# "Atheism is a non-prophet organization" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 8, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031 "2008-10-08T18:26:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/1 "2008-10-08T18:26:31Z")
A local church currently has posted on their sign: > [@](#): > > Atheism is a non-prophet organization Huh? Any clue what they mean to get across by stating this? By definition, atheism is: 1. the doctrine or belief that there is no God. 2. disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings. OK, so, “prophet” has meanings other than one who speaks for a supreme being, but that doesn’t seem to be what they are after. The play on words prophet/profit seems to be a slam on established religion. Atheism has no dues, most churches do, but why would a church wish to point this out? (I had no idea where to put this, and would have no problem with it being moved.) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/2 "2008-10-08T18:28:00Z")
Maybe they are specifically referring to atheist Muslims? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/3 "2008-10-08T18:28:33Z")
Wow, that’s… pretty lame. A friend of mine runs an atheist podcast- called “The Non-Prophets”. I’m not sure what, exactly, the church is trying to say. ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/4 "2008-10-08T18:30:48Z")
It might just be a joke. There’s a church around here that posts similar one-liners, and I don’t think they are meant to have a great deal of meaning. Does this church usually have this kind of message posted? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/5 "2008-10-08T18:33:49Z")
Dude. It’s a church sign. You’re thinking too hard. It’s a pun on “non-profit”, but only in the most superficial sense. Religion is non-profit, atheism is non-prophet. Ha-ha. You’re supposed to forget about it by the time you get to after services coffee in the basement. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/6 "2008-10-08T18:37:56Z")
Seriously, half the Churches (it’s more of a Protestant or little-country-church thing) around do this. It’s jut meant to be funny, with no more meaning to it than that. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/7 "2008-10-08T18:38:24Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Dude. It’s a church sign. You’re thinking too hard. It’s a pun on “non-profit”, but only in the most superficial sense. Religion is non-profit, atheism is non-prophet. Ha-ha. You’re supposed to forget about it by the time you get to after services coffee in the basement. Agreed. You’ll break your brain trying to over analyze the extremely simple. It’s nothing more than a bad pun. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/8 "2008-10-08T18:39:25Z")
It’s a play on words. I’d say the meaning could be either that we have no prophets advocating our cause, unlike Christianity which may claim Jesus - in other words, we have no divine backing. It might also be suggesting not only that but that we don’t profit from our views, ho ho. I’ve seen “non-prophet organisation” before. I don’t think it’s a particularly new joke. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/9 "2008-10-08T18:39:51Z")
“Non-profit.” “Won’t get you anything.” That’s about all there is to it. Do yourself a favor and don’t take it as a debate proposition. Prophet/profit is a very old pun; it’s in the Principia Discordia and the Grateful Dead songbook among other places. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/10 "2008-10-08T18:40:19Z")
OK, sorry. It was so stupid I thought I was missing something more meaningfull. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/11 "2008-10-08T18:45:21Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > OK, sorry. It was so stupid I thought I was missing something more meaningfull. I felt the same way when I saw _Lost in Translation_. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/12 "2008-10-08T18:55:26Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > OK, sorry. It was so stupid I thought I was missing something more meaningfull. [Some other church signs. For comparison.](http://crummychurchsigns.blogspot.com/) Check out the Most Frequently Submitted Crummy Signs List, on the right, scrolled down a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/13 "2008-10-08T20:31:53Z")
Next up: The deeper meaning of “God answers knee-mail.” :rolleyes: (:rolleyes: is for the sign, not the OP) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/14 "2008-10-08T20:53:22Z")
A roadside billboard outside of Dallas said: KEEP USING MY NAME IN VAIN, I’LL MAKE RUSH HOUR LONGER ``` - GOD ``` It made me smile. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/15 "2008-10-08T21:05:41Z")
A couple of months ago, I recorded on my cell phone camera a video of a real prizewinner in the town where I work. Please, someone explain to me what they could possibly have been going for, because I’m at a loss (keep in mind that this was on a scrolling marquee, so it’s not like vandals changed the letters around or anything): TRUE FAITH PRODUCES A LIFE FULL OF ACTIONS, NOT A HEAD FULL OF FACTS ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/16 "2008-10-08T21:39:02Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > TRUE FAITH PRODUCES A LIFE FULL OF ACTIONS, NOT A HEAD FULL OF FACTS First Church of Stephen Colbert? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/17 "2008-10-08T21:46:58Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > A couple of months ago, I recorded on my cell phone camera a video of a real prizewinner in the town where I work. Please, someone explain to me what they could possibly have been going for, because I’m at a loss (keep in mind that this was on a scrolling marquee, so it’s not like vandals changed the letters around or anything): > > TRUE FAITH PRODUCES A LIFE FULL OF ACTIONS, NOT A HEAD FULL OF FACTS Short version? Goodness is about going and doing something which is right. Study, no matter how long you do it or how well, is not virtue. I’d agree that people today especially tend to think that simply knowing something is enough. This is saying that it’s not what you know or who you know, it’s what you dio and who you are. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/18 "2008-10-08T21:51:50Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Agreed. You’ll break your brain trying to over analyze the extremely simple. > > It’s nothing more than a bad pun. I disagree completely. I think it’s a good pun. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/19 "2008-10-08T21:57:55Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Wow, that’s… pretty lame. > > A friend of mine runs an atheist podcast- called “The Non-Prophets”. I’m not sure what, exactly, the church is trying to say. The Non-Prophets are awesome! I miss Jeff though. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031/20 "2008-10-08T22:00:54Z")
I liked CARPENTER FROM NAZARETH SEEKS JOINERS or WHAT IS MISSING FROM THIS CH…CH? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-a-non-prophet-organization/467031.md?page=2)