Atheist Republic is no stranger to strongly worded comments, many of them even quite hateful. Yet, one of the most important values of Atheist Republic as seen throughout the website and Facebook page, is an unflinching commitment to providing an uncensored platform for the expression of different views, even when they are controversial or otherwise unpopular.
Our writing team is diverse, hailing from different countries and speaking from different experiences with both religion and atheism. In addition, our editing process is minimal, only changing basic spelling and grammar and occasionally rewording for clarity. This results in a representation of the vast diversity present within atheism.
A good example of the kind of spirited dialogue these posts can generate is seen in Dean Van Drasek's unyielding, slightly tongue-in-cheek post, "5 Things Believers Can Do That Atheists Can't". The post received over four thousand likes and more than 100 people have commented, many with strong opinions about the actual issues discussed as well as the way Dean presented them.
In his piece, Dean lists behaviors like animal cruelty, child molestation and practicing medicine without a license. In Dean's own words, "I am trying to focus on the legality. Of course, anyone can undertake such actions, for whatever reasons they may use. But society doesn't permit such actions, except in limited circumstances principally related to special treatment given to religious believers."
Child molestation, was, unsurprisingly, one of the most discussed points.
Alexandra Morgan Coffin countered, "That bit about child molestation is dumb. I can guarantee that there are atheist child molesters out there."
Drew Riggio replied with a well-liked comment, "...except that the prevalence of it is very low among atheists, and very high among religious people. It's almost an institutional norm in the Catholic Church, for example; while to my knowledge there has never been a reported case of child molestation as a common feature of any atheist group. Nice try."
David Thompson's response garnered over 100 likes: "The point isn't that there are no Atheist child molesters. The point is that it isn't tolerated nor does the Atheist community band together to give money and a new home to a child molester whenever he fucks a child. Nor does a group of Atheists get together and ostracize the victim of molestation for having the audacity to mention it..."
Don Palathara made a strong statement with "This post is a perfect example of the prejudice and lack of thinking in many modern atheists. Anyone would do any of these if they can find the excuse and courage to do it...This post is just immature and one sided."
In point 5, Dean discussed taking things that aren't yours, and along with that, the idea of manifest destiny. This point garnered a fair amount of debate amongst atheists and religious readers alike, specifically around Israel.
Read the entire post and the conversation that ensued and then read other posts from Dean.
