Atheists being dicks to the religious, this time in the U.K. I cannot understand an entire belief built on putting down others. It sucks when Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others do it and its lame when Atheists do it. I guess this means they’re in the big leagues now: as offensive as everyone else.
Personally, I find “you deserve to suffer agony and torture for eternity after you’re dead” a WEE bit more offensive than “stop worrying and have a nice day”. Maybe it’s just me.
I don’t see anything offensive in “There’s Probably No God. Now Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life.”
I disagree with the statement. I’m not offended by it. And Jesus gave the exact same advice: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” [Matt 6:27]
It seems to me that they’re just doing what the various religious types do, only they’re doing it on buses instead of on church signs. Not that they have churches to put signs on, of course.
Personally, I think the featured slogan isn’t that good, but other slogans like “Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness’ sake”
are excellent.
Athiests are starting to advertise. So what? How many billboards about abortion & god do you see on the interstates, compared with billboards about athiests & abortion rights?
And those ads are dumb too. Is it a race now to see who can be the most annoying?
I don’t know about annoying. I’m an agnostic/atheist, but years ago I saw a billboard on I-95 that said simply:
Don’t Make Me Come Down There.
God.
I thought it was pretty funny.
Why exactly is it dumb? It is actually a good idea for people to promote causes that they believe in, and getting other atheists to come out of the closet, and fence-sitters to come on over, is a worthy cause.
I love reading your website Oliver, but I think you tend to be in the wrong when it comes to criticizing the atheist movement.
Brian
God is advertised on our money, in pledge of allegiance, and at the end of virtually every presidential speech ever made. And yet someone advertising the truth that there “probably is no God” is being a dick? Sorry. Wrong.
On the other hand, if the ads had said there was no Santa… that would be extremely dickish!
Don’t discount the enormously empowering feeling of seeing some atheists being free to act like monumental jerks. I’m not excusing the desire of some atheists to cause offense rather than merely to clearly expound their beliefs, but it is nonetheless true that for a long, long time there has been nearly no consideration for atheists in the public sphere; they are treated as a sad thing, as somehow flawed; atheism is treated as a lack of faith, rather than an affirmative theory, and atheists are regularly told that they’ll find their faith when confronted with adversity or wonder. It’s nice to see that nowadays even a small number of atheists is sufficiently empowered to make a spectcle of themselves.
The I believe & I dunno choirs are gonna rumble.
Richard Dawkins is a hero. He asks us to question what we know and believe and employ scientific scrutiny. If more people asked questions, less bastard dickheads would hold the reins of power than they do now. He also married Romana mk 2 from “Doctor Who”.
At least the atheists have looked at what the religious have said before rejecting it, the religious hardly even examine their own beliefs, let alone those of others.
Reminds me of what the lead singer of the Flaming Lips wants on his tombstone: “There’s nothing after death, and that’s great news!”
Everybody needs to stop having fits. Stop whining about God being someplace and anti-God being someplace, just believe what you believe and who gives a shit what Bob believes. As a non-atheist I’m not offended by their little displays; I just think it was a big fat waste of their money.
Rarely does Mr. Willis ever cast stones at his own house.
He is obviously a christian, so I challenge him with this:
Why are people of your faith content with allowing Evangelicals speak for all of you? Why do you all hate women? Why do you all hate human instinct? Why do you all hate freedom of choice? Why must you all demand that you should be able to rub others noses in the fact that you all so much power, and then bitch and moan when we use what little power we have to smack you back? Why do you think the Jews killed Jesus? Why refuse to give other people their holiday’s off? We do you make fun of non-Christians in school? Why do you try to force your prayers on others? Why do you look down on people who don’t ‘believe’ like you do? Why do you murder them? Torture them? Why do you judge others on their actions, and yourself on your highest ideals? Why do you care more about the 2 passages about kind of sort of disapproving of gays then the dozens about protecting the weak?
IS this REALLY an argument someone of your faith can make? One of guilt by association, collective punishment, and religious tolerance? Seriously? Is that an argument you could ever win when made to someone who doesn’t agree with you already? Do you really think that is aliens landed tomorrow, they would look at the length and breadth of human history and go’ Damn, those atheists sure are a lot of nasty buggers!’ Humans are self rigteous bastards who are always convinced of their moral superiority. Why not pull your head out of your ass and learn that to someone of another religion, you guys don’t come off that well either.
Oh, this again? Those horrible atheists, saying that there’s probably not a god. How offensive and dickish.
A sign like that is reassuring me an atheist like myself, that there are enough people out there that think like me to pay for a fleet of buses.
Soullite – Oliver is an atheist. Good job with the spittle-flecked invective, though.
I don’t find the ad in question at all offensive, but neither do I think anyone who sees it is likely to change their beliefs – probably a waste of money. That said, oppressed groups should totally spend money to advance their public image and further their goal for equal rights. This may not be the best way, but it might be a step in the right direction….
Dude, the fact that you feel these ads == being a dick makes you look like a typical religious ahole.
Plus you are a skins fan.
Go Panthers!
They put up some ads. What’s offensive about that?
Christians tell me I’m going to burn in hell because I don’t believe in their sky-god. _That’s_ offensive.
He is obviously a christian, so I challenge him with this:
And… you are wrong. See how silly it is to make assumptions about people? It’s no good when the religious do it, and now the non-religious are picking up their worst habits. Dicks all around!
You post your beliefs and views and angers and joys on a blog every damned day for years and go after atheists for buying some ad space. And that’s fine. The problem is that you cannot see that this is about you and your feelings about ateism – period. Not about “extremists.” You wrote as much:
To put it a way I normally wouldn’t (it’s an internet thing), Oliver, it appears that you want to, but don’t have the balls to be an atheist, and it makes you obsessed with people who do.
I think the greater point that Oliver is trying to make is these atheists in question are being obnoxious by design. The purpose is not to express a belief or philosophy but to offend.
Again I mention the joke movement “Atheists for Jesus”, a group who think that doing kind things as per the teachings ascribed to Jesus Christ are a good thing, but don’t believe in God.
I can’t see how the latest posters are that offensive. I’d rather see that than pretend not to be in when the Jehovah lot knock my door yet again.
Well … they did say “probably…” (wouldn’t that make them agnostic?)
But to the point, the overly religious (or those overly conscious of religion) are easily goaded into being offended by nothing in particular. Pair the word “god” with an otherwise benign phrase, and suddenly we all get pissed. If it said “there’s probably no Great Pumpkin” … not so much.
We need to be wary of the words we use, to be sure; but we need to be far more concerned with the value we give them. After all, words are basically meaningless until we all agree otherwise. That’s when the shit really hits the fan.
These atheists in question are attacking other faiths. I don’t like it when con christians do it, why should I not say anything when atheists – who have a lot in common with me – do? I don’t have the dogmatism to be an atheist or a fundamentalist, it surely isn’t a question of “balls”. I tend to be far more sympathetic to atheists, and I think this recent outbreak of dick-swinging by them does more to hurt than help.
Why couldn’t the sign say something like “We Don’t Believe In God, And Neither Should You”?
For some reason, Oliver, you equate a simple statement of personal understanding, advertised in public, with “being a dick.” The signs say nothing offensive. Nothing. Let’s take a look at the (paraphrased) messages, shall we?
“There’s probably no God, so relax and have a nice day.”
“Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness’ sake.”
THIS is what qualifies as being a dick? Are you kidding me? Simple statement of personal understanding (God doesn’t exist), followed by simple, light, downright cheerful advice – “Hey, enjoy your life! Hey, act morally for the sake of being a good person!”
This is what constitutes dickishness. Really? Seriously? Holy fuck, man. You have ridiculous blinders on, so that anytime an atheist says ANYTHING in public, you get all in a tizzy about it. You clearly just want atheists to shut the fuck up, sit down, and to know their place. If you get offended by the above advertisements, you’re not thinking clearly about it. You’re irrational on this issue, OW, and it pains me to see it. Ordinarily you’re so clear-headed and rational, which makes it so fucking difficult to understand why this one item makes your brain melt out your ears.
You know, I feel like I’ve made the same points on every atheism thread you’ve ever posted, Oliver, but I don’t know why I bother… with this topic, you’re clearly not in a position to rationally consider your viewpoint.
Why would that slogan be any better for you, OW?
“Why couldn’t the sign say something like “We Don’t Believe In God, And Neither Should You”?”
Not sure how that’s better. Atheists believe there is no god. That’s not a statement designed to offend. It IS our belief.
How is that being a dick? By that standard anyone carrying a sign that saves “Jesus Saves” is being a dick. Praise Allah. Dick. God Bless America. Dick.
Kinda feels like stating religious beliefs is fine. But stating that your belief system is based on the idea that there is in fact no God is offensive.
Why?
Why the insecurity? Why must atheists hide their beliefs? Why so serious?
Why couldn’t the sign say something like “We Don’t Believe In God, And Neither Should You”?
Because you would be offended by that.
The purpose is not to express a belief or philosophy but to offend.
Oh rubbish.
The purpose is to say “Lighten up, Francis.”
I’m an atheist, and I think the ad is stupid. It implies that all those who believe in God don’t enjoy their lives, and that’s just not factually accurate. There are people who believe in God who are happy and there are people who believe in God who aren’t. There are happy atheists (like me), and there are non-happy atheists. Man, I hate generalizations.
daniel, I think you’re reaching.
“These atheists in question are attacking other faiths”
I don’t think you understand what “attack” means.
Dude, it’s a sign. As an atheist, I’ll admit it’s kind of silly. But an “attack”? If that sign convinces a sky-god worshiper to change his or her ways, their faith probably wasn’t that strong to begin with.
(And we’ve been down this road before, but atheism is not a belief. It’s a rejection of received beliefs.)
As a tad of an Atheist myself I found the ad supercalifragilisticexpalidocious (I may have an extra “i” somewhere in there).
It is important for people of faithlessness to remind those of faith that the Holy Shopping List Book of their Invisible Spaghetti Monster of choice is a silly, stupid – mostly evil concoction written by mostly ignorant savages (though often well meaning ignorant sexist racist savages)trying to explain the unexplainable. Unexplainable things like: tides, the world going around the sun every day, birth, why are we good, why are we bad, why do we have five fingers – five toes and only one dick, death, floods, droughts and most importantly – Why does Kieth Olbermann think Bill O’Reilly is such a dickhead?
Now if only I could understand how a Rubik’s Cube works.
“There probably is no God”
Nothing rude about it, especially given the “probably”. I guess if being unoffensive were the primary concern, one would have to say “We believe there is no God, but that’s just us — feel free to disagree.” Not so easy to fit on the side of a bus, but hey. And of course, saying nothing at all would be the least offensive option. FSM knows, atheists have been doing plenty of that for a long time.
“Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”
This is mildly rude. “Stop worrying” is an imperative phrase, meaning someone is telling someone else what to do; that mild rudeness is compounded by the implication that theism is a refuge for worriers who need a holy security blanket to make it through the day. That’s condescending. But you know, I’ve spent my life putting up with the condescending assumptions of religious folk (you know, “In God We Trust”, “one nation under God”, etc.) and I’m very little the worse for wear. If theists can’t handle one cheeky advert on the side of the bus, then they deserve all the condescension we can throw at them.
“I cannot understand an entire belief built on putting down others.”
With respect, Oliver, this strikes me as the most condescending statement in your post. Putting down others may be a side benefit of atheism for some, just as it most assuredly is for many theists, but to imply that it is the BASIS for anyone’s belief, based on the advert in question, is a major stretch.
I’d also like to point out that dicks get a bad rap. We wouldn’t be here without them, they’re very handy for peeing whilst standing up, and they get conflated with rude and violent behavior ALL THE TIME. Speaking on behalf of my own penis and those of other well-behaved gentlemen around the world, I reject the implication. Shame on you.
Kidding. Kind of.
I find this to be about 1/50th as offensive as I found the Washington State House signage. But as an atheist I think there is no good cause to insult people for their beliefs. For predatory or deceptive conduct, for abusive conduct; sure. But there’s no need to insult people over beliefs.
There are so many funnier and wittier ways to spread a positive message about atheism. “Atheists: your new friends with no invisible means of support.” “Atheists: we knock on your door to spread a message of … no particular content.” “Atheists: unlike some religious leaders, we are not interested in your crotch. Really.”
Oliver at 8:42: exactly.
Compared to the amount of religion being sprayed around the public consciousness, it sure doesn’t take much of an atheist message to get people hot and bothered.
How many times have you heard that Jesus saves.
How many times have you heard that he doesn’t.
Oliver, I have to agree with some of your dissenters here. I don’t find the ad offensive, and I personally would be far more ticked off by your suggested replacement.
If I saw a billboard saying “We Don’t Believe In God, And Neither Should You”, I would take it as a suggestion that I give up my religious beliefs on the basis of some stranger’s ability to pay for a public ad.
The ad they used – ““There’s Probably No God. Now Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life.” – is also a suggestion that I change my behaviour, but does not actually suggest that I give up my belief in God.
In fact, I think a Christian could take the ad in stride and say that if God will forgive the atheists who made the ad for denying his existence, then I can probably stop worrying about some of my little sins too. I can then follow their advice with a clean conscience.
As Quaker in a Basement pointed out, there is actually a verse in Scripture that I could use to rebut their point. My first thought would have been to look in Eccelesiates, but the verse Quaker posted will do fine.
I’m atheist by the way. I actually do agree with you that ads like this shouldn’t go too far out of their way to be offensive, but compared with some of the similar ads that have been done by Christian groups, this is pretty small potatoes. It’s like the Republicans saying for years that anyone who disagreed with them was a traitor and then heading for the fainting couch the moment anyone suggested that “drill baby drill” was not a comprehensive economic policy.
Why couldn’t the sign say something like “We Don’t Believe In God, And Neither Should You”?
Isn’t that basically what the sign says? What’s the semantic difference, really? In fact, the two slogans this group are utilizing are far less abrasive and more effective (as advertising) than your suggestion.
Like others have stated, & as an atheist myself, it’s great to see some form of public affirmation that there are others out there who think like I do and aren’t being cowed in to sitting down and shutting up just so the overwhelming majority of believers don’t feel a little uncomfortable. Fuck that noise and anyone who tells them they’re being dicks just for speaking up.
“In fact, I think a Christian could take the ad in stride and say that if God will forgive the atheists who made the ad for denying his existence, then I can probably stop worrying about some of my little sins too.”
Isn’t unbelief one of those really big, huge sins which isn’t forgivable?
Sorry, Oliver – love your blog, but this is a pretty stupid post. Your dickitude meter is in need of an adjustment if you think the actual sign is a dickish attack, and your “…neither should you” isn’t.
I do think it’s funny that so many godless atheists like me read O-dub’s blog.
“There is no God. Don’t worry about it.” That’s my candidate.
Another is Epicurus, who basically said, “Yeah, there probably are gods. But they don’t care about you. So you don’t have to care about them, either.”
If there is no God, everything is permitted.
Fyodor Dostoevsky,
If there is no God
If there is no God,
Not everything is permitted
to man;
He is still his brother’s
keeper,
And he is not permitted to
sadden his brother
by saying that there is
no God.
Czeslaw Milosz
How about some context? These atheist bus signs were created in response to a Christian campaign that had buses tooling about London preaching fear of an angry Jesus while directing people to a website that preaches eternal damnation and suffering for non-believers.
So let’s review:
On the one side, people using intense psychological pressure through fear to drive people to adhere to a particular religious doctrine…
…and on the other side, people using what they feel is the common sense idea that Gods are utterly mythical and you might just be a lot happier living the life you have and not worrying about getting into the right social club after you cash in your chips. No implied threats from some vengeful returning overlord or web addresses for more disparaging material.
Oh yeah, total dicks.
Epicurus went further and proposed that if there is a god/are gods, then they aren’t worthy of being worshipped since they allow so much suffering to occur in the world. In effect, he argued that any divine beings were, by definition, cruel and malicious entities undeserving of human worship.
Kind of a brilliant insight IMO.
OW, seriously, you need to get over your hate of atheists. We can’t so much as mention that we exist without you getting flummoxed. What have we terrible atheists done to you? Other than not believing more stridently than you are comfortable with, did we steal your lollipop?
I can accept that we atheists are among the most hated groups in the US right now, but to have it suggested, by you of all people, that we should just be quiet and cede our right to speak out is very disappointing.
Your claim to be annoyed by a group exercising its right to free speech would be much more believable if you bothered to say, “There go those Baptists again, with their sign in front of their church.” or “Those Catholics are at it again, with their pray the rosary bumper stickers.”
“Personally, I find ‘you deserve to suffer agony and torture for eternity after you’re dead’ a WEE bit more offensive than ’stop worrying and have a nice day’. Maybe it’s just me.”
Winner.
This is false equivalency.
But for Oliver, any time an atheist speaks out, they are being offensive.
I love your site, man — just as a disclaimer. But I think your argument is 180 degrees in the wrong direction.
Saying, “There probably is no God,” isn’t dickish. It’s a positive sentiment. The advertisement argues that, hey, humans have gone for a while without having an all-powerful deity looking out for us. So why don’t we keep doin’ what we’re doin’ and, at the same time, try to make ourselves and others happier people?
It’s not a dickish opinion. It’s a nice outlook on things. And in my mind, it needs to be advertised.
two truths I believe in:
religion divides. nothing fails like prayer.
Richard Dawkins answers Oliver here:
http://richarddawkins.net/article,3494,Atheists-launch-bus-ad-campaign,Ariane-Sherine
There is nothing even the slightest bit “dickish” about the sentiments expressed, and your assertion that atheism is “an entire belief (sic) built on putting down others” is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen written. Like kryptonite to stupid? I think not.
I’ve seen atheists being dicks to the religious.
This ain’t that.
This is exactly the same as the “Jesus Saves” billboards plastered all over the highways around here.
I don’t think exercising free speech is dumb or annoying. Your description of a friendly “Don’t Worry” ad as “being a dick” is as unwelcome as Bill O’Reilly’s fraudulent “War on Christmas” when people say “Happy Holidays”.
Let religious (or in this case “non-”) minorities have their say.
So we’re dicks for putting our side of the story out there. But religious people who control everything are just being regular folks when they keep trying to convince everyone else that their version of their fairy tale is true?
Religious people simply do not want to hear from anyone who does not believe as they do. I don’t hate anyone who believes in what ever stone age fairy tale they subscribe to and I don’t want to convert any of them to my side, unfortunately many of them do hate me for what I believe and they want to convert me to their way of thinking.
I’ve tried to have this same conversation with my wife, a recovering Catholic, and what I’ve found is that it is damn near impossible to have this conversation without the person of faith taking offense, regardless of what I say. It is also damn near impossible not to belittle religion, even while not intending to. When the term “leap of faith” actually means “suspension of disbelief”, it’s very difficult to stay on point.
A Christian had told me that my mere existence as an atheist offended her. When I hear things like that, I tend to not worry so much about offending other people. Truth is pretty much guaranteed to offend some people. We should not go out of our way to offend, and this atheist bus campaign does not do that, but having someone be offended is not a sufficiently good reason to stop either.
Brian
Religious people simply do not want to hear from anyone who does not believe as they do.
Says more about them than it does about us, don’t it?
I don’t hate anyone who believes in what ever stone age fairy tale they subscribe to ..
See, that’s what I mean. Some religious types would be offended by that remark.
Except that these signs ARE NOT
NOT
NOT
NOT
putting down others, and you’re being an absolute ass to say that they do.
The I believe & I dunno choirs are gonna rumble.
My bad. Make that:
The You Believe! and You Dunno! choirs are gonna rumble.
I would take Oliver’s criticisms a lot more seriously if he ever, ever, ever complained about Christian/other religious advertising. According to him, both sides are being dicks, but only the atheist dicks are bad enough to publicly complain about. Suuuuuure pal. Whatever you say.
That the sign in question is about the most mild statement of atheism possible (agnosticism really) only provides further evidence that Oliver is, shall we say, less than sincere in his equating atheism with hardcore fundies.
since, once again, Oliver’s new New Atheist post follows the usual pattern of being nowhere near the logical incisive quality of his non-atheist-attacking posts, and this one is getting more comments than the others….. you see where i’m going here.
Oliver has correctly taken the spiritual temperature of his fairly well-read, lefty-leaning audience, and has posted an intentionally provocative missive to rile up the Oliver masses. “hmm, says Oliver, that Barack post didn’t piss anyone off enough to comment, I’d better get back to illogical atheist bashing…”
it’s either that, or Oliver simply does have some critical thinking gaps when it comes to spirituality. am i missing another option?
People are too goddamned emotional. This topic can’t come up without becoming Histrionics r’ Us.
Religious people simply do not want to hear from anyone who does not believe as they do.
They should do what I do when I see their beliefs expressed in such a public way: get the fuck over it.
Oliver, I greatly enjoy your blog, but this inspires me to recommend the Two Step Recovery Program.
Step 1: Get over your big bad self.
Step 2: Repeat Step 1 as needed.
Oliver, sorry for misrepresenting your beliefs above – I thought you said that you were an atheist in your earlier posts, but I guess you just said you weren’t a Christian.
Anyway, for the sake of comparison,
Dickish ad: “Hey dumbass, there’s no god and you’re wasting your time praying. P.S. Religion kills people and should be eradicated.”
Non-dickish ad: “There might not be a god, so relax and just enjoy life.”
Since I’m late to this one, my comment won’t amount to much more than a vote, but for the record: I think you’re making the wrong call on this one, Oliver.
That’s a tame, even friendly, message, and I for one am overjoyed to see atheists putting out a little something to contradict the endless flood of proselytizing from the Christianists.
Yes my secret strategy to tap into the vast atheist internet followers has been exposed. I am not a fan of any belief trumpeting its superiority to others while mocking. Con christians do it all the time but frankly in my tiny sphere of influence I have zero sway over them even though I write about them all the time.
mmm hmmm… OK, next step, Ollie. What about the ads that you linked to was “mocking” anyone?
Atheism is not a belief. Brush up on your Latin, Oliver: a (not) – theism (religious belief).
But the word truly bothers you I can tell. Go ahead and call me agnostic then, it’s pretty much atheism without balls.
Oliver, I’ve been a fan of your site for a long time. Your comments are ussually level-headed and well informed. But for some reason, you become a raging bigot when it comes to atheists. I think that the comments left by Thom and mambochicken23 are right on the mark.
And are you still having a hard time seeing a qualitative difference between the statements “There probably isn’t a god” and “Since you aren’t Christian, you shall burn in hell [especially if you're gay]“?
In the beginning, there was Brahman.
To me, the ad insults faith by once again stating a “fact” (or likely fact). Why can’t it just declare what the person’s faith is? And I say the same for Christian based advertising.
Are agnostics without balls? Maybe, but then I don’t feel comfortable working in a world of unprovable definites. I have no clue if God exists or not, there’s no science available that proves or disproves it and I haven’t seen it with my own two eyes to prove it either. I don’t have that sort of confidence in something I can’t prove or disprove.
As I’ve said before, I probably have more in common with atheists, and at the moment where I lost my belief in God – when my mom had a heart attack – I was pretty ready to be in that camp. But for me, something about how the world works and man’s personal and collective goals makes me feel there’s something more to it than birth-grow-die. But I don’t feel I know the answer nor is it my role to lecture people on coming around to my way.
Because scientific fact is grounded on the adverb “probably.”
I lova ya O-dub, but you’re pretty much stuck in FAIL mode on this one.
Can atheists be really obnoxious? Obviously, since anyone can. But when I hear theists running around claiming how “persecuted” they are by the secular gay feminazi agenda I have to ask myself, really? Somebody telling you they don’t believe in your sky-god/spaghetti monster is persecution? Whereas telling people who don’t believe in your personal sky-god/spaghetti monster that they will suffer for eternity is an act of moral committment to your faith?
I just don’t see the supposed spite and malevolence on the part of atheists here. Dudes put up some signs that said you should enjoy your life. Know what I used to see driving past churches in rural Ohio where I went to college? Signs that said “Gays will suffer in hell! Repent!”
Like I’ve been saying, qualitative difference. When a secret atheist group starts breaking into churches and forcing people to renounce their belief in Jesus, then we can talk.
Your problem is you’re acting as if I think that bullshit from the religious right is ok. I don’t. Half the reason I even run this blog and put my opinion out there is those guys. I was happy the day Jerry Falwell died. But several hundred years of Christians being a-holes doesn’t excuse the same behavior from atheists. No more than hundreds of years of slavery allows blacks to be dicks to white people, for instance.
“To me, the ad insults faith by once again stating a “fact” (or likely fact). Why can’t it just declare what the person’s faith is?”
So everything suddenly becomes okay if they would stick a “We think” in front of the slogan. “We think there’s probably no god…” It seems to me that your outrage meter needs calibration if those two little words are making you all apoplectic. Those words are implied, anyway… or does anytime someone make an assertion that cannot be 100% proven, they should clarify that they’re not the sole arbiter of what constitutes reality? E.g., instead of saying, “Leprechauns don’t exist”, one should say, “I think leprechauns don’t exist.” Hmm… if that’s the case, I guess I have to amend some statements I’ve made on this blog over the years. Let me get started:
I THINK George W. Bush is an idiot.
I THINK that Frank DiSalle, Dr. Pedro, JayTea, Amused Observer, and some other (but not all) conservative posters here are idiots, too.
I THINK that Cheney is not human.
I THINK that global climate change is a real problem.
I THINK that religion is a negative force in our society.
I think that’s a decent start, but I think more will come to me later.
Finally, I love how Amused Observer is the only person here that’s actually agreed with you, Oliver. Almost everyone else has been either mildly to strongly critical of you on this post – but Amused Observer has your back. That should tell you something, when you’re on the side of a complete idiot hack.
I’m sorry, I meant to write, “I think that should tell you something, when you’re on the side of someone who I think is a complete idiot hack.”
Longer response here.
When are you going to get it through your skull that this is NOT the same behavior?
Oliver,
I read your blog only occationally, but i was SURE that this entry was pure snark, until i read the comments.
I think you forget is that without a different message being presented, millions more would be indoctrinated by those “con” men you talk about. Organized religion has been the cause of much of the evil in this world and it needs to be talked about and discussed or it will never change.
“There’s probably no God, so relax and have a nice day.” / “Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness’ sake.”
RE: This is what qualifies as being a dick? Are you kidding me?
No Oliver is serious. It’s the Santa-Syndrome. When you were 8-years-old and figured out there was no Santa that’s fine. But when you tell your younger brother and he cries your parents yell at you for not being nice. That’s the Santa-Syndrome; making somebody cry by pointing out make-believe is just… well, make believe. What Oliver is saying is that we should not make religious people cry because they are as delicate as 6-year-old children.
Good point, noodles. I like the way you put it. It’s just all so absurd that it drives me crazy.
LOL,
It’s not often I agree with OW but he is being intellectually honest and I always admire that.
“But I don’t feel I know the answer nor is it my role to lecture people on coming around to my way”
“No more than hundreds of years of slavery allows blacks to be dicks to white people, for instance.
Our view don’t coincide because because we share a religious viewpoint but because we recognize boorish behavior.