I don't approve of the way larryo is going about his debate with you.
But I have to jump in here and try to explain what otherwise would be an atheist/materialist/agnostic viewpoint, because I don't think larryo is doing it justice, and I think you'll probably get a bunch of likes for that post without people really thinking it through. What you have to understand is that there's nothing an atheist can say about your religion or anyone else's that won't come off as intolerant or disrespectful. It's why I tend to refrain from jumping in these debates, because I have nothing to offer without offending someone.
The natural response is then probably - if you don't have something nice to say, why say it? Most often, I don't. But unfortunately, religious belief - generally motivated by something good - ends up having far less innocuous ramifications. So, generally I do think more criticism of religion would be a good thing - and that it should not be beyond reproach, gently protected under the unassailable category "personal beliefs". In fact, I think one of the most important things mankind needs to do going forward should it want to continue its existence is to detach itself from the religious mindset and moving towards a scientific one. The inability to truly see our place in the scope of the cosmos is probably a main factor in how easy it was for us to start polluting our planet and not giving a crap. People who so-called wage-war against religion, specifically in the name of science, are not doing it to just hear themselves talk. They do it because they think its important for the progress of humankind.
And if you are going to go into every thread and at some point attribute the outcome of some event of the natural world to a supernatural God and praise that God, there are going to be people who criticize that (at times, I will probably be one of them depending upon whether I feel like self-indulgently taking a break from work). And you should expect that. And maybe you shouldn't care, but it's going to happen. And it happens in almost every thread you go into. I guess what I'm getting at, if you can't help from bringing religion into nearly every football post you have, you really shouldn't be incredulous at the thread getting derailed. Because if you have a right to bring Christianity to a thread, an atheist has the right to bring atheism to the thread. It would not be fair for it to be a one-sided discussion.
To me, if we want to talk football, let's just talk football and not bring up religion at all.
