In my opinion, my poll was improperly locked:

[struggle4progress]

Has the William Dembie case caused you to rethink your commitment to atheism?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=297094&mesg_id=297094

It contained a number of options, going in rather different directions, two quite reasonable, two rather silly, one corresponding rather closely to my own views of my own beliefs, and the rest ironically playing off various themes regularly dicussed in R/T

I can pretty much guess what the Admins response will be ("The Mods decided this was insensitive and a personal attack"): if Admins don't want to spend much time responding to this, you can just post the expected answer. But I put some time and thought into the poll, so I'm going to post an extended defense of myself anyway

The poll includes the options

No, there are crazies in any large group
No, I'd never heard of William Dembie

which I regard as obvious and sensible retorts to the question, and almost all respondents (myself included) chose one of these obvious retorts. Questions about craziness, in fact, frequently arise in R/T:

dmallind
Thu Aug-18-11 12:27 PM
Response to Reply #17
20. And the "mentally ill" all-purpose copout is no use here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=297216&mesg_id=297385

cleanhippieThu Aug-18-11 10:25 AM
Response to Reply #5
8. What is a more insane belief, demonic possession or reanimation of a dead body?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=297180&mesg_id=297362

Critters2
Sun May-29-11 03:30 PM
Response to Original message
4. Why is a post about paranoid schizophrenia in the Religion/Theology forum? nt
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=283621&mesg_id=283629

struggle4progress
Sun May-29-11 11:27 PM
Response to Original message
38. So: unnamed man in Wichita detained for psych eval nearly three weeks ago. Any updates?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=284002&mesg_id=284046

Most of the other questions refer to views expressed and/or discussed in the forum. For example,

I had always thought atheists were more ethical than everybody else

plays off discussions like

Does Secularism Make People More Ethical?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x296321

and there actually seems to be a constituency in R/T that regards "Yes" as the correct answer to this question, as you might see by reading that thread. Threads circling around such issue appear regularly in R/T; here are other examples

Are Christians morally superior compared to Non-Christians?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=294009

"the irreligious tend to be more ethical than their religious peers"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=277149

Similarly, the option

It's stuff like that that drew me to atheism in the first place

actually reflects the views of some atheist philosophers, such as Ayn Rand, who idolized Hickman ("a man who raped, murdered, and dismembered a 12-year-old girl") as noted in the article linked by the OP here:

Ayn Rand: The GOP’s Godless Philosopher
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=294009

struggle4progress
Sun Jul-10-11 05:30 PM
Response to Original message
1. Let us first read Rand on Christianity and altruism
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=290818&mesg_id=290895

In the same way, the option

I like science but this just really isn't scientific enough for me

references a very common theme of posters in R/T, that religion is merely superstition and that the alternative is science, as here:

Why religion is superior to science
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=297256

The closely related option

I don't think he acted irrationally

reflects not only a claim commonly made in R/T that religious people are irrational, but actually reflects the views of Dembie himself, as I showed by news quotes

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=297094&mesg_id=297183

The option

I prefer to avoid people who decapitate others

is just silly, of course, but it reflects a very standard sort of post in R/T, that claims all manner of bad behavior is attributable to "religion"

Woman pleads guilty for death of 2-year-old toddler in exorcism ritual
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x297180

Fundamentalist Christians ‘spanked’ daughter to death
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x297216

Teen beaten for not wanting to attend church
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x291876

When Religion Becomes Lethal: Lessons from Norway
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x293902

'I had to send my son to heaven and myself to Hell': mother executes her boy at firing range
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=283621

man lived with body of dead fiancee for days, praying she would return to life
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=284002

9/11 was what turned me off from organized religion forever
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=277607

Similarly the option

Everybody makes mistakes

is just silly in this context, even though (of course) everybody does make mistakes. I included it as an option because I have sometimes given (and been criticized for) this retort myself in discussions on DU, in cases where I thought the case under discussion plausibly involved only a lapse of judgement

The option most likely to be regarded as obvious flamebait is, I think,

I'd rather believe some incredible irrational nonsense than go down this road

That is, however, rather close to my actual attitude towards some of my own religious views and is not an attack on anyone, although it echoes a common criticism of certain religious ideas as "incredible irrational nonsense"

struggle4progress
Mon May-09-11 12:22 AM
Response to Reply #13
16. Indeed I can follow my own logic. I am perfectly willing to admit that there is not
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=278523&mesg_id=278786

Finally, people who actually read my posts in R/T will be aware that I think there are useful, important, and interesting atheistic attitudes towards religion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=293730&mesg_id=294479

Anybody ever read Vítezslav Gardavský?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=253415

The Gospel of Christian Atheism (Thomas J.J. Altizer / 1966)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x101301

Foundations of Christianity by Karl Kautsky (1908)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=183660

A Difficult Love Affair? On the Relation between Marxism and Theology (Boer | MR)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=243901

A quote from Gandhi:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=286966

I will further note that, many hours before the poll in question was locked on Thu Aug-18-11 11:03 AM, I posted in a different thread my view that

struggle4progress
Wed Aug-17-11 08:57 PM
... atheists are usually normal folk just like most everybody else ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=297152&mesg_id=297282

I think the poll was locked without taking into account the somewhat bizarre culture of R/T in which the poll occurred

[Skinner]

1. I think the lock was justified. (nt)