Good will to all men? Not from the grumpy atheists! (Thank God not all atheists are grumpy but there sure seems to be a lot of them)
Why is it that so many in the atheist community cannot bring themselves to get past their anger whenever they engage in discussions? The language of many of their contributions in public debate is laced with invective and dripping with sarcasm and bile. There are exceptions of course, but they tend to fall more into the category of being the 'exception that proves the rule' when compared to the hostility of many of today's atheist posters. Comment offered by the theists in the public square is often depicted as being 'malicious' or 'venomous' and intended to enslave the 'feeble minded and weak' by those who post. Nothing could be further from the truth. Venom is something that is oriented to death. Christians are oriented in a 180 degree different direction. We speak not to the culture of death that grips our world but rather for the culture of life and light which ends with the gift of eternal life. For example, the Catholic Church in its hum...
He had an acute sense of mischief, as well.
ReplyDeleteWhen he came visiting Vancouver, one of my relatives was the choirmaster/director for the children's choir chosen to sing for him in a HUGE ceremony. Every child was repeatedly told by parents, teachers, and everyone else, the ususal stuff: don't squirm, stand tall, don't fidget, no horseplay...all the usual don'ts that apparently have to be repeated endlessly where children are involved.
So, there they all are, on stage, standing tall and utterly, rigidly, at attention, singing with youthful clarity, my relative necessarily with his back to the audience, when he hears a stirring and a rustling and he senses that all is not quite as "under control" as he thought it to be. A quick peek over his shoulder tells him that all those parental admonitions were about to fly out the window, for there was yon pontiff, grinning and waving at the children on the stage!
What could he do but shrug and grin, and nod to the kids, who waved excitedly back, and then continued singing with renewed vigor!