How to avoid atheists
23 August 2008 by Stardust
I have fundies in my family who avoid me and my immediate family because we are the “evil atheists” and our influence might rub off on them and their children somehow will be contaminated by our mere presence. It’s very unfortunate and unnecessary that they choose to keep us and other non-believers out of their lives simply because we do not believe in their imaginary friend, even though we have never insulted or criticized them personally for their beliefs.
Fundie family members cannot stand the fact that I have an atheist blog, and that I write my opinions openly about atheism and criticize religion in my posts and essays. They say it is “hurtful” to them to just know what I think and write about. I pointed out to them that from my perspective, them believing that I am such a terrible person that I will spend eternity suffering in hell is much worse than me just dissing their religion in general. I don’t wish them eternal torture for holding ludicrous beliefs. Their belief that I will be damned forever is much more personal than my general commentary on religion and the religious.
Getting back to the subject of avoiding atheists, here is a good editorial written by David N. Miles in rebuttal to a fundie Xian who believes children should be protected from atheism:
In her Dec. 7 letter, “Beware of book,” Kathy Momic tells us that children should be protected against atheism.
She probably isn’t acquainted with an atheist but “knows” that atheists are possessed by the devil, don’t know right from wrong and don’t believe in anything.
There are certain precautions she can take to protect herself and her children from these agents of Lucifer.
She could join an organization that does not admit atheists, e.g., the Ku Klux Klan, the Mafia, Christian militia groups. She could join a God-fearing terrorist group that blows up abortion clinics and high-rise buildings (Oklahoma City, World Trade Center); or she could restrict her friends to those spewing venomous hate upon individuals the Bible says should be put to death, e.g., non-believers and homosexuals.
To be on the safe side, there are havens of atheism that she should avoid: Ivy League universities; the Nobel laureate laden National Academy of Sciences; organizations concerned with the environment or civil rights; and Scandinavia, where the percentage of atheists is at least three times that of the United States.
She should stay in the Bible Belt with the highest religiosity (and highest violent crime rate) in the country.
The absurdity of religious myopia was exemplified after the 1997 school shootings in Paducha, Ky. In defense of the young killer who somebody called “godless,” his pastor at the Lutheran Church said, “Michael Carnael is a Christian. He’s a sinner, yes, but not an atheist.”
I wonder if that made his victims less dead or the crime less wrong.
23 August 2008, on 10:22 pm
I deleted the last few lines that I wrote at the end of this because they didn’t make a fucking bit of sense…burn out and too tired lately.
24 August 2008, on 10:04 am
^ I know the feeling Stardust.
My latest blabbing comment got lost in the “Black hole”, I guess. After trying 3 variations…I’m outa here!
[I especially didn't like my earliest attempted variation, anyway.]
No big deal, of course, Stardust. Pretty much; the same old, same old ChuckA BS!
24 August 2008, on 10:45 am
SD,
Where did you get the wonderful graphic? Is it something that was made here in our community, or is it a genuine fundagelical artifact? If the latter, would you mind sharing the context/source?
Either way, it’s a scream.
24 August 2008, on 10:47 am
Now this really hurts my feelings. I am such a lovable and gruntled atheist. Cuddly, too.
24 August 2008, on 11:17 am
Steve in MI, It’s something I found online in a Yahoo image search, and I hope it is satire and not a genuine fundie artifact! (I shiver at that thought!)
24 August 2008, on 11:56 am
Ah, it looks like it’s from Objective Ministries’ “Kidz” page: http://objectiveministries.org/kidz/
On the original, the goat spews different fundie-stereotype atheist-speak each time you click on his beard. My fave: “I’ve never read the Bible, I like Secular TV instead”.
24 August 2008, on 1:17 pm
OMFSM…its real fundie propaganda? Yikes!
“I’ve never read the Bible, I like Secular TV instead”
Sounds good to me!
24 August 2008, on 9:18 pm
Well of course, we athiests are to be avoided at all costs. The real threat isn’t that we are possessed by Lucifer (since we don’t believe in him either). In a moment of weakness, might tempt them to question the fairy tale. Asking questions makes them VERY uncomfortable because, at some level in their deeply twisted brains, they KNOW that all this doctrine and fable is nothing more than a hot steaming pile of bovine feces. But, they can’t abandon it or allow their children to do so. Why if they did that, they might have to think for themselves and take responsibility for their own lives.
To them, that is an even more frighteing prospect that spending eternity in hellfire.
25 August 2008, on 12:40 am
Some Mormon missionaries came knocking at my door (interrupting a pleasant afternoon watching Japanese anime on DVD) just yesterday, and I don’t know if I was able to stop my eyes from rolling when I saw their “Church of Latter Day Saints” matching name-plates…these were all women, in contrast to the black pants/white shirt w/ tie guys you usually see, but probably that’s because I work for Texas Woman’s University and live only a few blocks south of the campus.
Anyway, I let their leader run through her introductory spiel and when she asked the big question “so, do you have a relationship with Jesus?”
I said flatly “I’m an atheist, thanks. Good bye.”
They said Goodbye and thanked me for my time and moved on their merry way, and I got back to my much more enjoyable “secular TV”
25 August 2008, on 12:53 am
Played around with the goat thing…
“Hey, kid, wanna read some Ayn Rand?”
Heh, not from me…more like “Want to read a little from Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche?”
Actually, more seriously, I kind of like the kids-oriented stuff that FFRF puts out.
Slightly off topic, I think my Dad was such a passionate science teacher because he was a closet atheist who despised the more pernicious effects of religion on people and society; Even after he retired he continued doing science shows and had the idea of something like Camp Quest before Camp Quest ever came to be. If it had been around in his prime, my Dad would’ve loved to have participated as a counselor/volunteer for Camp Quest. But he was content, as a Science teacher, that by teaching critical thinking and the scientific method, he was giving his students a means to protect themselves from hooey of all kinds, but especially religious hooey. Well, certainly worked in my case, at the very least
25 August 2008, on 4:31 am
I’m pretty sure the “goat” page is satire. For example, in the online shop, they have a Baby Jesus Anti-Fornication Thong. Also, in the Dress Up Lambuel page, if you try to take of Lambuel’s boxer shorts, he says “Bad Touch!”
Also pretty freaky is the Baby Jesus page.
WHY????
25 August 2008, on 10:01 am
I said flatly “I’m an atheist, thanks. Good bye.”
They said Goodbye and thanked me for my time and moved on their merry way,
JJR, They probably were told like in the cartoon…avoid talking to atheists…they are of the debbil. LOL!
If asked if he has a “personal relationship” with jeebus, I am afraid of what my husband would stay to them! Something to do with sex, probably. LOL
25 August 2008, on 10:03 am
I don’t believe in anything, I’m staying home on Sunday! ROTFL!
25 August 2008, on 10:03 am
k9-kaos…the Baby Jesus page is pretty freaky, all right! That site HAS to be a spoof. LOL! Phew!
26 August 2008, on 12:54 am
^No, I think that site is most earnest. Fundies simply can’t be satirized anymore. Yes, that site is laughable, but only in the most unintentional manner.
For a good chuckle, find the page dedicated to closing down the Landover Baptist Church site. Evidently the internet(s) belongs to Christians too (maybe as a consolation for having to give up their slaves 150 years ago?)
I’ve worked for fundies before, and they are truly walking punchlines.