Where are the Christians?

April 8, 2010 in Christian Living, Outreach

When Dawkins was in town recently I wrote several posts, reflecting on the value of the discussions that his visit generated:

This afternoon I read Chris Uhlmann’s post ‘God, the Christian socialist and the Mad Monk‘. Uhlmann describes himself as a ‘lapsed Catholic’, but gives a detailed account of the Easter message from the Gospel of Mark. Uhlmann concludes:

“Maybe Mark is saying Christ proved everyone has the capacity to be godlike, if we have the courage to embrace the best of ourselves.”

Obviously I disagree with the conclusion. But it was good to see Jesus getting a mention in the media over Easter.

As usual, the post attracted a number of comments – 46 in fact – not many compared with similar discussions online. What stood out (again) was the people who were commenting. Only 3 or 4 were sympathetic with Uhlmann, the rest, well – here’s a sample:

“I resent the authors sentiment that my rationality bars me from any moral understanding. Is is this arrogance that pushes me to become a so called ‘militant’ atheist.”

and

“When you have absolute proof of there actually being a man in the sky that forgives us all our tresspass, whilst tresspassing on us to fully, completely and without question, submit to “his” will, then and only then, will I even begin to think that you’re not a deluded fool.”

Where are the Christians in these online discussions? I’m assuming not every Christian has read my post on ‘Why debating atheists online is a fruitless pursuit‘!

  • Do you comment on posts? Why/why not?
  • Are you more likely to comment if you agree with the author, or disagree?
  • http://st-eutychus.com Nathan

    I don’t comment on ABC forums because it’s a numbers game. They seem to attract a particularly belligerent and vociferous band of angry atheists and I’ve realised, like you, that you can never have a fruitful discussion with 80 people baying for your blood and one person asking honest questions.

    If I do comment I try to engage in a meaningful, and non cop out way, so I’ve got to have time on my hands.

    Generally I comment to agree with someone, mostly to chime in when things get a bit out of hand and I agree with the person’s post.

    Occasionally I’ll comment if I think I have something to add that’s of some value.

    Sometimes I’ll leave a comment just to plug my blog.

    I’ll almost never leave a negative comment because I hate getting them.

  • http://sweetcharts.wordpress.com joelpj

    Yeah similar to Nathan’s experience.

    When I was young and had the time I’d comment on the most popular blogs/videos of atheists and agnostics.

    I found that the numbers game would beat me every time.

    The internet must be a breeding ground for the 18-25 year old angry atheists who don’t know what they’re talking about.

    I’m happy to dialogue with reasoned atheists who don’t just parrot dawkins / hitchens / dennet / onfray – they’re just hard to find!

  • http://arthurandtamie.wordpress.com Arthur

    I generally only comment when I believe it will lead to a genuine interaction with others. I look out for one or two people who might engage with me, and I try to have an exchange in which both of us can be affected/changed. In other words, this is ‘win the person, not an argument’. I’m not interested in rehearsing arguments or even in defending Christianity. But of course this tends to be both time consuming and emotionally draining!

    And there are certain online environments that do and don’t lend themselves to this. So I tend to stay away from massive public conglomerates, and focus on personal blogs and Facebook instead.

    Another option is for a Christian to become a known ‘regular’ in a particular online community, gaining respect over time. This applies to Aussie news media blogs along with ones like Rational-skepticism.org and Richarddawkins.net. But I almost never do this — I’m not willing to invest that kind of time and energy.

    Another recent online discussion was at the ABC’s Atheist Convention blog, blogs.radionational.net.au/atheistconvention. I made a couple of comments early on, but stopped when I saw that Chris Mulherin was taking up the discussion (most of which he confined to further blog entries). There are of course a quite limited set of questions/issues at stake, and in this instance I thought there was no need for multiple Christians to muddy the waters any further.

    The bigger question for me is, Where are the real-life Christians who are befriending these frustrated atheists?

  • http://st-eutychus.com/2010/eight-things-ive-learned-from-arguing-with-atheists-online-and-why-i-mostly-cant-be-bothered-anymore/ Eight things I’ve learned from arguing with atheists online and why I (mostly) can’t be bothered anymore » St. Eutychus

    [...] Where are the Christians? [...]

  • http://www.pricebonus.com/ Amy

    Yeah similar to Nathan’s experience.

    When I was young and had the time I’d comment on the most popular blogs/videos of atheists and agnostics.

    I found that the numbers game would beat me every time.

    The internet must be a breeding ground for the 18-25 year old angry atheists who don’t know what they’re talking about.

    I’m happy to dialogue with reasoned atheists who don’t just parrot dawkins / hitchens / dennet / onfray – they’re just hard to find!

  • http://arthurandtamie.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/discussing-beliefs-online/ Discussing beliefs online « Cyberpunk + Blue Twin go back to uni

    [...] beliefs online Filed Under: Culture, God by Arthur — Leave a comment 19 April 2010 Communicate Jesus and St Eutychus have been asking whether it’s any use to discuss beliefs online.  Both of [...]