First, to Allen Dexter, hello from a fellow Lion! Thank you for being quietly respectful of the rest of your club. It may be worth it to you to find someone in the club that you feel comfortable discussing possible issues with. Your comment shows the true spirit of Lionism, and your club has shown that they're proud that you're part of the club. I know my club would probably adore having you. To Sexpot, who said "I think atheists should feel morally obligated to free individuals from religious delusion which causes so much damage." Christians feel morally obligated to free individuals from the delusion of a lack of personal Savior, which they feel causes deep spiritual damage. Exactly how is you pushing your lack of religion on them any different than them pushing their religion on you? To Jadehawk, who said many things, including that "'Militant atheism doesn't sit with people any better than militant religion does.' [is] another insultingly false equivalence." Again, exactly how is your insistence on pushing your lack of religion on people any different than them pushing their religion on you? Basically, my philosophy is this: My religion and/or spirituality may very well be a deluded mistake. It's my mistake to make. Your lack of belief may end up being a deluded mistake, however unlikely it seems. That's your mistake to make. Treat me as an individual who holds certain beliefs that you think are wrong, and I'll treat you as an individual who thinks I'm wrong. If you use hurtful means to persuade me to your point of view, I probably will find a way to not be around you. Please prove to me that you can be good without any god and treat me the way you ideally wish I would treat you. ---------------------------------------------- I don't see how my personal belief in something that's "empirically wrong or unfalsifiable" normalizes beliefs in things that are empirically wrong or unfalsifiable. Because it actually is an accepted part of today's society, it is "normal" but my personal beliefs certainly don't make it so. I personally don't proselytize, mainly because I feel very uncomfortable doing so. I certainly don't feel comfortable with an atheist who proselytizes their lack of belief to me, especially someone who calls me or my beliefs "stupid and damaging" as Elle does.

It must be said. Like Parrish wouldn't consign Fargo to outer Mongolia to get the slimmest chance at the girl if he had the power... That said, I'm still #TeamParrish.

It does, however, sound a lot like the guy in the Old Spice commercials, Isaiah Mustafa.

A lot of my issue with your original comment was the assertion that @GamerPolitics wasn't acting like a child and that Wil was. Wil might've overreacted a tad, and passionate + questioned about that passion + sick = give him a pass even if he is a role model. Not really childish. Someone who's supposed to be a journalist using phrasings and word choices THAT poor and obviously doing only barely minimal research really makes me think of a kid working on a school newspaper for the first time. So in that way, yes @GamerPolitics was being childish, though the honest perplexity and seeking to actually know (and maybe correct?) what made Wil go "HULKSMASH" was definitely more adult. Basically, I saw (and still see) it as a relatively small overreaction to someone being very lazy and completely unprofessional in a way that was remarkably easy to mistake for a near-personal attack.

Using your own metaphor/simile, the actual content of the speeches was less like a preacher simply talking about the Bible to a church congregation and more like that preacher encouraging his congregation to go out and live the message of the Bible to show what it's all about to everyone. That is decidedly missionary work in its own way, and needs to be done as much as the visible "in the field" work of "preaching to the heathens". He exhorted gamers to work on changing the perception of gamers, as he has worked to do with articles for LA Weekly and other publications.

Actually, http://twitter.com/GamePolitics/status/24172278266 specifically says that his keynotes at PAX "aren't representing" That really sounds a whole lot like questioning the validity of Wil's contributions and advocacy to me. I honestly don't see how that could be anything else. And Wil's articles, speeches, and even just his blog are plenty that even the most cursory research shows enough to make plain his advocacy, even if the only thing he's specifically been overtly political about is Net Neutrality (i.e. "write/call your congresscritter about this!").

*giggle* When you mentioned blessing dice, a lightbulb went off over my head. My priest's sons used to game with us, and if a whole gaming group brought dice to him to be blessed, I'm sure he would (whole group so that nobody gets an unfair advantage). Hmmm. *non-existent-beard stroke*

13- or 14-year-old me had the hugest crush on you. You were even cooler than Kirk Cameron and almost as awesome as Michael J. Fox. And you've only gotten better. I endorse the compound telescope as a Father's Day present idea.

Y'all're both nuts. *G* Just one of the many reasons to keep watching.