Suggested coding style

[Ben Finney]

DevPlayer <devplayer at gmail.com> writes:

> Calling the Bible a joke is used to hurt people, not enlighten them.

How do you know that?

> Those words show bitter arrogance, not constructive critism

How do you know that?

> as it ignores how others feel about that book.

That strikes me as a good thing; how people feel about a book should not
in any way restrain our criticism of the book.

> What benefit to others is gained by calling someones belief a joke? To
> put the "believers" minds straight? I think not.

I can't speak for the person who wrote that. But when I call a religious
belief a joke, it is to point out the folly of the belief in the pursuit
of convincing people not to hold beliefs I consider to be foolish.

> I think the unsensitive person who attackes others beliefs, even if
> illogical or unrealistic, is after some kind of self grandizement or
> to illude themself into thinking "they know the truth of the universe"
> and should attack others to prove they do.

You are wrong to conflate “attack others's beliefs” with “attack
others”.

You are not your beliefs. If your beliefs are shown to be false – even
ridiculous – you can distance yourself from those beliefs. It is even
virtuous to do so.

We must always be free to attack any belief, and encourage everyone to
stop taking it as any kind of personal attack.

> Although this is not the place to defend about such things it is also
> not the place to attack those same things (that being someone's
> faith).

I will join you in deploring any attack on a person. But that's not what
you're doing, and I deny your attempt to shield any idea from ridicule,
in any forum.

Ideas don't have feelings, and you don't get to put people in front of
them as human shields against attacking those ideas.

Any idea is and must be open to attack in any forum; those that can't
survive ridicule deserve to go.

-- 
 \              “Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against |
  `\       unintelligible propositions.” —Thomas Jefferson, 1816-07-30 |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney