Thats the same thing I tell atheists when they start spouting off and verbally fellating Neil DG Tyson when no one asked their opinion anyway. Truthfully, bible thumpers piss me off just as much too.
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When did Atheism become a joke?
- Thread starter Sinfamy
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Thats the same thing I tell atheists when they start spouting off and verbally fellating Neil DG Tyson when no one asked their opinion anyway. Truthfully, bible thumpers piss me off just as much too.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Not to mention around here, most people are atheists, and don't talk about it because religion is a non-issue.
In fact I wonder where in the world this joke would even be "true". I would guess in the context of an internet message board discussion about religion...? Yeah, HAHA SO TRUE I guess.
It might depend on where you live, but in the 40 years I've spend on this planet living in the US east coast as well as Midwest, I've never, ever, heard anyone declare themselves an atheist. Ever. So not only do I find this "joke" to be incredibly inaccurate, it falls completely flat as far as humor goes.
Atheists in the US typically live in hiding 99% of the time and only come out strong on the Internet because it's the safest place to do it without blowback from friends, family, neighbors, etc.
Exactly!
Looks more to me like Wolf making himself look like a presumptuous ass than pestering.
biggersmaller
Banned
Atheism is not a joke. Like a vast array of other subjects, jokes are made at atheism's expense. Mormonism is a joke.
It's the Fermi paradox of secularity.
"Every atheist I see is an obnoxious asshole!"
Except all the ones who didn't say shit and just went about their day.
She even ends with a gracious, "I don't blame anyone for thanking the Lord", which feels like more than he deserved for that stupid question.
It's not mutually exclusive. Agnosticism deals with knowledge, atheism with belief. One can be an agnostic atheist or a gnostic one. One can be a gnostic believer or an agnostic one. Simple really, no reason to act like they are competing positions.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Perfect lol.
HerbertBirdsfoot
Member
I just got owned by xkcd, lol. I am that stick figure guy. Well better that than an atheist neckbeard with a fedora!
| Praxis |
Banned
I agree, we simply can't know for sure. It's just that my doubt is so close to being 100% that it's easier to just say atheist.
Sun Bather
Member
Ricky Gervais is the answer.
DragonGirl
Banned
Atheism suffers two types of PR problems. One, atheists have been traditionally ostracized, For centuries, the only people who talked about atheism in the open were its detractors. If the people who hate you are in charge of your image, you're going to have a bad image.
The second problem is the current one. The most well known spokespeople for atheism have said some...inflammatory things. Also the atheism community has had the ugly realization that some of its noisiest members are frankly, assholes, starting with elevatorgate (the skeptic community's version of gamergate, the memberships probably heavily overlap) and the rise of the Slympitters.
Actually, anyone who understands gamergate will understand exactly what happened to the atheist/skeptic community. It's exactly the same toxic mix.
The second problem is the current one. The most well known spokespeople for atheism have said some...inflammatory things. Also the atheism community has had the ugly realization that some of its noisiest members are frankly, assholes, starting with elevatorgate (the skeptic community's version of gamergate, the memberships probably heavily overlap) and the rise of the Slympitters.
Actually, anyone who understands gamergate will understand exactly what happened to the atheist/skeptic community. It's exactly the same toxic mix.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I fail to see how "elevatorgate" relates to atheism considering I'm pretty sure Rebecca is also an atheist...
There's no such thing as people in the bottom left, lol. Never met a single such person [edit: at least not to the point where they go "oh it might just be all baloney tee hee"]. The top right is also exceedingly rare, can't say I've ever met anyone like that either.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
They really drew the gnostics to look like arrogant twats.
I find the position I've landed on in the top left to be the most reasonable and least presumptive. It floats my boat.
If Louis CK or NDT think Agnostic and Atheist are competing labels then I just don't think they've looked up what the words mean.
Maybe for good reason, idk...
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Really now
I'm not in any way condoning the actions of holier (heh) than thou Reddit Atheists, but it's not hard to see the latter as a symptom of the former.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I think there are some who are close to that, but never to the point of going "oh who knows it could just be silliness". More like "I do believe in God but I don't care if you don't".
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
That makes sense and I don't think that's a negative at all.
Religion is such a big deal in our world, to not want to study it seems ignorant. And if people study it, and they come to the conclusion that it's not true, what does that say?
Personally as a non-religious person with a history degree and a lifelong interest in religious history and theology, I can say that I probably do know more about other peoples' religions than they do (which is usually next to nothing), and that's just wierd.
Massive Duck. C.M.
Banned
You could very easily find an example of any of those for in a religion-related thread, let's be honest.
As for actual real world interaction, it would be more difficult.
As for actual real world interaction, it would be more difficult.
On the contrary, I'm pretty sure the bottom left is a large portion of religious individuals who have ever questioned their faith for an extended period of time. The top right is all of the asshole Atheists this thread is about. "You're WRONG! I value my intelligence not silly fairytales!"
Arrowgigantic
Member
Well of course you do.
I'm bottom left!
I believe in a higher power, but if at some point in my life the concept was to be totally disproved, I can't say I would be incredibly upset or that my life would be changed in a fundamental manner.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Look at the people on that chart who are saying "I don't..."
Not giving a shit means you are not actively in the process of believing. It makes you an atheist. Probably the agnostic kind.
Talk about a statement that doesn't ring true. In my (Christian) family, conversations, entertainment, and practically the whole world revolved around the topic of religion. This held true for all other friends, church members, etc.
apathetic agnostics
Ugh, summing up the argument for Gnostic Theism as "I know God doesn't exist coz that's just dumb hur hur", it's a bit more fuckin nuanced than that lol. It's a numbers game, unless you want to run around saying..
"I don't believe invisible unicorns exist, but I'm not claiming that - I might be wrong.."
"I don't believe fairies exist, but I'm not claiming that - I might be wrong.."
"I don't believe the Flying Spaghetti Monster exists, but I'm not claiming that - I might be wrong.."
Sometimes you just need to trust your own intelligence, sack up and stop pretending that a 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 possibility of something being right isn't worth redefining yourself over.
"I don't believe invisible unicorns exist, but I'm not claiming that - I might be wrong.."
"I don't believe fairies exist, but I'm not claiming that - I might be wrong.."
"I don't believe the Flying Spaghetti Monster exists, but I'm not claiming that - I might be wrong.."
Sometimes you just need to trust your own intelligence, sack up and stop pretending that a 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 possibility of something being right isn't worth redefining yourself over.
religion is on heavy decline in eu, unless you count islam which I guess is growing with the influx of immigrants. I think most europeans who ponder on these things take it for granted that within half a century or so religion will be pretty much dead here with the exception of a few countries. So as someone who thinks the future of mankind doesn't have room for religion there's just isn't that much to argue about, I can't even remember the last time I spoke to someone I knew to be religious. Atheism isn't a movement here, it's the default state.
Huh, since the beginning?
Godless heathens weren't welcome at any point in time.
There's also the fact that people, in general, really don't like putting up deeply held beliefs for discussion - religion least of all. It's unwelcome disruption.
Where i live, amongst my generation, though - it's basically de facto. (And i live in Rome).
There's actual religious people who do church stuff.. who are very rare. And then there's everyone else that just doesn't care - the question of "do you believe in god(s)" is basically met with "what?" - The general trend is that if a god exists, he doesn't meddle in human affairs. There's lot of people with different "spiritual" beliefs, but very few are strongly bound to any religion.
You won't find any true gnostic atheist, that asserts that absolutely NO god exists - but you'll find plenty, even going back millennia, that'll happily assert that the judeo-christian god as postulated in the various holy book doesn't.
Godless heathens weren't welcome at any point in time.
There's also the fact that people, in general, really don't like putting up deeply held beliefs for discussion - religion least of all. It's unwelcome disruption.
Where i live, amongst my generation, though - it's basically de facto. (And i live in Rome).
There's actual religious people who do church stuff.. who are very rare. And then there's everyone else that just doesn't care - the question of "do you believe in god(s)" is basically met with "what?" - The general trend is that if a god exists, he doesn't meddle in human affairs. There's lot of people with different "spiritual" beliefs, but very few are strongly bound to any religion.
I find the position I've landed on in the top left to be the most reasonable and least presumptive. It floats my boat.
If Louis CK or NDT think Agnostic and Atheist are competing labels then I just don't think they've looked up what the words mean.
You won't find any true gnostic atheist, that asserts that absolutely NO god exists - but you'll find plenty, even going back millennia, that'll happily assert that the judeo-christian god as postulated in the various holy book doesn't.
HerbertBirdsfoot
Member
The comic is interesting and probably drawn by someone who identifies as an agnostic atheist. Because that cartoon guy is the coolest!
If you accept the categorization I think more people than you'd expect are in the bottom left.
I shy away from absolutes about knowledge. The more I live and the more I learn about the world I find that:
a) I don't know shit
b) most people who claim they know shit? Yeah, they don't know shit either
But combine that with:
a) I am at least nominally Christian. My children were baptized and I celebrate Christmas and Easter. I believe in God in pretty allegorical terms.
b) I *feel* like there is more to the world than what our senses and science can tell us.
c) I am super interested in other faiths as well as what western philosophers have to say about Big Questions. Just read the Upanishads and it spoke to me. Brahman equals atman... Compelling stuff. Doesn't make me Hindu.
Where do I fit on the cartoon? Probably bottom left, agnostic theist. But I'm totally not that cartoon guy.
If you accept the categorization I think more people than you'd expect are in the bottom left.
I shy away from absolutes about knowledge. The more I live and the more I learn about the world I find that:
a) I don't know shit
b) most people who claim they know shit? Yeah, they don't know shit either
But combine that with:
a) I am at least nominally Christian. My children were baptized and I celebrate Christmas and Easter. I believe in God in pretty allegorical terms.
b) I *feel* like there is more to the world than what our senses and science can tell us.
c) I am super interested in other faiths as well as what western philosophers have to say about Big Questions. Just read the Upanishads and it spoke to me. Brahman equals atman... Compelling stuff. Doesn't make me Hindu.
Where do I fit on the cartoon? Probably bottom left, agnostic theist. But I'm totally not that cartoon guy.
Tinfoilhatsron
Banned
???
Don't understand the point you are making.
real_slime
Banned
It isn't a joke, religion isn't a joke, none of it is a joke, get your information from broader sources than the fucking internet and take five minutes to think about it.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Now that you put it to me like that, a bunch of apes arguing over which stories are true, and which aren't, is kind of hilarious.
Arrowgigantic
Member
I thought you said you were an agnostic.
There's sort of a fermi paradox for religion I guess. If there's all these Gods and supernatural beings, where are they?
Monocle
Member
Typical fedora circlejerk video smugly dismissing people's faith with "clever" word games. Right?
Right?
I'm a Gnostic Atheist. You define the God and I'll tell you if he exists. Of course if you want to turn God into some undefinable unknown that doesn't match the definition of any existing God then my label is only as strong as your definition.
I linked a video without context because it related to infinitesimal odds and the various religious denominations in the world. I didn't make the video nor did I say that it completely represented my views.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
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