Immortal said:
GameOver22 said:
The point wasn't that atheists are immature. The behavior you described is immature. I honestly think that is an apt description of the behavior you described, regardless of whether it is applied to race, religion, nationality, etc. As you said, these types of responses can be controlled and the inability to approach the topic respectfully shows immaturity. There is a difference between bashing and arguing, and bashing will always come across as immature.
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I just find immature too harsh a term, even if it's not necessarily insulting. I can't say I honestly know anyone (other than my family) who would actually not act in the way I described if in such a situation. I don't see anything wrong with wanting to defend your beliefs when you've come a long way to get them - it's natural. Whilst there's obviously a few people here and there who can control their emotions, most people can't. And there's just something wrong about calling the majority of the human race immature. It would be more appropriate to say that those who can respectfully argue are overly mature.
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I guess I've just had a difference experience with people. There isn't anything wrong with defending your beliefs. Everyone does it, and I would argue it is essential for developing your ideas. The issue is not if people defend their beliefs; it is how they defend their beliefs. I might not have made myself clear in my initial post, but there is a difference between saying, "I am an atheist because of reasons x.y,z" and saying "I am an atheist because religious people are ignorant, stupid, hypocritical, etc. One defends beliefs through rational argumentation while the other defends beliefs by bashing the opposition (ad hominem attacks). I find one form of argumentation to be much more mature and respectable.
On a side note, I would also agree that people cannot control their emotions, but they can control how they respond to their emotions.
