonderfully liberated way. And the comment threads were the stuff of legend, and providing a place for folks really pissed off about religion to express themselves with great humour and alacrity, and to encounter other folk of the same liberated views as they. It was darn good fun! And very liberating and thrilling for folks like me, who had come to the web to find out what the rest of the world really thought about religion!

The threads were so lively that a forum was called for, and Chris, The Raving Atheist's cool web mistress, stepped up and provided, and "The Raving Atheists" were born, and they began to outshine the blog.

But there also something a little odd about "The Raving Atheist". For me, his take on the religious seemed a bit odd, for he seemed to me to take his caricature of ordinary religious people as the full and literal truth. And another thing was that he called the basis of his atheism "Assumptions" rather than reason, rationality, and evidence. I always found that very odd. And he never wanted to engage people and converse in the forums. He kept right out of them, and again, I found that very odd. Why was he aloof? Was he hiding something?

And then it became apparent that the blog was 100% against all abortions ever in a remarkably dogmatic and irrational fashion. That was a circle I could not square. A blastula is not an embryo is not a fetus. It didn't make sense.

And finally "The Raving Atheist" (known in the comments as TRA) declared himself a God-Believer, and renamed himself "The Raving Theist", without any explanation whatsoever.

As many commentators pointed out - how can you explain the unjustifiable? The silence, itself, spoke volumes.

But I was interested. This man had had and extraordinary impact on me. And he had brought me into contact with freethinking and wonderful people, thanks to the forums. Also I am naturally interested in cause and effect. I am genuinely interested in how these kind of things happen.

And finally here is some information. If this has been posted before, all I can say is my search didn't find them - I don't have the all-seeing purview of The Smelly Old Git!

http://www.salvomag.com/new/articles...ing-theist.php

http://www.ilsussidiario.net/News/En...Theist/296965/

[Smellyoldgit]

Good find Pan – I’d not come across those two gems and as I was not around in the early pre-forum times, it’s both interesting and nauseating to learn where TRA was coming from. Likewise, it makes no sense to me how he squared the round hole of abortion with the square peg of an obviously remnant gene for Jesus, but square it he did – in his own clearly deluded mind.

To me, he obviously had the need for his comfort blankie and I guess he may one day come back into the enlightened fold – but I doubt it.

[clambake]

I find the "blankie" angle fascinating and amusing given my general history with religion, God, and (amusingly) my "blankie". Yes, I was "Linus" (from the Peanuts comic) back in my childhood, I loved and carried my blankie literally everywhere. I did it for long enough that I still have vivid memories, especially when my grandmother "fixed" the soft ragged edge with a border stitch, I was TRAUMATIZED!

Then one day I just put it down and never thought of it again in the sense of the security it apparently held for me. Thinking on it now I wonder if that coincided with my first doubts of the whole god thing, it would have been about that time.

Maybe I was lucky and my "blankie" was a physical object and not some vague invisible entity and much easier to let go. Funny now that I'm writing this I'm reliving some blankie moments and I'm reminded of its comforting effect. But I think even then I understood it was just a blanket. Hey, my first towel! LOL just thought of that!

[Davin]

That's a sad story.

[Kinich Ahau]

TRA turned out to be just another of the feeble minded. We should all pray for him!

[Smellyoldgit]

Davin wrote

That's a sad story.

TRA or Clambake?

[Erik]

Thanks for those links. The item that seems to have been missing from the RA's discussion of abortion was the stance on rape and incest. From what I remember, the RA avoided the topic.

[Davin]

Smellyoldgit wrote

TRA or Clambake?

Both, but TRA's is much worse.

[dogpet]

Poor guy, seems desperately in need of a real friend.

[clambake]

Smellyoldgit wrote

TRA or Clambake?

Davin wrote

Both, but TRA's is much worse.

Meanies! I hate you all and I'm going home to my blankie!

[ghoulslime]

Good find, Pan!

From the first day I joined this forum, way back in the day, I thought there was something very odd about the Raving Atheist. There was always something dishonest and duplicitous about him. I remember hanging out with one of the members of this forum one afternoon, discussing the big RA. I expressed my doubt that he was in fact an atheist. I always suspected that he was a wolf in sheep's clothing, posturing as an atheist and as a rational thinker in order to promote his irrational and extremist views on abortion.

When he was suddenly "converted" to Catholicism, I wasn't the least bit surprised. I just laughed out loud, and remarked to a few RA members, "I told you so!"

I have said it before and I will say it again, "Religion, all religion, is ALWAYS predicated upon intellectual dishonesty."

[Saturday]

ghoulslime wrote

I have said it before and I will say it again, "Religion, all religion, is ALWAYS predicated upon intellectual dishonesty."

Yes, religion is a symptom of a baser problem. I know plenty of atheists that still believe in acupuncture or vitamin supplements or spirits or even Reiki. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they became religious again. They all have that dogmatic thought, but just applied to other superstitions rather than Catholicism or Islam.