deconversion

Hey guys, I know I might be stirring something up here, but it has to be said. What the #@$ is up with some of the recent blogs? I mean, before the drought of blogging (as several of us disapperared from blogging altogether) it seemed like we were heading in a good, positive direction. The problem, it seems, is that those of us who wanted something positive left because we wanted something "beyond" deconversion, as the term "de-conversion" itself is etymologically negative. This, however, doesn't mean we have to be assholes.

Does anyone else see a sort of "backsliding" - if I may use the term - to hack n' slash attacks on Christendom? I mean, I haven't bothered commenting because some of the old guard have already said it all, but I feel real disappointed (apparently not disappointed enough because I haven't been writing myself). I don't know, is d-C going to stick to the straw men arguments that "helped" us when we were in our "angry" stage? Personally, I think no one needs help with that stage, we are pretty good at it on our own. Shouldn't d-C be a positive resource for apostates?

100% agreement. I was thinking about making a post about it. My one concern is that what you're decrying is almost exclusively the effect of one person (Neece). It's obvious that she is in the "angry stage". We also have a few other newbies who are there too.

The worst side-effect of the "angry" posts, in my opinion, is the equally angry comments they attract. And as Brad mentioned, they tend to reduce to little more than strawmen, which make it easy fodder for the righteous Christian. I've always felt the posts of my that are the most successful are those that attract mainly positive comments from fellow de-Converts. It seems to me that if a blog post opens itself up to a multitude of Christian comments, it has too many holes.

For what it's worth, if a lack of posts is a problem, I have a few on my blog that I think could help. I did a few that deal with common misconceptions of atheism which focus on spinning atheism in a positive light. I haven't been actively pushing my own posts, but I do have several that seem de-Con worthy.

This slight modification from something I wrote a while back (in response to a troll infestation at the time) might give a good start to bringing the attack attitude under control.

Leo, I think such a post would be a good idea. Linking to some older posts throughout that deal with the subject could also be useful. D-C has come a long way in the short time it has been alive, it would be a shame to wallow in the frustration of de-conversion.

I think a post like that would be good. I think the distinction needs to be made between tearing down religion for the sake of tearing it down and explaining what faults we found with religion that led to our de-conversions. The tone of the two are very different, even if the content tends to overlap.

Hey all,

I read what you discussed here and I think it has passed.

As you know, I am a newbie here and one of the reasons I hang out here is because of the support and encouragement I get from you guys.

My only complaint is lack of activity in general. There are many times I log in and the "people online" thingy says that no one else is on. That being said though, I can't imagine that there are many people willing to admit that they feel they way we do/did, so they suffer in silence. I mean we have all remarked on how we had no one to talk to, so WE suffered in silence.

Until d-C came along! Thanks d-C!

I just hope others get the courage at least do what I did and google (uh, I don't remember what I googled!) and find this site.

Thanks Warning. We are sort of a small community in the world. Most folks just want to comfortably believe in something. We're willing to be uncomfortable.