Posted by Hemant Mehta in This is the most wonderful anti-atheism writing I’ve seen all day.
I think I came across a quintuple-negative in one of these sentences…
Like their denial of God, atheists are also in adamant denial that their non-belief in God is a religious endeavor. Atheism in fact is a lot of ‘denial’ because they not only deny that they deny that God exists, they deny that they believe that God does not exist. Many atheists also deny that they have any faith in their denial that God exists yet many of them will deny that statement is true because many of them also deny that they have faith in their thinking that God does not exist and also many deny that truth exists. Thus in their saying that truth does not exist, they can deny that it is true that their non-belief in God requires of them any actual thought over their motto of, “Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.” It seems as if atheists have something against both, collecting stamps and Christ Jesus.
If you think that’s amusing, check out the rest of the piece.
The author thinks our debaptism ceremonies are some sort of ritual (rather than an entertaining, random way to spend an afternoon).
He also thinks the Scarlet A is our version of the Christian cross and we worship it:
Another item of strong evidence pointing to atheism being a religion is the extravagant respect and admiration for and devotion to their symbol of the letter “A” which they hold in great esteem which they call, “Scarlet Letter.” This worship symbol they proudly and broadly display apparently as an idol. You will notice it in many places where atheists congregate as they display it proudly as though it was as significant as the cross that Christ Jesus was crucified upon.
Right…
I’m tempted to call it a Poe, but I think it’s for real. I’m not sure if that’s funny or just depressing.
That has to be a Poe. Or rather, I refuse to deny that it can’t not be a Poe, thus neither implying nor denying that it isn’t not for real, unless of course it is for real. Or something.
Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know’s on third…
…I can’t even READ that quadruple-negative sentence. :/
Sounds like someone needs to take sentence construction classes, honestly.
I hope it’s a really clever Poe. If not, then it’s just really depressing to see people like that out there.
Poe or severely mentally handicapped. It might be a Poe because usually when religious people write about atheist internet culture they’re completely ignorant, where as this person has clearly done some reading of atheist blogs. However, the site is quite full, a lot of effort for a Poe, and it’s incredibly hard to pretend to be crazy convincingly. The thing about rituals and the scarlet ‘A’ is conscious lying that can be easily checked so either this is writing for ignorant people or it’s a joke.
Circular reasoning, repetition, thinking that this phrase has to be explained instead of realizing that the definition of “absolute” is widely known. Yeah, it definitely acts like a Christian blogger.
That made my brain hurt. A former English major should be able to follow just about anything…
Tee hee. I’m reminded of the poorly-designed Geocities sites about magic I used to come across as a youngun. All the “spells” would come with warnings that they were REAL magic, and to not try them unless you’re absolutely serious and ready for the spiritual and karmic consequences!
Edit: That is, religious magic, not stage magic. Cursing people and making them fall in love with you and such. In case I confused anyone.
Second edit, because I’m blabby: Did anyone catch the message at the header of the blog?
“If there is the slightest possibility of God existing and that He has sent His only begotten Son Jesus to be your savior from your transgressions, wouldn’t it be wise to investigate it for yourself?”
Somehow, I doubt that this person has “investigated” the thousands upon thousands of other religions that have been invented, “just in case”. He really should, though. I’m sure some of them have even worse consequences for being naughty than even Christianity.
I can’t not deny the seriousness of their post.
Where are these atheists who say that truth doesn’t exist? I keep hearing about them, but I’ve never met any.
They probably hang out with the atheists who secretly believe in God, but hate him because their cat died.
I would deny or rebuke his claim but I haven’t figure out what it is yet.
The most outrageous quote from the article, in my opinion:
We have seen how atheists deny the dictionary definitions of words to suit their own denials of their denial of their denying that they have a worldview, denial that atheism is a religion, denying any belief in their denying too any faith in their belief of which too they deny in their denial of Christ Jesus.
The person who wrote this clearly has an extremely poor grasp of the English language, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. The writer also displays really distorted thought processes and logic and doesn’t seem to be able to understand simple ideas, such as the fact that atheists are not a uniform group but have differing views (he seems to place us all in one small box labeled “The Enemy”). My guess is that it isn’t a Poe, just – at the risk of sounding harsh – a very unintelligent person. The piece cracked me up (like this gem – “religion is not what following Christ Jesus is all about” – Christianity is not a religion but atheism is??), and better yet it shows how ridiculous and nonsensical people are who try to claim that, just because you refuse to believe their dogma, you must have some kind of dogma of your own in its place. People like this are unable to see things from another person’s perspective. They believe wholeheartedly that god exists, so therefore, anyone who does not believe in god is making a leap of faith.
The writer’s position is completely unfair – as atheists, we want nothing to do with religion, yet people like this keep trying to force us to participate in their superstition by claiming that it is some kind of pronouncement of faith to not buy into their bullsh*t.
Speaking of worshiping things, why do xians worship the cross – the very instrument used to execute their Main Guy? As Lenny Bruce observed, if Jesus had been executed in the 20th century, Catholic girls would be wearing little gold electric chairs on their necklaces. Do those people even think?
Very amusing use of obfuscation. I went back through 6 months of this guy’s blogs, and found a total of 2 comments (one saying what a great blog it was, and one telling the blogger he was an idiot) and no trackbacks. Whether a Poe or not, this is one big steaming pile of blogging fail!
Isn’t that a bit like saying that Dallas Cowboy fans worship their blue star?
That first quoted paragraph confuses me. I guess I just don’t understand what I deny.
Like Samuel Clemens said, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.” By that definition, one would be correct (from my POV) stating that I have no faith in my atheism.
I’ve never heard of a debaptism. I don’t understand how it can be any more entertaining way to spend time than baptism is, it sounds just as boring!
The whole thing just looks like a hit piece to fill people’s heads with false conclusions, not one that explain what’s going on.
My favorite line:
I have to admit; at that point, I was pretty much sure it was a clever parody. But the post continues in a style to stupid and boring to be a true clever parody. Not Poe, just dumb.
WRT the “prayer”: I can honestly say that, excepting the “Lord Jesus” nonsense at the start, I could actually “pray” that prayer and remain completely genuine to myself and the words therein.
So I did. Well he dared me to do it! What else could I do?
Nothing happened…
And none of this rubbish about not genuinely believing what I said – I agree 100% with everything in that “prayer”. There is nothing in it that I would disagree with or would have a problem with either publicly or in my private thoughts.
And yet, nothing happened.
Hannah.
Very good point about not wanting anything to do with religion. I was for a while, an Anglo-Catholic and when I finally got sick of the browbeating and jumping through mental hoops in order to justify the absurd I just walked away from it. I didn’t take up a belief in unbelief I just stopped believing ( or pretending to ) . This is what so many Christians ( and others ) can’t understand. Some of us just don’t need to believe in things, especially things that aren’t true.
This is something that goes beyond religion, political opinions can be very similar, you find people, from all parts of the political spectrum, who think that because you don’t agree with them on some point you must have some agenda ( usually hidden and dishonest ) of your own. It is basically paranoia and is a prime cause of countless miseries in the world. Of course when politics and religion come together it gets really poisonous.
Homeschooled, maybe? That could explain a lot.
Blah, blah, blah. A lot said without anything actually be said. I deny that I believe in gods of any kind. If they want to call that a religion then let them. They are allowed to make fools of themselves.
Sadly I think it is too poorly written to be a Poe.
“Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.”
Not collecting stamps is a fantastic hobby. Oh the many nights I’ve stayed up not collecting stamps! I often go to conventions of people who don’t collect stamps just like me.
My head hurts. Double-negatives I can deal with. I took Spanish. However, quintuple-negatives just give me a migraine.
Riiiiight.
How can anyone miss that as a reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne and not to atheism. I have so far only seen people ridiculing the Out Campaign A making reference to the Scarlet Letter, not those who proudly wear it, though I can imagine it could change.
I prefer to think of it as the Red Badge of Courage.
The red A was a deliberate reference to the scarlet letter. Some people criticizing the out campaign don’t get it and think calling it the scarlet letter is an insult when it isn’t.
Wait for me , while I meditate while listening to a blank CD.
Wouldn’t that make for an unfortunate literary metaphor? A self-inflicted wound that earns undeserved respect from your compatriots, even though you know it’s a lie…?
@Richard Wade
Thats what I’m askin! Look, you got a pitcher on this team?
As for the other thing… *sigh* – you know, I’d be tempted to call this a poe if it weren’t for the fact that this is exactly the sort of tripe FauxNews puts out about atheism.
I think it’s depressing whether it’s a Poe or not. All Poes seem to do for me these days is remind me how stupid the actual fundies are. I don’t need to be reminded. They’re everywhere with their stupid.
So, we’re all in denial?
I would have to agree with the author. I was baptized as an infant, in a religion I have never practiced. Why would I take time to “undo” something I feel has no real significance in my life? It’s not like I’m planning my weekend and I come up with “Hey, why don’t I ‘debaptize’ myself!”.
“Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.” Well, at least I got a nifty new comeback to the ridiculous Atheism is a religion claim. I will remember this. It’s amusing and that claim irritates the hell out of me. (The day Atheism is officially recognized as a religion is the day I become a Nontheist.)
Sure this isn’t Jesusphile? He comes off that crazy to me and I’m having trouble thinking it can be that well faked.
It has to be real. No one could make this shit up.
It’s funny AND depressing. But mostly funny, in a pathetic, armchair-expert kind of way.
So just how many of you have faith in your belief that God does not exist?
Well, of course Atheism is a religion! We have denial of denial of denial of the Nile, we have a “Scarlet” “Letter” so scary that it needs extra quotes, and the Deep Rifts! Don’t forget the Deep Rifts!
I might get debaptized. If we were in a Party and somebody get the ball rolling, I might do it for the lulz.
Even though I was never baptized in the first place. You know, the lulz.
the scarlet letter is a sign that atheism is a religion and its showing that it needs a symbol where the red scarlet letter A is the atheism symbol.
littlejohn people who follow Christ Jesus do not worship the cross, they worship Christ Jesus. the cross is only a symbol to remember the suffering Jesus did for us.
@GospelToday
Is the symbol (cross or letter) a mark of religion or not? What is it that atheists are supposed to worship?
Hemant, it’s not so friendly of you to not let me answer the questions I’ve been asked just because you are afraid of it.
hoverFrog
Both the Christian Cross and the Atheist Scarlet Letter A are religious symbols.
The Christian Cross reminds the people following Christ Jesus of His suffering and dying on the cross for us and to do God’s will.
The Atheist Scarlet Letter A reminds those people who do not believe in God that they deny God and that they do their own will.
BTW, the name “Scarlet Letter” for the “A” I did not name. I found the name at this website: http://www.cafepress.com/TheAtheistShops/6878246
@GospelToday is Coca Cola a religious symbol? Is Intel a religion? Is Microsoft or Glaxo? What about the seal of the President of the United States or the Democratic donkey logo?
The Scarlet Letter A is an icon but not in a religious sense. It does remind atheists that there are other people who do not believe in gods, that we aren’t alone in the face of intrusive and ubiquitous religion. The entire OUT campaign is to encourage atheists to be more public about a lack of belief in gods. We can all benefit from dispelling silly rumours about us that only exist because of ignorance of what atheism is.
One such thing that needs dispelling is the assumption that atheists deny the Christian god in the sense of rebelling against God. This is not the case. I do not rebel against God anymore than I rebel against Thor or Ra. I simply don’t find the idea of ANY god compelling. I find the idea of gods logically inconsistent and I give greater credence to the rational explanations for god belief than for actual gods.
I appreciate that some people like the idea and that some even find it comforting. I’ve no interest in shattering that illusion for you. All I want is same consideration from theists. The OUT campaign and the public face of atheism only exists because many theists are not content to keep their “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” (or any other god) personal. They have to force it on others.
Stick around and read some of the articles here. Understand that we are all singing from the same hymn sheet (so to speak) so the concepts and language might be less accessible than a Christian site might be for you. You’ll see an underlying theme after a time and it isn’t a rebellion against your particular god.
If you like I could also point you to many other resources that explain the position of atheists in a largely theistic world.
A Tale of The Atheist’s Scarlet Letter ‘A’ of Atheism http://bit.ly/2Wzw6x
@GospelToday that is a long and wordy piece of text that completely misses the point that I outlined in my last comment. It is simply wrong but I’ve already explained why so won’t do so again.
The assertion that atheism is a religion is simply not true. My Oxford English Dictionary defines religion as follows:
• noun 1 the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. 2 a particular system of faith and worship. 3 a pursuit or interest followed with devotion.
— ORIGIN originally in the sense life under monastic vows: from Latin religio ‘obligation, reverence’.
What is it that we atheists are supposed to revere? You cannot even put atheism in the same category as a philosophy or political ideal that attracts a following. It is simply too broad a term to work in that way.
I have gone into more detail on my own blog in an effort to explain this. Feel free to read and comment there if you like. Is the site linked to your name your own blog or one that you refer to?