The WP Strident Atheists

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Have you really been paying much attention to politics? You know that is really quite common.


Actually, what I find offensive about fundamentalist Christians is that they are wrong and are stupid. If they were right, then I would have no problem with their loud apologetics. Truth relies upon its apologists to prevent it from being forgotten.


No it isn't. Quit lying.

You baptized him at birth???

Civility is for pissy-assed goofs without teeth. I may be 84 but I've got a good set of working incisors.

Because saying "please" will get them to untie you and extinguish the torch they were about to use to light the haystack under you.

What is being meant by strident?

I see this keeps being used without any sense that most if not all know what strident indicates.

Why isn't strident Christian's used?
Is it that strident Christian would be redundant?


Strident defined from Dictionary.com comes up as follows:
1. making or having a harsh sound; grating; creaking: strident insects; strident hinges.
2. having a shrill, irritating quality or character: a strident tone in his writings.
3. Linguistics . (in distinctive feature analysis) characterized acoustically by noise of relatively high intensity, as sibilants, labiodental and uvular fricatives, and most affricates.


I don't understand how strident atheist makes sense, unless it means something other than what strident is defined as meaning. If it is supposed to be held to the above definition, what are they saying that validates the legitimacy of use?

What I do see are atheists not agreeing with many of the religious people and having the ability to point by point rebut points without parsing everything with euphemisms.

All Christians are redundant, strident or otherwise. They all, of course, believe they are dundant but they are not only redundant, hey are reredundant.

Curious. The context I normally see "strident" used would put its meaning as something more like "bold," "forceful," or "aggressive."

For a while, many years ago, somebody put on the market a tube of toothpaste that produced its product white with a red stripe. Perhaps that was strident.

Count me forcefully in!

You're 84? Wow - the boldness of your atheism is even more impressive than (since the earlier parts of last century were times when atheism was nowhere near as common as it is today).

Well I've been around long enough to see what a pissy-assed as*hole God must be to create the terrible messes the world is continually embroiled in and I'm pumping myself up to get to meet the bastard face to face and punch him up the way he deserves. I can hardly wait to die.

strident does not, indeed, mean "bold" but rather "shrill" or "grating."

it is a grand misunderstanding which i have enjoyed since i was first corrected on it's meaning (by an evangelist, no less) after i misused it to mean "bold." it's more like "whiney."

don't take too much offense at christians using it about bold, unapologetic, atheism. they usually don't know that they're being more insulting than insightful.

then again, you might take offense at the fact that i've been laughing about this misunderstanding since this whole issue of which, of us atheists, is most STRIDENT.

i just can't help it.

there's nothing inherently STRIDENT about refusing to accept someone's story about their imaginary friend. refusing to accept that your story about an imaginary friend isn't as easy to believe as you thought it was when you were 6...... now THAT might lead to some stridency.

I think it is a somewhat contestable word.

I mean, I think the real basic essence of the word is that whatever it is is loud, probably annoying, and impolite.

# S: (adj) blatant, clamant, clamorous, strident, vociferous (conspicuously and offensively loud; given to vehement outcry) "blatant radios"; "a clamorous uproar"; "strident demands"; "a vociferous mob"
# S: (adj) fricative, continuant, sibilant, spirant, strident (of speech sounds produced by forcing air through a constricted passage (as `f', `s', `z', or `th' in both `thin' and `then'))
# S: (adj) strident, shrill (being sharply insistent on being heard) "strident demands"; "shrill criticism"
# S: (adj) raucous, strident (unpleasantly loud and harsh)
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=strident

1 Loud; shrill, piercing, high-pitched; rough-sounding
The trumpet sounded strident against the string orchestra.

2 Grating or obnoxious
The artist chose a strident mixture of colors
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/strident

1. (of a shout, voice, etc.) having or making a loud or harsh sound
2. urgent, clamorous, or vociferous strident demands
Collins English Dictionary

1. forceful, offensive, hostile, belligerent, pugnacious, destructive, quarrelsome the unnecessarily strident tone of the President's remarks
2. harsh, jarring, grating, clashing, screeching, raucous, shrill, rasping, jangling, discordant, clamorous, unmusical, stridulant, stridulous She tried to laugh, and the sound was harsh and strident.
Collins Thesaurus

Loud, harsh, grating, or shrill; discordant. See Synonyms at loud, vociferous.
American Heritage
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/strident (the three prior dictionaries are found here)

characterized by harsh, insistent, and discordant sound <a strident voice>; also : commanding attention by a loud or obtrusive quality <strident slogans>
http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/strident

As it stands, I think that some of the definitions given actually could be considered synonyms for bold to some degree. Perhaps that is my misinterpretation, but it looks like a good number of dictionaries offer two definitions, with one being "shrill" and the other being "obnoxiously loud".

tbh it's not that hard to accept that words are often misused. it's more difficult, though ultimately worthwhile, to accept that, in most interactions, it's more important to understand what someone means than what they said.

understanding this, i still can't help but laugh when STRIDENT is used by theist apologists to refer to atheists. sometimes, it's completely appropriate. most of the time, it just gives me the image of the theist, upon hearing that the atheist disagrees (especially when the atheist is actually trying to have a rational discussion on the topic), the theist claps their hands to their head and screams, "my ears!"


it's one of those little things the world gives me, from time to time. often giftwrapped.

Seeing as I am already represented in the striDENT atheist grouping I should put my hand up for full membership, although I tend to be more vitriolically atheistic, or at least derisive in my attitude to religionists. As Sand so poetically described it is fascinating to read the attempts of highly intelligent analytical people struggling to explain their faith against every fibre of their intellect, AngelRho and 84 time to take the beautifully constructed super-car into the shop and get the correct tires fitted

im agnostic, so i cant join. frankly, having that strong of an opinion is dangerous. i guess i just play safe