Off-Topic

There are some off-topic comments on a particular thread which I've been so very, very tempted to address. But it is best not to throw fuel on the fire. My comments, though well-intentioned, would also be off-topic. It can't help. And my instinct also tells me not to address either of the participants separately about this.  So I'll address one aspect of this off-topic discussion quietly here just to get these thoughts out of my system.

Christian: [S]o-called Atheism really is Egoistic agnosticism. … I don't like to get into logical/philosophical debates here on [forum], but Atheism suffers from a preformative contradiction…. There's no room in this for being offended or for sentiment in rational discussion.  

Seems to me that folks reach their various beliefs or conclusions about religion/spirituality not only through logic and reason alone, but also through personal experiences and deep intuition about how the world works. So there is, in fact, plenty of room for sentiment -- and plenty of need for sensitivity. 

Setting aside the question of whether the analysis or diagnosis above is correct in at least some cases, I think it is easy for Christians to assume that all atheists believe the same thing.  But I am not certain if that is correct -- or even if it is correct, that it is helpful.  It's possible to say (for example) that all Christians "believe" the same thing, but if one defines the core belief narrowly enough to make it common, one misses all the nuances of how and why they believe what they believe, and how they reached their conclusions. These and other nuances matter tremendously in shaping a world view, and in the working out of one's faith (or non-faith) in everyday life.  The devil is indeed in the details.