Ben of “Scattered Words” pipes up again.

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I’d forgotten about our favorite ex-gay guy until I received a trackback to my entry on Natalie Angier from his blog. It appears that Ben thinks that we silly atheists take delight in our own ignorance of theism, God and Christianity. I’m not entirely certain why he thinks we’re ignorant or that we take delight in said ignorance and he doesn’t bother to elaborate further in his entry. I also don’t understand why he’d start poking a stick at a hornet’s nest after all the complaining he did the last time he attracted the attention of SEB regulars and wasn’t happy with the comments he was receiving. Perhaps he’s bored and figures this will give him something new to complain about as he busies himself removing any comments he might receive.

I always find it amusing when someone tries to tell me how ignorant I am of theism in general and Christianity in particular. Not only was I a member of said groups at one time, but the very nature of the conversations that take place here regularly makes it kind of hard to be ignorant. Not to mention that I’ve probably studied the Bible and Christian theology more than most Christians have both before and after I stopped believing. I won’t even bother pointing out how stupid said comment is when applied to the likes of Decrepit Old Fool.

But, hey, the poor guy can’t even accept himself for who he really is so why should I be surprised that he’s clueless about others?

15 thoughts on “Ben of “Scattered Words” pipes up again.”

  2. Interesting that the little shit only allows opinions that are in line with his own beliefs.  No true discussion.  I suppose he’s like most of the exgay assholes.  Likes to start a fire but hates to deal with the consequences.

  3. Can someone really be ex-gay?  I don’t even knows what they would entail.  Would an ex-gay guy be a gay guy who discovered how fun sexual congress with women is?  Would that guy really have been gay though, or just bi and ignorant of their own orientation?  Maybe I should look at the guy’s site and see what he says about it….  Then again, I don’t really care that much….

  6. I might be a bit of an odd duck among atheists because I’ve NEVER read the bible outside of a couple of reading assignments in college.

    So I guess I am somewhat ignorant about the specifics of christianity.  But what I do know about it doesn’t pass the smell test.

  7. Cool, I can quote myself here.cool grin
    My response…

    I couldn’t disagree more with your statement. I’ve been reading SEB for a while now and I find that most of the regulars are well versed in your particular brand of self-delusion; Christianity.

    These Atheists have read your Bible in depth and have studied the nomadic origins of this belief system. Those who know the evolution of the xtian mythos can hardly succumb to its trap.

    Ironically, your ending question “Why is this always so misconstrued?” should be turned back on you. Why do you assume that Atheists know nothing of your belief system. Every Athiest I know has been raised in a home of one belief system or another and after years of study and honest contemplation have decided that no system yet presented has withstood their own personal test of honest intellectual validation.

    You, like most believers, just don’t seem to understand that an Athiest can not be pidgeon-holed into any one category other than that they “have NO belief system”, period. Athiests can be of any nationality, “race”, indoctrinated into any religion, or have any sexual preference. Some (a minority) do positively affirm that there are no gods at all. Most simply live a life free of superstition and the supernatural and have no beliefs at all.

    I do not believe in your god for the same exact reason that I do not believe in Zeus. I’ve studied both fables, I know their origin and both easily rejected. If I HAD to pick one tho, I think I’d go for the more loving and caring god of the civilized people of our first democracy, Zeus, over that psychotic jealous god of the desert nomads that you bow down to.

    -Spocko

    “Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on a man. The Christian god is a three headed monster, cruel, vengeful, and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites.

  8. What Spocko said.

    I studied Christianity (and quite a few other faiths, too) so that I could understand what made them ‘tick’. And I studied Christian history and religion as a means to defend myself when I was attacked for being a Pagan back in my youth.

    The result is that I know more about Christianity than most Christians, and what I learned about the faith convinced me that it was not my cuppa.

    Doesn’t stop ‘em from trying to convert me, though…they just don’t understand ‘no, thank you’.

    Sunfell

  9. I’m really a duck out of water when it comes to discussions about religion.

    I consider myself fortunate to have been raised from birth as an atheist and having never followed any religion myself, often have trouble understanding those who do.

    That said, I have gotten around to reading pretty much the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments. A feat which has raised more questions than it has presented answers. While some parts of it are genuinely interesting, uplifting and even cool, for the most part it is the least inspiring work of fiction/philosophy I have ever read.

  12. Can location information be derived from a trackback?

    I have a growing suspicion that Ben is a front, perhaps for a social studies or theology class, at Taylor University, a private, fundamentalist Christian college in Indiana.

    Ben, the ex-gay blogger claiming to be turning away from homosexuality and toward God may not be gay (or real) at all. A WHOIS database search lists “Ben’s” blog, scatteredwords.com, as registered to an address at 236 West Reade Avenue, Upland, IN 46989-1001. That’s the mailing address of Taylor University, a private, fundamentalist Christian college in the midwest. The writer (or writers) of Scattered Words claims to be from Washington, DC.

    http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/103032/index.php

    He never comments on other blogs and I suspect this is because he doesn’t want to leave an IP address.

    Then again, conspiracy theorist that I am, I would just love to know for sure.

    If he really is a 22 year old Christian who doesn’t want to be gay anymore, I wish him luck. I simply wish he could do it privately with less controversy. Gay homophobes are tortured personalities but they make their own beds and deserve to sleep alone in them.

  13. The IP block of the server proper is assigned to HopOne Internet Corp.(R), with contact phone numbers in the 202 area code. Perhaps Ben is from DC, but currently attending Taylor? Whatever.

  14. Trackbacks do transmit an IP address when they are sent. Ben’s trackback a couple of days ago was: 66.36.229.134. Which, as Elwed says, points back to HopOne in DC. It’s also consistent with every other trackback he’s ever sent.

    Not that that means a damned thing, though, as I don’t live anywhere near where SEB is hosted.

  15. Yeah, proxies and all of that make trackback ips almost worthless when it comes to detecting the origins of a user. Maybe this Ben is nothing more than some annoying student someplace with nothing better to do than trying to pick a fight with atheists. Although from what I’ve read he’s doing himself a disfavour by entering intellectual combat unarmed smile

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