My daughter is going to college next year and I am anxious, not because I think she can be swayed from her faith or that she might imbibe ideas that are detrimental to her moral upbringing, she won’t. What makes me anxious is the experience I have had with atheists on-line. There are a growing number of twenty-somethings who are militantly atheistic. Not the kind I wanted to be when I was in high school or early college where professing this nonsense stemmed out of some desire to be cool and to dare-to-be-different. Those things fade as with any trend or fad but not the ones I have been encountering on-line. These people are more organized, more purposeful and also more vulgar and vicious. The kind of militancy we used to see from leftist student activists taking to the streets against social injustice is now used in advocating anti-religious sentiments and in particular, that Catholicism is bad, mean, cruel and a myth. These college-aged, philosophy greenhorns make no reservations to lie, fabricate and use vulgar language in their arguments and they are found in many of our Catholic universities.
The reason for my anxiety is therefor this; that these people, whom my daughter will eventually meet, lack the decency, civility and reasonableness that one might expect from privileged and educated individuals. How can you teach your child to do what 1Peter 3:15-16 says; “being ready always to satisfy every one that asks you a reason of that hope which is in you. But with modesty and fear, having a good conscience: that whereas they speak evil of you, they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ” when there is no decency nor reasonableness in their demeanor? My daughter is equipped to argue and discuss her faith but only with those who sincerely and honestly want an intelligent and civil exchange.
I engaged one of these types in a forum about a piece he wrote last October 31. The CBCP (Philippine Bishops Conference) came out with a statement exhorting Catholics to celebrate the eve of All Saints Day within a Christian perspective and not in the usual way of revering ghouls, witches and monsters which they said was anti-Christian. The Monsignor had a point and while most people dress up for fun, there are those who go overboard and completely forget what the eve of all-saints is really all about. It was a succinct and short exhortation directed to Catholics and yet this fellow found it “offensive” enough to write a satire on it. He calls the Bishop a hypocrite for believing, what he says are the myths and lore of miracles. His article poked fun at martyred saints and suggested that Catholics dress up like them as way of celebrating hallows eve. The discussion can be found here.
I said I didn’t mind his poking some fun at what he perceives to be myths and lore in the lives of martyred saints, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. What I did mind was his erroneous attack on the Monsignor by calling him a hypocrite. A hypocrite, I said, is someone who acts in a way contrary what he believes in or advocates. I mentioned that the bishop believes in miracles and miraculous cures and actually exhorts Catholics to act like Catholics therefor he is in fact sincere and not a hypocrite. All hell broke loose from two of their members who started attacking the church bringing up things like the Vatican-German concordat of 1933 …(really he did) and one actually started verbally abusing me.
Long story short, I didn’t wish to continue with the exchange but not before I told them that they should re-think calling themselves Free-Thinkers because of their dogmatic and intolerance to people who disagree with them. My daughter read most of the exchange and nonchalantly told me that she had been in a few arguments in a forum she joined and that the pattern of verbal abuse by atheists who attack Christianity are all the same …and they say that Christianity is bad, mean and cruel …go figure!
carpalfingers said:
Excuse me, but who are the people who preach at the MRT and tell atheists go to hell, blah blah blah? Aren’t they Catholics or Christians?
Twin-Skies said:
//To call oneself a Christian and be a member and actively support an organization that uses lies, fabrications and calumny’s to further it’s interests is to be a hypocrite.//
So why are you a Catholic?
sheepipay said:
I don’t know if the author is really unobservant (I could guess the same for his daughter), but the only pattern of verbal abuse that I could follow was coming from only one user. I don’t think that counts as a “pattern” for “all atheists”
BTW, not all freethinkers are atheists, some are actually christian. Lots of offending generalization there buddy
commenter = verbally abusive = atheist = “freethinker” … therefore freethinker = verbally abusive atheist
plus, it really is OFFENSIVE and FUNNY to say that because a person is a freethinker, s/he is tolerant of all thought. hindi kami uto-uto, at lalo na kami hindi mangmang.
It really does surprise me that I’m actually replying about something so trivial as hasty generalization. this is probably my most “noncharitable” comment, but please, grow up.
P.S ~Just a regular Catholic dad trying to fight THE good fight.
i know you guys believe that you’re 100% sure about your faith and all, that’s really fine. My opinion is that a catholic fight is A good fight. it is neither THE good fight nor is it CBCP’s.
dboncan said:
Than you for your comment. Two things:
1. Thus far, no FFT Christian I know has ever bothered to temper the viciousness of their fellow-members in the fora, which to me is tantamount to condoning such un-Christian behavior. Perhaps they are afraid to stand up for decency, I don’t know.
2. The President Red Tani has fabricated an lied to his teeth in other posts in the past especially the video on his animosity against the Catholic Church and again no Christian member of the FFT has ever called his attention to the fact that bearing false witness is at least unethical if one does not believe in sin. Maybe they feel that since it is not their Church it is okay… many “Christians are very anti-Catholic and seem to be okay with this.
So my point is, the 90% of atheist’s I have encountered at the FFT have so far been vulgar, vicious or liars about issues. The Christians I have not encountered seem to be okay with that for as long as it is the Catholic Church that is being hit. It does not seem to matter much that vulgarity or lying is used. So when you say that some of the FFT’s are in fact Christian and independent minded, where are they and what do they stand for? To call oneself a Christian and be a member and actively support an organization that uses lies, fabrications and calumny’s to further it’s interests is to be a hypocrite.