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Aww. The Church of Dawkins First Schism
cmr ^ | February 28, 2010 | MATTHEW ARCHBOLD

Posted on 02/27/2010 3:17:42 PM PST by NYer

The First Evangelical Church of the Atheistic Promulgation of Richard Dawkins is having its first schism. Awwww. Isn't that so cute. And guess what, poor widdle Dawkins doesn't like to be called names. Poor thing. The Times Online reports:

Richard Dawkins is accustomed to provoking the wrath of religious communities, but now a schism seems to have opened up within the atheist community who make up his fan-base.

The split occurred after he announced that a discussion section on his website, considered one of the busiest online atheist forums, would in future be tightly moderated and “irrelevant postings and frivolous gossip” would no longer be allowed.

The change was scheduled for next month but such was the torrent of abuse after the announcement that the forum had to be locked down, deepening the rift between Professor Dawkins and his 85,000 online fans.

Writing on RichardDawkins.net yesterday, in a posting entitled “Outrage”, he said that there was “something rotten” in internet culture and pledged to rid his website of its abusive element.

“Imagine seeing your face described by an anonymous poster, as ‘a slack-jawed turd-in-the-mouth mug’,” he wrote. “Surely there has to be something wrong with people who can resort to such over-the-top language, overreacting so spectacularly to something so trivial.

“Even some of those with more temperate language are responding to the proposed changes in a way that is little short of hysterical.”
Awww. Poor Dawkins. Some big bad bully atheist calling sweety-kins a mean name. Don't listen to them Richie. Hey, you know what it's kinda' like though. It's like when Dawkins hysterically called the Pope a stupid murderer. Remember Dawkins said:
"The Pope is either stupid, ignorant or dim. If people take his words seriously he will be responsible for the deaths of thousands, perhaps millions of people."
Kind of ironic that Dawkins doesn't like to be called names, huh?

The best part is that Dawkins' followers are shocked...shocked I tell you...to discover that Dawkins sometimes paints with a bit of a broad brush. Because the atheist forum has been closed, his minions and even some website moderators have taken to other forums to denounce Dawkins' tactics.
“A lot of people have lost respect for Dawkins after this, although I do still support the work that he does,” said Peter Harrison, a former moderator.

“Thousands of loyal, intelligent, rational forum members have been misrepresented as a bunch of foul-mouthed, vitriolic thugs by the man who so inspired them.”

Another former fan said: “It may sound ridiculous to those not involved with online communities, but I feel hurt and displaced. It was like coming home to find the locks have been changed. My respect for Richard’s work is still intact but my respect for him as a person is in tatters.”

So from now on, all those freethinkers shouldn't be so free anymore, I guess. He said, “The forum is going to be more tightly controlled and will be under more central control. So it won’t be available for anyone who wants to sound off freely."

Who is Dawkins to silence atheists? Who is he to put limits on people who voluntarily join his club? Next he'll be telling them they have to be celibate or something.

So, in short, an atheist is complaining there's no uniform standard of decency. Hey, chin up Richie and remember:
Sticks and stones may break your bones
But nothing really matters anyway.


TOPICS: Current Events; Religion & Culture; Skeptics/Seekers
KEYWORDS: atheism; dawkins; schism
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1 posted on 02/27/2010 3:17:42 PM PST by NYer
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To: netmilsmom; thefrankbaum; markomalley; Tax-chick; GregB; saradippity; Berlin_Freeper; Litany; ...

FYI ping.


2 posted on 02/27/2010 3:18:30 PM PST by NYer ("Where Peter is, there is the Church." - St. Ambrose of Milan)
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To: NYer
Dawkins doesn't believe in moral absolutes...no God, no ultimate right or wrong. Yet, he is frustrated when people act according to their own individual ideas of what is right. Oh the irony!!
3 posted on 02/27/2010 3:27:46 PM PST by Spudx7
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To: NYer

Every Dawkins book will be burned when the Muslims take over the UK


4 posted on 02/27/2010 3:28:11 PM PST by dennisw (It all comes 'round again --Fairport)
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To: Spudx7

I believe in God, yet no ultimate right or wrong. I believe God made us individuals, according to what He wants us to do in this life. I believe He really can do anything.


5 posted on 02/27/2010 3:38:20 PM PST by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different)
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To: NYer
“Thousands of loyal, intelligent, rational forum members have been misrepresented as a bunch of foul-mouthed, vitriolic thugs by the man who so inspired them.”

They probably are!!! Dawkins is isolated from a lot of the world just because of his condition. Welcome to your world of atheism, Richard.

6 posted on 02/27/2010 3:39:07 PM PST by MsLady (If you died tonight, where would you go? Salvation, don't leave earth without it!)
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To: Spudx7

He sounds like a good ole Progressive to me.


7 posted on 02/27/2010 3:54:37 PM PST by antidemoncrat
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To: NYer

Let’s give them a collective OMG!


8 posted on 02/27/2010 3:58:59 PM PST by TPOOH (I wish I could have been Jerry Reed.)
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To: stuartcr

I believe in God, yet no ultimate right or wrong.

^^
Gee, that’s handy.


9 posted on 02/27/2010 3:59:02 PM PST by Bigg Red (Palin/Hunter 2012 -- Bolton their Secretary of State)
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To: NYer

What a hypocritical twit this guy is.


10 posted on 02/27/2010 4:19:44 PM PST by minnesota4life ("It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible." George Washington)
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To: NYer
Writing on RichardDawkins.net yesterday, in a posting entitled “Outrage”, he said that there was “something rotten” in internet culture and pledged to rid his website of its abusive element.

“Imagine seeing your face described by an anonymous poster, as ‘a slack-jawed turd-in-the-mouth mug’,”

Sounds typical of personal interaction on online fora. Religious fora are not immune. Atheism is a religion.

"Welcome to 'teh Interwebz', Mr. Dawkins."

11 posted on 02/27/2010 4:27:03 PM PST by Lee N. Field (Dispensational exegesis not supported by an a-, post- or historic pre-mil scholar will be ignored.)
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To: NYer

Poor Richard, we haven’t lost respect for you, we never had any.


12 posted on 02/27/2010 4:30:10 PM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: stuartcr
I believe in God, yet no ultimate right or wrong.

Things that make you go Hmmm....

13 posted on 02/27/2010 4:57:14 PM PST by workerbee (Yes, I hate Obama because of his color: RED!)
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To: NYer

It always amuses me that atheists expect people and society to be civil, considerate, kind, fair, and honest in a world without God. Or as their billboards say, “Just be good.” Why? What for?

“Being good for goodness sake” works only if you believe in Santa Claus.


14 posted on 02/27/2010 5:11:31 PM PST by denydenydeny ("I'm sure this goes against everything you've been taught, but right and wrong do exist"-Dr House)
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To: stuartcr
I believe in God, yet no ultimate right or wrong.

Now, Richard, just because you can't get any respect on your OWN website, doesn't mean you can just come on over here and bother us!

15 posted on 02/27/2010 5:12:01 PM PST by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to him.)
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To: Bigg Red

Very little stress. The key to it, is to just be thankful you’re not a bad person.


16 posted on 02/27/2010 5:16:37 PM PST by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different)
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To: boatbums

He’s an atheist.


17 posted on 02/27/2010 5:19:14 PM PST by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different)
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To: denydenydeny
It always amuses me that atheists expect people and society to be civil, considerate, kind, fair, and honest in a world without God. Or as their billboards say, “Just be good.” Why? What for?

Indeed. As Machiavelli would observe, it is irrational to just be good and the modern atheist is all about reason.

If you won't be punished for it, it is irrational not to kill your enemies. And even if you think the law will catch up to you, what about a president or prime minister or anyone else with seemingly limitless power?

And even if you think murder will be prosecuted, why not embezzle, steal, cheat people. It is irrational not to do so and irrational feel guilty about it.

If this world is chaotic and we are just meat sacks riding on a sphere around an overgrown incandescent lightbulb whose existence is a maximum of 120 years and an average of less than 75, why should we care whether society functions?

18 posted on 02/27/2010 5:30:26 PM PST by AmishDude
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To: stuartcr
He’s an atheist.

Well, surprise Rich...I mean stuart...so are you if you think God isn't the arbiter of right and wrong. In an "all truth is relative" worldview, there can be no God. The term is meaningless.

19 posted on 02/27/2010 6:54:38 PM PST by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to him.)
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To: NYer

The author scores a bull’s eye!


20 posted on 02/27/2010 7:05:46 PM PST by Zionist Conspirator (LaYehudim haytah 'orah vesimchah; vesason viyqar.)
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