A little over a year ago, I did a post about the Top 10 memes posted on the Discovering Reason Facebook page, and well - I think it is time for 10 more!
The link to the post is above so you can easily see what others had to say about it OR so you can share your thoughts whether it be positive or negative with others who have commented. Because as I have said before, unlike religious pages, I encourage people who don't agree to comment and won't block those who do(unless they are immature or obnoxious).
Atheists/non-believers have pretty much heard all of these at some point in their life, which one bothers you the most?
If there is a phrase that really irritates you that isn't listed, please share it with us in the comments below!
I think most individuals want to be good moral people, but unfortunately many have bought into the idea that in order to be moral - they also have to believe in a god/be religious. As Daniel Dennett has said, "People want to be good, we just have to help them with structures so they can amplify their goodness and join together. The sooner we can create institutions that can do better than religion at helping people to be good - the sooner toxic varieties of religion will fade away. So let's do it."
You can find Dennett's quote here in the form of a meme:
A moral god couldn't possibly sit by and do nothing when seeing the horrific actions of his own followers. Either this god watched these actions and did nothing, or watched and couldn't do anything about it. In any case, it is evidence that this god is not moral or is not all-powerful - which would mean the god Christians believe in does not exist.
I get a little frustrated when atheists claim atheism is a viable solution to problems in the world. Since atheism is a lack of a belief in a god or gods, it can no more be a solution than just not believing in unicorns. As history has shown, atheists can do horrible things just as religious people can, but religion is the only way to get good people to do horrific things.
Prayer seems to be the opposite of faith and trust in god, and more on the lines of, "God I don't like your plan and here is my idea for a better one, please use it instead".
This was so popular that many people on the page suggested I put it on a t-shirt - I listened to them and will be making it available soon. So if you'd also like to have this on a shirt be looking for it on the FB page.
Hopefully some of these ideas will help you when debating religion. However, if you are religious and disagree with any of these, please leave a comment and share your thoughts on why you disagree and why you think your religion/god is real.
1. You may interpret these phrases as condescending, but they are still all true.
ReplyDelete2. Atheism has no foundation upon which to build a morality. In fact, the atheist morality can be boiled down to, “Do what seems best to you.” Atheist morality will ultimately excuse great evil. For example, Richard Dawkins recently encouraged one of his twitter followers to abort her baby because it has Down’s Syndrome.
3. Christians burned “hundreds of thousands” of witches? This is so far from the truth that it is laughable. The Salem Witch Trials involved the burning of about 20 woman. Meanwhile, a famous atheist, Joseph Stalin, killed an estimated 20 million people. If a moral God existed, perhaps He would have given some instructions to his followers like “Thou shalt not kill.” Oh wait, He did. Apparently those who killed “witches” were not obeying God.
4. I agree with you. Atheism is not a solution to improving the world. But, neither is humanism…or skepticism. Try Christianity.
5. As a religious leader, I’m glad my career choice is highly respected. I don’t manipulate the public, I serve the public.
6. Perhaps God’s plan involves the need for prayer. Personally, I don’t think everything happens according to God’s plan. I think some people (like atheists) choose to live outside God’s plan. God allows them to do so, but it is not His best plan.
7. God’s evidence is obvious as one looks at nature. No one thinks a watch appears without a watchmaker. Gravity proves there is a God.
8. Talk about condescending phrases. For every phrase that Christians say (see #1), atheists pay them back in spades.
9. Science can explain aerodynamics, radio waves, and medicine, but religion has historically been much better at explaining love, peace, purpose, other matters of the heart.
10. There are many religions…but only one God…and one truth. The existence of so many religions proves there is a spiritual realm that science can never explain. The existence of so many religions proves there is something out there that we cannot see.
I laughed at all these assertions, knowing full well that they are baseless and delusional, and that you cannot back any of them up with anything other than "faith" or the same bible that makes the claims in the first place. Every single one of them is explicitly false. And this is trivially known.
DeleteDaniel, thanks for the comments. I think you are sincere with what you have said here but I wish you had evidence for your beliefs and not just faith. I got the feeling from reading your comments that you were offended by some of these and some may have gave you pause, and to confirm to yourself that you had an answer/response to each of these you felt the need to comment.
ReplyDeleteBut your responses didn't make much sense.
For example #2 you say atheism has no foundation for morality but I already say that in meme #4 and explain that humanism would be the foundation for our morals. You were against this idea. Can you give me a reason why you say Humanism and skepticism is not a solution?
Do you not value being kind to others and thinking critically? Why are you against the promotion of these two things?
Are you afraid that teaching people how to think critically would make them lose their belief in god? If a moral god exists, he would encourage people to think critically about all issues including his own existence - because he would be aware that the concepts of other gods exist as well. How else would one determine which god to follow if one existed? The only religion that should be afraid of skepticism is a false one. Maybe that is why no religion promotes critical thinking.
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ReplyDeleteThese kinds of memes are easily spread because it is easily understood. What's more, both the picture and the text are funny. While I am telling you this, I know you already have memes in mind especially the ones that are really popular.
ReplyDeleteKnowyourmeme Users