Culture of vHate

Friends have directed me to quite a few YouTube videos of angry atheists (and angry Christians responding) lately. The atheists call people of faith "stupid," "brainwashed," and "naive." The Christians who respond to these videos throw out words such as "sinful," "intolerant" and "hell-bound." My message to everyone is "what do you hope to accomplish?"

I can think of no great teacher in the history of our world who changed the hearts of their opposition by insulting and degrading them. I even think that all of these people building a 'culture of hate' on the Internet are well aware of this fact as well. Insults, swearing and angry rants get hits though... they get a vlogger's name recognized. Shame on those who would degrade a whole group of people for their own popularity.

What's happening is that the two sides are becoming increasingly polarized. The 'culture of hate' is breeding a new group of fundamentalists who will cling to their beliefs and unbeliefs despite the truth that is revealed to them.

Atheist bloggers scream "they believe the huge lies of the Bible." Really? Why don't you tell me what the lies are and how you know them to be lies?

Similarly, the Christians scream "they deny the most sacred truths of our existence." Really? How do you know them to be truths? Why do you believe them? (Because calling people names really doesn't prove to me that you know anything about Christianity).

I would love to see an actual religious dialogue on YouTube. One where the person posing the questions can do so respectfully and those posting comments and responses can show an equal amount of courtesy.

If these are the central truths of our existence... they deserve to be discussed and debated as such... with deep thought, human decency and a thirst for truth.