Xiporah
This guild has kinda gone from a gathering and an exchange of ideas to a bunch of people giving each other high fives and a lot of 'COME QUICK I OFFENDED SOMEONE LET'S LOL ABOUT IT' posts.
I think this is a little unfair of a judgment to make. While I certainly won't deny that these kinds of posts always occasionally crop up, I don't think that they make up the majority of conversations here especially since they usually lack much material to discuss after the initial gratuitous back-patting and thus they die out. In some cases I also see members defending the offended theist if it's really uncalled for.
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I also think I've grown enough as a person to realize that being an atheist doesn't have to define my person. It is only one small aspect of who I am. Being raised without religion, it's just the natural conclusion of my childhood and really isn't worth so much glorification and discussion.
While I agree that you don't really need atheism to define you as a person, I still think it is something to be proud of considering that you are in the minority of people in the world that have reached this realization. Furthermore, you don't have to leave a guild just because the core concept of it isn't what defines you. I mean, I like to play video games and all, but just because I wouldn't define the essence of who I am to be a gamer doesn't mean I should avoid joining any gaming guilds either.
I guess that's fine if you don't see the value in discussion over religion from a nonbeliever's perspective. Personally though, having grown up in a religious environment and taught to believe in Christianity, for me to finally make it to the other side was a big deal. Knowing what it's like to see through the eyes of a believer, I've experienced firsthand how superstitious beliefs can affect lives negatively, and even though I may not believe it anymore, there are still many others out there who do believe, and their beliefs inform their actions. Gay rights for example are being subverted almost exclusively for religious reasons, so I find it quite disturbing that despite how far humanity has advanced, we're still being dictated by primitive beliefs that aren't even remotely based in reality. So for me, I think there is quite a bit to value from religious discussion if it means I can find ways to help others see things from a nonbeliever's perspective and work toward progressive social changes.
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I've often said the only thing worse than a zealous Christian, is a zealous atheist.
Why is that? Even as much as a douchebag and a zealot that Christopher Hitchens can be, he still doesn't resort to violence against Christians, whereas Mr. Tiller might tell you a different story about Christian zealotry.
Your post really comes off sounding condescending as if you've grown too mature for this guild or something. In reality though, it just seems to me that you've grown apathetic toward the whole subject so you don't want to stick around anymore. That's fine, but then don't give us this whole "holier than thou" spiel about how you've moved on from being a childish atheist who is just trolling for lulz as if that's what this guild is really all about. The fact that you've lost interest in the subject does not suddenly make you above us.
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I bid you all well, and good luck in your quest for knowledge.
You too, have a good one.
