# Atheist Security Pass **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 15, 2008, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553 "2008-07-15T08:18:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/41 "2008-07-16T03:55:58Z")
Why don’t you try an experiment with a true analogue instead of a non sequitur. Go in a thread - any thread - and say “white trash”. Let me know how that works out for you. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/42 "2008-07-16T07:07:57Z")
I think “hand-stabbing” has been deprecated on these boards before now, so I’m happy to call for an embargo on the expression. Does “butthurt atheists” work any better? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/43 "2008-07-16T07:16:06Z")
It still seems like you’re labouring under a misconception here **Cisco**. I did not address anyone as a hand-stabber, neither did I assert that hand-stabbing is a typical atheist behaviour. A generalisation would have been something like this: [Someone else]: Look - the plane is full of atheists Me: Oh. You mean hand-stabbers? Yes, I see them now. But it wasn’t like that. “I’ve got a luvverly bunch of coconuts” != “all coconuts are luvverly” ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/44 "2008-07-16T07:21:15Z")
I think **Cisco** has a valid complaint, though. I mean, believers are [forever](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=475706) going around starting “omg athiests r teh retardz lol!” threads, and you have to expect the _brights_ to snap sooner or later. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/45 "2008-07-16T07:27:15Z")
What in the world is “hand-stabbing”? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/46 "2008-07-16T07:30:51Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] What in the world is “hand-stabbing”? [/QUOTE] RTFT. ---
**Author:** ![pingnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@pingnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pingnak)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/47 "2008-07-16T07:45:42Z")
I would think maybe hand stabbing would be a Christian/stigmata sort of thing. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_237.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_237.html) There are all sorts who self-mutilate for their zany religious beliefs. Some of it ritual. As for religious zealotry, there are religious types who are not psycho-zealots, and there are irreligious types who are. I’m comfortable with apathetic agnosticism. I don’t believe in gods or afterlives, I don’t believe there aren’t. I don’t spend any more time wondering about it than I spend wondering about the actual existence of cartoon characters. Witnesses on either side of the arguments do not provide consistent, compelling testimony or arguments. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/48 "2008-07-16T07:48:14Z")
It’s not that. It’s explained upthread. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/49 "2008-07-16T08:13:04Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Yeah, but faced with a choice between: -Travelling on a plane with religious zealots who intend to blow it up, killing me and -Travelling on a plane filled with vociferous, hand-stabbing atheists I’m not able to make an instant choice. Is it a long-haul flight? [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > I did not address anyone as a hand-stabber, neither did I assert that hand-stabbing is a typical atheist behaviour. Assert, no; imply, maybe. Your first quote could be taken to mean that you think an atheist is as likely to be vociferous and a hand-stabber as a religious person is to be a zealot. That may not be what you intended, but the inference is not unreasonable. > [@American Heritage Dictionary](#): > > Zeal… > > 1. Enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal and tireless diligence in its furtherance. > > Zealot… > > 1. a person who shows zeal. > 2. an excessively zealous person; fanatic. > 3. (initial capital letter) a member of a radical, warlike, ardently patriotic group of Jews in Judea, particularly prominent from a.d. 69 to 81, advocating the violent overthrow of Roman rule and vigorously resisting the efforts of the Romans and their supporters to heathenize the Jews. A religious person IS likely to demonstrate enthusiastic devotion to a cause. An atheist is NOT likely to stab someone vociferously in the hand. IMHO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/50 "2008-07-16T08:23:38Z")
Oh, I can see how the misconception arose, but I still just don’t think it’s reasonable. let me ask: If the statement had been: I would rather spend time locked in a cage full of ivory-billed woodpeckers than fall into a tank of man-eating sharks. Would it be reasonable to say that I was implying all or most woodpeckers to be of the ivory-billed variety, or that all or most sharks are man-eaters? ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/51 "2008-07-16T08:24:56Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] It’s not that. It’s explained upthread. [/QUOTE] It’s amazing, I assumed that “hand stabbing” was an expression. I did not realise that actual stabbing was involved. I retract my previous support of the hand stabbing types. I’ll be a non hand stabbing atheist. Although even given the context of the phrase I still fail to see how it would cause offence. I imagine very few of atheists would actually stab anyone. I still get images of Dawkins punching the air. BTW could somebody tell me what a “Wickin” is please, I googled it and found that it is a family name, but I’m sure that wasn’t what was meant. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/52 "2008-07-16T08:29:19Z")
[QUOTE=Stryfe] It’s amazing, I assumed that “hand stabbing” was an expression. I did not realise that actual stabbing was involved. [/quote] Actually, in all probability, no stabbing ever took place. > [@](#): > > I retract my previous support of the hand stabbing types. I’ll be a non hand stabbing atheist. Although even given the context of the phrase I still fail to see how it would cause offence. Yeah, but there seems to be a lot of that about at the moment. There needs to be some kind of term, IMO, to describe that subset of extremist atheists that most other atheists are embarrassed to know. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/53 "2008-07-16T08:30:17Z")
[QUOTE=Stryfe] BTW could somebody tell me what a “Wickin” is please, I googled it and found that it is a family name, but I’m sure that wasn’t what was meant. [/QUOTE] Am I being whoosed? It’s obviously a misspelling of “Wiccan.” ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/54 "2008-07-16T08:50:02Z")
[QUOTE=TWDuke] Assert, no; imply, maybe. Your first quote could be taken to mean that you think an atheist is as likely to be vociferous and a hand-stabber as a religious person is to be a zealot. That may not be what you intended, but the inference is not unreasonable. A religious person IS likely to demonstrate enthusiastic devotion to a cause. An atheist is NOT likely to stab someone vociferously in the hand. IMHO, of course. [/QUOTE] But isn’t it amazing that I, who am a believer, did not think that **Mangetout** lumped me in with that subset of religious zealots who are likely to blow up planes? (The author of the linked article plainly does, but he’s evidently a tard, whoever he is.) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/55 "2008-07-16T08:56:34Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] RTFT. [/QUOTE] :dubious: Have a problem with being helpful, much? Why would I want to go laboriously through 50 posts of people alternating between masturbating themselves and pissing on others so as to fish out the small fragments of description that might explain what in the world “hand stabber” is? If you’d rather not help, then feel free not to, but keep your pissing to your own pant leg, I’ve no bone in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/56 "2008-07-16T09:06:34Z")
Sorry. Let me know next time which portions of the thread you can be bothered to read, so as to have noticed the expression, and which portions you couldn’t, so as to have missed the explanation and cite, and I’ll be sure to be more helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/57 "2008-07-16T09:19:08Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] …50 posts of people alternating between masturbating themselves and pissing on others … I’ve no bone in this thread. [/QUOTE] One of these things does not seem to be like the other. Anyway. The prominent and vociferous atheist, founder of _American Atheists_ - Madalyn Murray O’Hair was once accused of stabbing someone in the hand with a pencil in response to them saying ‘bless you’ after she sneezed. There is considerable doubt whether the incident really did happen though. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/58 "2008-07-16T10:31:35Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] One of these things does not seem to be like the other. [/QUOTE] It means that I’ve no interest in joining either side, not that I’ve no opinion of the fight itself. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/59 "2008-07-16T10:33:59Z")
Fair enough. I think this board needs a new motto - something about misunderstanding each other. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553/60 "2008-07-16T10:39:14Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] Am I being whoosed? It’s obviously a misspelling of “Wiccan.” [/QUOTE] No whooshing involved. I did wonder if it was a typo, but wasn’t sure so I sought clarification. Thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-security-pass/456553.md?page=4)