Jul 172010
 

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/atheists-conduct-de-baptisms/story?id=11109379&page=1

Wielding a blow-dryer, a leading atheist conducted a mass “de-baptism” of fellow non-believers and symbolically dried up the offending waters that were sprinkled on their foreheads as young children.

Silly? Obviously. What purpose does it serve? Well, it probably amuses the hell out of the atheists involved… and since it harms nobody, that’s reason enough right there. Secondly, there’s a reason given that I’ve found true quite often myself:

“I think the reason they are worried and concerned is the very deep fear that if everyone doesn’t believe it, maybe it isn’t so.

In my experience, those who are comfortable and secure in their faith don’t freak out at light-hearted blasphemy. The freaking-out is left to those who are *not* secure, those who believe not because they believe, but because they want to believe. They believe because they’ve bought into the flawed notions underlying Pascals Wager (whether or not they’ve ever actually heard of it).

There is a danger here. The danger, of course, is not from the atheists mocking religious beliefs or rituals, but from the religious getting laws passed to protect themselves from mockery. This blog has posted numerous times about humorless Islamic fanatics going nuts over some harmless cartoon, anti-blasphmey laws, and attempts on the part of the politically correct to shut down mockery or dissention on religious matters. “You can mock anything you want because you have the right to,” he said. “Humor is humor and what types of humor are you going to outlaw?” he said. What types of humor are going to be outlawed? Any type of humor that makes someone feel bad or uncomfortable would seem to be the answer to that question. Texts messages with lame, harmless jokes get met with criminal complaints.

Whether you believe in the rituals or not, whether you find the mockery amusing or not… so long as nobody is being harmed, you should find no reason to want to see them banned by law or sued out of existence. No person has the right to not be offended or to have his most cherished beliefs not be questioned or challenged. Anyone who would have laws passed to “protect” his faith is, well… a scumbag and a coward. And will spend his afterlife freezing in Niflhel until Ragnarok.

Lighten the hell up.

 Posted by at 9:22 am

  13 Responses to “Atheist Rituals”

  1. A hairdryer? That is outstanding.

    Jim

  2. As long as we are going down this route, can I get de-circumcised, as that started out as a religious ceremony indicating you were a slave of Yahweh?
    I’ll say one thing for circumcision though…the fact that you get the end of your dick cut off within days after you are born should be fair warning about what to expect from society for the rest of your life.
    Vulgar to speak of, but the doctor that did mine was so old that he left me with a really strange feature; I’ve got a flesh loop on the bottom of my penis where I can insert a “Prince Edward” ring to keep my penis tied down to my leg so it doesn’t create an immodest bulge in my pants.
    Probably not the best thing for running, and certainly not the best thing to get an erection with while wearing. 😀
    However, the perfect thing to get revenge on your girlfriend’s college roommate that really pissed her off…with the pierced ears…while she’s out of town, as she’s never going to suspect where one of her earrings spent a day-or-so at.

  3. Considering how much many “nothing worshipers” get pissed off when confronted by a person of faith, I’d say you’re correct in your observation.

  4. “the reason they are worried and concerned is the very deep fear that if everyone doesn’t believe it, maybe it isn’t so.“

    Really? Then why does Edwin Kagin keep filing lawsuits against religious people for “mocking” him and his religion?

  5. > “nothing worshipers”

    Never heard of one of those. Are they like the Rotarians?

    > why does Edwin Kagin keep filing lawsuits against religious people for “mocking” him

    Hadn’t heard that he had. I did a google search and found he was involved in a numbher of lawsuits (first Amendment stuff mainly), but didn’t find any references to him suing people for mocking him.

    BTW: “atheism” is a “religion” in much the same way that “bald” is a “hair color.”

  6. Gotta Pull the nope lever on the threatened because they want to have faith concept:

    People are threatened when their personal power structure is threatened.
    Casual church goers have little invested in a particular religion and therefor don’t defend it very vigorously. The old popes would kill you for suggesting that they didn’t deserve your tithe.

    The truth hurts baby,
    -G.

  7. Sorry, Scott, you have to have a LOT of faith to adhere to atheism, especially to be militant about it , like Edwin Kagin is. He wears the button down, Sears-Roebuck/JCPenneys wardrobe, and he speaks in that quiet, earnest tone of voice using all those grade school terms and concepts. In the end he is just as big a danger to the human race as any self-hating Jewish socialist or allah babbling Islamic fanatic, his tactics are just different, like any other leftist piece of sh*t.

  8. Gar? My believe in a god is entirely unaffected by what other people say, much less think. The root of all evil is not greed, it is organized religion, and its adherents of all flavors and shapes.

  9. And my grasp of spelling and grammar is impaired by speed of typing. Sweet Bleeding Jeebuss. Belief, not believe. My 3rd grade English teacher is probably up to 2500 rpm about now.

  10. > you have to have a LOT of faith to adhere to atheism, especially to be militant about it , like Edwin Kagin is.

    Wow. Again, I’m stuck in the quandry of Poe’s Law. Was that sarcasm or not?

    1) Atheism is the complete *lack* of faith. One does not need to have a lot of faith in order to have no faith.
    2) I get a kick out of the “militant atheist” claim, when these people are no more militant than, say, the local evangelical pastor. If it’s “militant” to put up a sign that says “There is no God,” then isn’t it equally “militant” to put up a sign that says “there is a God?”

    Note: if you tell me that Darth Vader is real, and that if I don’t accept him as my own personal Sith Lord that I’ll be cast into the Pit of Karkoom for all eternity, and I respond with something akin to “bullshit,” I’m not exactly filled with buckets of faith on the topic.

  11. First, Prince Albert Ring, not Prince Edward Ring; I mixed up the randy one with the well-behaved one.
    Second, get your Darwin, Cthulhu, and Flying Spaghetti Monster car badges here:
    http://www.evolvefish.com/fish/emblems.html

  12. Admin:

    You seem to display ignorance of the difference between atheism and agnosticism. An agnostic has no proof of the existence of God, and thus does not believe in either His existence or non-existence. An atheist, with the same lack of proof, trusts in His non-existence in the very same manner a religious person trusts in His existence. And thus, being atheist — as opposed to being an agnostic — is very much a faith. A faith in the non-existence of God, but a faith nonetheless.

    I wonder, though, why anyone would laugh at this sorry spectacle of puerile behaviour. We don’t see Christians making fun of atheists in Church, do we? But of course, atheism can only exist in opposition to religion; otherwise those people would have nothing in common to rally against. So I guess it makes sense to see them worry so much about Christianity rather than focus on themselves and how they can make themselves better human beings, as the Christians do in churches — and the Jews in synagogues, the Muslims in mosques, Buddhists in temples and so forth.

    I still wish they’d spent their energies in something constructive, though.

  13. > A faith in the non-existence of God, but a faith nonetheless.

    An extremely *minor* level of faith, akin to not believing in invisible pink fire-breathing dragons living in your garage, or not believing that the British aristocracy is made up of space reptiles.

    > We don’t see Christians making fun of atheists in Church, do we?

    I see rather a lot of Christians *threatening* atheists in the world at large. Look at the rage that ensues when someone puts up a billboard that says there probably is no God.

    I’ll take mockery over threats anyday.

    > atheism can only exist in opposition to religion

    Sure. Get rid of religion, and atheism goes away. A lack of X can only be measured compared to X. How many people do you see railing against the sheer lunacy of believing that the Great Green Arkleseizure sneezed the universe into existence, and that we should fear the Time Of The Coming Of The Great White Handkerchief? Not too many, because there aren’t too many people who actually believe that the Great Green Arkleseizure sneezed the universe into existence, and that we should fear the Time Of The Coming Of The Great White Handkerchief.

    > make themselves better human beings, as the Christians do in churches — and the Jews in synagogues, the Muslims in mosques, Buddhists in temples and so forth.

    Uh-huh. Come back to me when crime stats show the prisons over-represented with atheists.

    > I still wish they’d spent their energies in something constructive, though.

    Like what? Pretending that booze and bread turn into blood and flesh? Murmuring to an invisible buddy like some homeless crackhead? Doing laps around a rosary like an obsessive compuslive on speed? Pointing their heads towards some space rock and sticking their asses up in the air five times a day?

    The atheist rituals described here had the obvious advantages of not being portrayed as being literally important, and they clearly entertained those involved. All things considered, that sounds like not too bad a way to spend one’s time… enjoying it without taking it too seriously.

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