If atheists, agnostics and other non-believers seem over-represented here I suspect it is because of the general environment of tolerance, nay, acceptance at the SDMB. Before I found this place I longed for someplace, anyplace, where I could say, “Y’know, I have my doubts about this God thing,” and not feel so exposed. It may be that I am just too sensitive, but I always feel disapproval if I dissent from the prevailing (mostly Christian) point of view. That includes a fair segment of my own extended family. I have relatives whom I love very much, but with whom I cannot discuss religious matters at all. At the SDMB, even a spirited (no pun intended) argument usually carries little rancor, and a generally high intellectual level.
This is, IMHO, the very best of the boards on the Internet. Chatrooms…feh!
What the Straight Dope has is a concentration of people who are willing to think, not to swallow the latest thing somebody told them without any analysis of what it implies.
Some people see adequate evidence in their lives, in the world around them, or in the historical record to hold a belief in some non-material and purposive entity or entities (to try to stretch the “religion” concept as far as possible), and others do not. What unites them is a willingness to think through the concepts they hold and to discuss intelligently what different viewpoints imply.
This is why I have no problem with the stance of Gaudere or pldennison, or Desert Geezer for that matter, even though they’re “playing on the opposing team,” while I get truly bent out of shape at the latest crop of (apparent) college freshmen who are ready to “prove to the world that God doesn’t exist” (usually by making assumptions held by few thoughtful believers and/or reasoning by gross generalizations and with logical fallacies from their assumptions). They’re the atheist equivalent of drive-by witnessers!
I tend not to venture into GD very often simply becaus the signal to noise ratio is too high due to witnessing. I enjoy debates, but not argumenta ad auctoritas.
anyway jesus was gay and slept with mary magdalene and was just an ordinary deluded man and didn’t exist and was never crucified and after he was, he recovered in the cool of the tomb and his body was eaten by dogs and stolen by the romans and hidden by the disciples and it was his twin brother that everybody saw
