Toby Beau

debating is almost an art form. It also takes practice, so before you can debate the important things you gotta practice debating all kinds of stuff. I'm glad I can use a forum like this to sharpen my skills and knowledge on any topic.

Johnny Skeptic

That is a good argument. I admit that improving cognitive ablities by debating is a good thing even if the topic is not important. However, I wonder if the conservative and moderate Christians at this forum realize how many of their debates do little or nothing to encourage skeptics to become Christians. Many of the topics that they debate are much too complex to be understood by the average person. If a God exists, surely he would make himself available by non-scholarly means. Perhaps the people who the scholarly Christians at this forum are trying to convince the most are themselves.

windsofchange

Sometimes it's easier to talk about the heavier stuff with your opponents if you've already established a friendly relationship with them on less-controversial topics.

Strangely enough, some people get really uptight when you start a conversation by saying, "Hi, I'm an atheist and I hear you're one of those idiotic theists who doesn't know how to use reason"; or "Hi, I'm a Christian and I hear you're going to burn in hell forever".

aa5874

I agree with your statement. It is very fascinating to discuss topics, it forces you to do research and develop debating skills.

Pavlov's Dog

I don't think it matters if any of that shit in the Bible is true. At least it doesn't matter to me. I don't care if Jesus ever existed or if Paul really thought this or that. I guess somebody would be interested and that is fine for them, but these things are trivial to me.

WishboneDawn

I find that GRD is full of them and the, "Hi, I'm an atheist and I hear you're one of those idiotic theists who doesn't know how to use reason"; or "Hi, I'm a Christian and I hear you're going to burn in hell forever," stuff that Windsofchange mentioned. Above GRD though it's generally a different matter.

I. C. Unicorns

Of course there are a lot of trivial debates here!

"Competition in academia is so vicious because the stakes are so small.”

Minimalist

Most debates on most message boards are trivial. They are worth it for the occasional gem one comes across.

Rich Oliver

Well I'm pretty new here, although I was persuaded by Well's viewpoint in the early nineties. What I found most disappointing is there is so little deconstructing Islamic myths.