We get plenty of examples of the unlikable variety on this forum, so let's have a change of pace: name some theists you actually like.
For me, top of the list would be RationalRoundtable on YouTube. He's unlisted a lot of his videos, but he still has a lot of good stuff. I remember him stating at one point, "I enter the debate as a theist first, and a Christian second, because until you've demonstrated that theism is viable people aren't really going to care which variety of it you practice." He's one of those folks who disagrees with you, but can still fully understand where you're coming from.
This is one of my favorite videos he ever made:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6AIY0efJn0
I like John Shelby Spong. He still calls himself a christian but some of what he says makes him sound like more of a general theist, deist or even non-theist. He is certainly willing to call out outdated and bigoted views that people use the bible to prop-up. For a short intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF6I5VSZVqc
He also has lots of longer discussions that have very interesting parts, like this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwNmj5h1zds&list=FLBIg6-yEn-WWu7jHt5QeLPQ&index=46
If I'd been raised in a branch of christianity as liberal as his I likely would still be in it, never having had the many crises that drove me completely out. But, being out, I see no point in going back to believing some type of vague quarter-god like Spong seems to preach with "touchy feely evidence"
Dead Popes. Love em' all.
Don't know any famous theists I like. I've heard a couple of good things about the current pope that might make him less of an asshole then the previous ones, but eh, it's still the pope, best we can hope for is a pope who's not a secret Nazi.
I guess the only theist I'm ok being around is my aunt, who unlike my mother and other aunt, believes the bible is the be all and end all, and her and her boyfriend think evolution is a myth. As long as we're not talking about anything along those lines I can put up with whatever she believes in.
I don't have a favorite Christian, but I like to listen to these guys on the radio when I'm driving. I like the accent they cultivate that adds to their style of delivery. It's kind of a southern accent, but it's really an accent of it's own heard only on the radio or at traveling tent revivals. I think they must teach it in seminaries as a special course called "Fire and Brimstone Cadence, Timing, and Delivery 301,302." Students take turns standing at the class pulpit and lash out with snippets that are then critiqued by the class. The class practices saying "Gawd" in unison over and over until they get it right.
It makes it easy to find a preacher on the radio when you need one, you can scan the frequencies without having to listen for actual content. You will recognize a good preacher from his delivery before you understand what he's talking about, and bingo! You just stop the scan and lock on. It's also fun to try and talk like that on your own. I do it when I'm driving. I do it real loud and take particular care to exaggerate working the muscles of my mouth to twist the words into passable evangelical linguistics. I try not to do it at stop lights, where other drivers can see me. But sometimes I forget. Occasionally a whole family will be watching me and I don't realize it until a little boy in the back seat shouts, "Look at that man! He's talking like a preacher." It's kind of embarrassing.
Fascinating videos, thanks! I talked with a Catholic religious Scholar that was brilliant that I liked because what he said made sense, and showed how Christianity is misunderstood by almost everyone. An example I remember is the soul, it being more like the energy of a person going on after their death and combing with the energy of the universe (God) that created us, not their identity. I realize this is a Straw Man fallacy, but it makes sense with that definition for God which is usually defined as the Creator and Supreme being, and also universal force in the natural world. Leave out the personification of God being a Being by primitive religious scholars, without knowledge of modern science and superstitious, and it fits with scientific facts. :eek: This is the problem with God---who could possibly know what it means as a being--- without any evidence? Solitary
Pater Damiaan/Father Damian
My grandparents
Stephen Colbert
Martin Luther King Jr.
Contemporary Protestant
...
"Homeopaths You Like" would get about the same response from me.
Of course, there are some theists that are great human beings, but their religious beliefs have nothing to do with that. In fact, the less said about religion and the more said about their much more laudable accomplishments, the better.
Those who shut the fuck up.