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Free Thinkers ... False Advertising?

Today I happened to be sweeping through the internet for articles on debates. I found my way to a humanist / atheist sympathiser's website.  Which one is not for me to say, and anyone wishing to know could easily discover which.

I didn't agree, needless to say, with what they wrote. Their confident use of language made it sound as though single-handedly, they had brought down all intelligent, theistic (and almost exclusively Christian) thought!

Obviously this is not the case.

To their own mind & understanding, they have. However, just because you personally do not accept a theistic argument, doesn't mean that it's not persuasive. The harder the heart and the more certain the atheist, the less likely anything is to ever penetrate their natural understanding of the world around them. There is always 'another option to God'. The power of the mind we don't yet understand, or perhaps aliens even. But God is more rational to my mind that these options, as more people profess to have consistently found Him the answer.

The debates rage back and forth, and there are still 2 billion Christians alive today and growing, not to mention the millions gone before.  Atheists number very, very low so in comparison, they have nothing to brag about in terms of being 'intelligent' and 'obviously right'. Whilst numbers don't signify truth in and of themselves, there is an old saying 'can this many people be wrong?' Possibly, but more seriously though, can this many people be totally proven wrong, irrational and stupid?  This is what reading between the lines on most atheistic websites leaves you feeling. Personally, I pity whoever feels the need to hide behind their intellectual ability and stand in the castle waving a flag of victory which was never won.

So, what I am saying is that this many people clearly are not insane, irrational, nor are we all ensnared thinkers. To suggest that we are enables far more sniping at the speaker as being delusional and rather 'up his own rear', pardon my bluntness.

My main gripe now appears. I believe the buttons they use which say 'Free thinkers', implies that theists, and especially Christians (I notice no direct mention of other faiths in negative lights on their site - if they are to be consistent, they ought to be practising debating Hindus and Muslims, Buddhists and Taoists too ... to name only a handful), are in fact not free thinkers.  Hence, if you are not free to think you are a) an imbecile b) a child c) ensnared by dogma that you cannot rationally cope with or d) brainwashed.

Now. I am not going to rant for pages and pages about this. I think any honest reader can immediately see the error here. It is reasonable to suggest that amongst all Christians and theists, there are some who are children (shock - horror). There may well be some who are medically incapable of a high level of thought. There may well be some who are ensnared by dogma, and even a few cases of genuine brainwashing (though I have yet to see any proven cases of this).

But, and this is a big but friends; this does not amount to stating that atheists and humanists are somehow 'more free' in their thinking and thought life than the Christian, or the theist.  In fact, no body should be going around daring to proclaim themselves 'more free' than anyone else without letting the one they are claimed is 'less free' defend the statement, for that in itself is a form of bigotry and oppression. It is also clearly defined nonsense, stated above (that very few Christians are not 'free to think' as any normal person would expect). Finally, it is hit-and-run. Making a broad statement that makes you sound good and free and all 'modern' sounding, and then legging it. I see no definition as to why an atheist in university is more free to think than I am. For your information, I am 26 as I write this in December 2004. I am educated to College level in the UK. I could have gone to University if I'd wished, but I didn't.  I am a writer of stories, poetry, debates, essays, an auto biography, and my own book. I don't take drugs, I don't smoke, and I drink socially and not to excess.  I don't party a lot though I do go out, and I drive a car.  I have good academic qualifications, and I am pretty fit and sporty, too. I have presented for a DVD, interviewed on camera, filmed live events and most importantly, I am a Free Thinking Christian.

No body told me to believe. No body made me believe. No body forced me to believe. I believe because of what God has done in and for my life, and what I have seen and heard. What I have experienced, and what I believe in my heart to be truth. What I have read, and what I have understood.

I have weighed up and continue to weigh up the pros and cons, the aspects of life itself that matter to me and those around me. I feel and I sense what is going on, and then I weigh it up and come to logical and rational conclusions. I make mistakes and I choose wrongly at times through my own, deliberate fault. But often, I choose wisely.

I think. I spend a lot of time thinking. When I find something difficult to accept or a new story hard to believe, I think. I do not blindly believe, and I certainly do not blindly accept anything that comes along. I have radically altered my Christian views down the years, and may well do so more in the future, who knows.

I resent statements as the button on this web site says; implying that only humanists and atheists can possibly be 'free thinkers'. If this is not the intention of the button, then what is it? Sorry - but it's quite logically obvious what it's saying. RP is the correct English to speak, and the emphasis there is on 'received language; that is that language itself is all about how it is received, not what you intend. So I won't accept any lame defences of 'well, you're just paranoid and delusional, that isn't what our buttons meant at all'. If they mean to say that they are free thinking atheists, then say 'free thinking atheists'. Free Thinkers implies that theists, which this site is adamantly set against, are not free thinkers. Otherwise the button is lame (that is; it carries no information).

I suggest that they change their buttons to read 'Free Thinking Atheists', unless they truly are sniping in the dark - then running.

Neither would surprise me, because people in general promote their own agendas to the very detriment of free speech and decency. Christians often included, sadly. But atheists are just as bad, if not worse. They feel oppressed especially in America and Canada, because of the strong, Christian element there. But let me tell you atheists now; just because there is a lot of faith in your nation doesn't mean that it is oppression.

Atheists are as free to think as I am. Only they can't admit to that. It makes them uncomfortable apparently that any sane and rational minded adult could actually choose to be a Christian.

Well, then it pleases me to prove you wrong.

Be well,

-=Kim=-