I have a personal blog, outside of GS for obvious reasons, which is dedicated to the eternal argument of creationism. An argument of which I am a fan to be sure, but one thing that annoys me is the tactic of "flooding" a forum with a huge volume of resources in one post and expecting anybody to, in a few seconds, formulate a response. Then, when they can't respond quickly, their opposition acts as if they've made a valid point. Regardless of the validity of these posts, they are submitted with the knowledge that they cannot be effectively refuted in a short time span.

To combat this "argument from volume" I started the blog "Year of the Naked Mole rat" to handle these resources in large chunks. Since the resources are posted from a pool that existed before the argument, it's only fare that the responses are posted in a pool as well. I've started on the first set which comes from the "Pull the Plug on atheism" web site. When I finish this set I will move on to other, more technical work. Regardless of you personal world view, feel free to take a look and comment.

So far its not too terribly interesting. Mostly about the "End of times." I'll add to this as it becomes more relevant.

Edit: So the first major argument for the existence of god in this thread was made by "Segagenesisfan." The argument itself is a fairly common one: "So many people, including jesus, died for their beliefs. Therefore, christianity is the one true religion.

I laughed.

I have been watching, with great interest, a group of users who have pooled their efforts to evangelize their religion on the Off Topic forum. They have even formed aunionhere on game spot for the same purpose. I am always fascinated by fundamentalists and their narrow view of the world. These people in particular espouse the young earth brand of B.S.

One thread in their union piqued my interest specifically. Its a thread where they meet before going off to assault OT with their message of eternal damnation. One could say a lot about the mind of a fundamentalist, (and I intend to) but I think this thread speaks volumes. It was interesting to read about their attempts (especially if you are familiar with their threads on OT.) After being beat into submission on almost every point they make, they retreat to this thread to discuss what a great success their efforts were. Its quite funny and well worth the read.

If you do a little more digging in their Union, you will probably come across a character they consider their nemesis. A guy by the name of WtfDragon. Evidently they do not see eye to eye with this individual, who is also a christian, and consider him to be a vector of pure evil; hell bent on their destruction. (Philosophically of course.) I believe that this schism is the result of his denial of their YEC dogma. At any rate, you should check out hisblogtoo as he has a great deal to say on the subject.

Because of the radical nature of their beliefs, their tendencies are towards martyrdom and they seem to be unable to comprehend basic reason. Often times, they claim to "Submit lots of evidence" in the defense of their beliefs, which consistently turns out to be links to christian apologetic websites full of the same angry-monkey-with-a-machete brand of reason. They have no problem with sources full of baseless claims and mindless assumptions while rejecting peer reviewed literature as "bias from people who hate god." As a consequence of their fundamentalism, they often personify their critics as enemies in a holy war and firmly believe anybody who disagrees with them does so out of anti-christian motive. This was the result that WtFDragon encountered when he criticized their methods. When reading their submissions it is not uncommon to find references to "Scoffers" and people who they believe are "out to get them."

I think that the debates caused by these kinds of people, while vapid intellectually, are very interesting. As a result, I have decided to become a secretary, of sorts, for these threads. My plan is to catalog the arguments and counterarguments used during discussion and to "take down the minuets" of the threads." I will then use my blog as an archive and inject my own commentary about the threads in general. It should be an interesting experience. I look forward to the next religious thread.

TCW Union: http://www.gamespot.com/pages/unions/home.php?union_id=TCWU

WtFDragon's blog:http://www.gamespot.com/users/WtFDragon/