My first comment!

Wow, someone commented. First, my thanks to the commenter, BlackSun, for stopping by and taking an interest. Second, I will make a point of occasionally discussing such comments in a blog post, if there is a possibility that doing so could lead to some sort of progress in understanding what I'm doing here in the blogosphere.

Here's what BlackSun says in response to my post about Sam's Blasphemy Challenge video, taken in sections:

The war must end. Hmm. Surrender? The dead-cat humor doesn't make up for your total lack of intellectual integrity.

I will ignore what is obviously needling and focus instead on the word surrender. I have not advocated anywhere on this blog for any kind of surrender of the nonreligious to the religious. It is very much to my point that, contrary to our claim of possessing the high ground of rationality, many of us jump to conclusions such as dissenters within our community advocating complete capitulation to an opposing point of view. It was not what I said, and no evidence exists to back up the claim.

Trashing a courageous young girl as a hypocrite for denying a fairy tale you claim not to believe in? You've got to do better than that.

Since the focus here is on my charge of hypocrisy, I'll explain it. Say I actually did believe the fairy tale (more needling in this part of the comment), or that I converted back to it for some reason. If I published an article or made a video in which I stated that atheism was a dangerous worldview and that I'd do whatever it took to eliminate it from human society, I would receive tons of mail decrying my intolerance and bigotry (one thing I've learned is that atheists rise very well to the call of angry letter-writing campaigns; I've participated in them myself). Sam, of course, would have put in her two cents. So, it's okay to tell religion to go away, but it's not okay for someone religious to tell atheism to go away. Perhaps it could be argued that hypocrisy wasn't the technically correct term to apply here, but my point is: how is the secular worldview validated by this double standard? Who sides with you when you can't take what you give?

If you truly seek understanding, understand this: Atheist activists are not declaring war on the supernatural. It's a war on the very real problem of religious privilege in our society--or hadn't you noticed?

I just went back to watch the video again. Anyone else can do the same; that's why I embedded it in the blog. Sam speaks specifically of bringing an end to religion itself, not religious privilege, as BlackSun seems to be saying. I would ask that it be pointed out to me where in the video the words or the concept of religious privilege appear.

It is unfortunate that we can't have disagreements within this community without little digs like a lack of intellectual integrity or --or hadn't you noticed? I challenge my commenters to make their comments with rationality, maturity, and respect. Otherwise, the War will just go on, and the better secularists will be shamed yet again by your behavior.