Transcript and Analysis of "christian" chat room discussion

These pages are the outcome of a discussion which took place on the #Dawson_Mcallister_chat IRC channel. Dawson Mcallister is a "christian" evangelist whose special outreach is to teenagers. More information about Dawson Mcallister can be found at his web site, http://www.dawsonmcallister.com/

Someone who frequents the #Dawson_Mcallister_chat channel (but not someone who was involved in The Discussion -- is it possible that they're jealous?? <grin>) has accused me of being hypocritical and "mean-spirited" for misrepresenting myself on IRC, for "spying" on them, and for reporting my findings on this site. The great philosopher Bertrand Russel once wrote a book entitled "Why I Am Not A Christian", and the pages which follow contain reasons why I am not a "christian": I am not bound by the "christian" concept of hypocrisy. At the same time, I consider it the epitome of hypocrisy when a "christian" claims to be a follower of Jesus, and yet makes no effort whatsoever to carry out any of Jesus' teachings, the most important of which is "love your neighbor".

My purpose for posting these pages is educational. If a "christian" reads them and learns to modify their behaviours and use to logic, gentleness and respect in their attempts to communicate their beliefs with others (something I don't consider to be very likely), then these pages have done their job. If a non-"christian" reads these pages and learns how to defend their beliefs against "christian" attack (something I consider to be fairly likely), these pages have done their job. If an athiest reads these pages purely for the purposes of amusement (something I consider to be extremely likely), these pages have done their job. If someone reads these pages and is offended (something else I consider to be extremely likely), it's not my problem, although my impression is that a person who is offended by these pages may have noticed that I have delimited some of their personal beliefs or behaviours a little more accurately than they are comfortable with.

I tend to differentiate between "christianity" and Christianity, the former being the predominant religion in the United States, although not really representative of what Jesus would have liked to see being done in His name, and the latter being more in line with what Jesus would really do. There is no clear dividing line between "christians" and Christians, but certain attitudes and beliefs among those who call themselves Christian make it more or less likely that a person will fall into one category or the other

I am not trying to convince anyone that Christianity, or my beliefs about it, is bad. Neither am I trying to convince anyone that Christianity, or my beliefs about it, is superior to anything else. My purpose is solely to educate people concerning the prevalent ignorant and manipulative uses of "christianity" in my experience, nothing more.

Cast of Characters

Typical Arguments

Typical Behaviours

The Discussion