It would appear that christians and atheists each prefer to have their own echo chambers.

     I recently noticed this post. In it, Paule Baird is criticizing the use of valueless sound bites against the christian faith as it makes atheists appear indistinguishable from christians. He overlooks what I consider an important point. For the most part, atheists are indistinguishable from christians. They don't come to their belief from a careful examination of the evidence. They base their belief on what is convenient and/or comforting to them or they just take the word of a trusted authority and they only look at differring beliefs for the express purpose of "showing how they are wrong." They pay no real attention to what is being said.
     Paul was attacked by other atheists for the simple reason that he did not show 100 percent unwavering loyalty to the cause. That is, he questioned the method used as ineffective. He's right, of course. It is ineffective. Anyone not already in one of the respective camps will recognize it as mindless propaganda -- something with which I am only too familiar. But, in levelling the criticism, he revealed that he was not following like a sheep. And this is just as intolerable in atheist circles as it is in christian circles.