What, if anything, can we infer from this state of affairs?

It’s been a few months, I’ve left your blog alone, are you ready for a real debate yet? Or are you content to continue engaging the “I feel God” arguments? LOL! Seriously, let’s do this. Even some of your own readers are capping on your current blogalog partner.

…to which JT responded,

You seem convinced my unwillingness derives from some amount of anger or fear on my end, rather than because you’re a time-wasting troll. That suggest to me that you’ve not stopped being a troll. So no.

…to which I replied,

You’ve got people who stalk your blog regularly with comments about everything from penis size to insulting your polyamory, and I’m a troll? C’mon man! Think critically here. Icy Cantu and the many other cyber stalkers you’ve banned are examples of trolls. Trolls are people whose only desire is to inflame commenters and rile threads into a mess. I don’t have that desire, JT. My only desire here is that you would follow through on the challenge YOU initiated. Remember, you asked me to debate you, not the other way around. Don’t let Greta and Adam think for you, give this a try and find out for yourself. I have no interest in your blog whatsoever. My only interest is in providing fence-sitters with reasoned rebuttals to your arguments. You’re out there peddling your arguments to young minds and I am here to tell you that your arguments don’t hold water. You uphold yourself as a critical thinker willing to update on new evidence, but then when I offer to give you that chance, you refuse. Think about that. What’s the big deal here? Why engage wishy-washy, irrational “I feel God therefore God exists” arguments when you’ve got a willing and able opponent for some real philosophy of religion?

…and JT has not yet replied.

Classic, ain’t it? For whatever reason, the guy challenges me to a debate, changes his mind after he gets a sample, then accepts what appears to be a less experienced, less philosophically-inclined opponent (no offense to John, we’re just different types of debaters).

Why shouldn’t a reasonable onlooker believe JT is afraid? Moreover, if JT is not afraid, why not just follow through on the offer he initiated? Why hide behind juvenile “troll” accusations when the truth is the real matter at hand? I’m not going to pull punches here: many of the prominent internet atheists are incompetent cowards when it comes down to it. They talk this huge game about critical thinking, and why it’s important to use reason and logic to discuss truth matters related to religion, but accept their offers, confront them, mock them like they mock the religious… and they prefer to demonize and censor. Adam Lee, Greta Christina, JT Eberhard, John Loftus, Lady Atheist, Spanish Inquisitor, Deacon Duncan… all guilty of deleting intelligent dissent from their blogs. All of them!

Nonetheless, I’m done bugging JT Ebersoft. The next step is what was promised: a systematic dismantling of his arguments from the ground up.

My answer? It shouldn’t. Religion can and should be criticized like any other idea, and in my opinion, the religious should welcome this criticism. After all, I welcome criticism, because through criticism my beliefs are tested. If—like JT Eberhard—I were to shy away from criticism, then I would lose out on the opportunity to test my beliefs. If I lose out on that opportunity, I increase my chance of holding false beliefs. Therefore, criticism of religion is as essential as criticism of any other idea with far-ranging social implications.

So there you go, Greta. Your second straight answer.

Atheists and skeptics—the faithful congregation of the First Church of Scientism—can often be found singing praises to their god, but we rarely hear them tell the whole story. The faithful are quick to chant, “science the best method we have of finding the truth,” but why don’t they also chant, “science is the leading cause of our destruction?” Why might that be? Is there a corollary between the religionist and the proponent of scientism in this regard?

Anyways. I’m back from vacation, hope you’re all well. Any suggestions for new posts?