religion criticism and mockery thread

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But would it have worked better if someone had simply explained?

I really don't want to comment on the original topic other than to say that mocking anyone for their beliefs is bullying and quite frankly, counterproductive.

But I felt I needed to offer a correction to the stereotype. Maybe twenty-some years ago when The Simpsons premiered Christianity might have been equated to Ned Flanders. However conservative Christianity today is far more likely to be equated with open carry ammosexuals, the Duggars, Westboro Church and One Million Moms / AFA. And since half of America anyway is either Roman Catholic or Southern Baptist, "Christian" ends up being generalized as "conservative Christian". Which means it is further equated with things like oppressing & bullying LGBT people, some racism, strong misogyny, etc.. In other words, a strong drive for power over others; pretty much the opposite of the fictional Mr. Flanders.

I don't know if they think that. Many think that they are smarter than religious people (and I think that in most cases, they are).

Atheists don't believe in god. It is really not complicated to understand. It is about ideas not whether they wuss or not.

Ned Flanders if anything has more redeeming features than Reverend Lovejoy.

However this has zero impact on criticism of religion.

Maybe sometimes.

Maybe I don't believe in being productive. Maybe the mockery is targeted at closeted atheists to make them feel more confident and foster a sense of community.

A community built on mocking others? That seems like a very shaky foundation, and is not the kind of community I'd want to be a part of. That's the kind of community that gives atheists a bad name, full of trolls and elitist dicks.

I will though say that satire can have its place and I think can be employed constructively.

Well duh, aren't many(or most) hardline-atheists former Christians? Which in turn probably makes them view themselves as a "former nice guy". lol

Just a guess since most of them seem to be mainly obsessed with Christianity, but then claim to despise all religions equally of course.

Most I've met don't actually despise religion at all; what they despise is when religion is used to oppress others. So you may be seeing a bit of a skewed sample, as in most English-speaking cultures that would be Catholicism and conservative Protestants. Also, many non-hardline atheist who have never been religious also have for various reasons, be it privilege or other circumstance, simply never been negatively affected and so do not gain your notice.

Respecting anyone's personal belief is a nice idea, but that means religions shouldn't be allowed to proselitize either. As long as they do, I feel obliged to try converting them to atheism when I feel like it. And my strategy is mockery.

I don't really want to lower myself to that level, but as my teaching is one of personal freedom and responsibility, I feel religious agendas to be trying to curtail my values.
If they are pro-life: good for them. Just: I'm not. And I don't want laws to be based on voodoo.

This sort of hate-bashing makes me squirm, personally. I'm an atheist, and even I don't agree with this kind of behaviour. Possibly because it has such negative connotations - aggressiveness, nastiness, shaming, invalidating, ignorance, persecution, insensitivity, elitism, bullying, marginalising. If you disagree with some aspect of some religion, what is wrong with a discussion about it? Really understand, instead of just making some superficial judgement that is bound to make the followers of that religion feel like sh!t? I really don't understand whinging about and hate-bashing something for no reason.

Well, this thread sure didn't go as planned.

Gods not real, enough said, if he is, he an insecure pansy and I kicked his ass, gave him a black eye, and set his beard on fire and now he is afraid of me!

I AM my ideas.

What you describe is also a media construct. The extreme minority, Westboro, is not really representative of how people feel. Besides, the fact that there are people who call themselves Christians yet do not follow the example of Jesus does not discredit the wisdom of Jesus in any way. It merely illustrates how weak and flawed humans tend to be.

I have this shirt:

rather blasphemous.

they will tell legends about you one day, surely.