# I pit Jesus and all other fairy godfathers. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 5, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264 "2011-02-05T06:18:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/21 "2011-02-05T15:53:48Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > What gets me about the atheists on this board, not in real life life in general , just this board - I’m fine with atheism, but the ones on this board are _DICKS_. Yeah, the uppity ones are a bitch to handle, aren’t they? They dare to speak their mind without fear of being “disappeared”, as they are in other forums. They are allowed to state their opinions here without having to share their time with a “balanced panel” of religionists taking up 3/4 of the speaking time, as what happens a lot on television news programs. They inconveniently ask questions, then actually persist in those questions when they aren’t answered in terms that make sense. Where are the nice, quiet atheists that respect points of view that make no sense and people that would condemn them if it were allowed here? It just ain’t fair, I tells ya. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/22 "2011-02-05T15:56:47Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > Stop trying to tell other people what to believe and just live your own life. The irony burns. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/23 "2011-02-05T17:22:07Z")
Jesus was gay? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/24 "2011-02-05T18:42:26Z")
Well yeah, I’m a dick, but I thought that was due to things other than my atheism… 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/25 "2011-02-05T19:08:15Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The irony burns. Why, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/26 "2011-02-05T19:21:04Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Hey, talk like that about the Fairy Godfather and you’ll wake up with the severed head of a pegasus in your bed sometime. Yea, dealing with [Don Bruce](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythAdventures) can be a pain sometime 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/27 "2011-02-05T19:24:43Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > If you think they’re wrong, then you’ll never think they’re “based in reality”. Look at some of the political discussions on this board. The people on the left think the people on the right are loony bastards with no idea of how the real world works, and vice versa. The difference is, the Left is correct. The Right is full of loonies and worse, and they have repeatedly demonstrated that not only do they not know how the real world works, they don’t care. Unlike us in the “reality based community”. > [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > Stop trying to tell other people what to believe and just live your own life. :rolleyes: Hypocrisy at its finest. > [@detop](#): > > Yea, dealing with [Don Bruce](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythAdventures) can be a pain sometime 😃 Yes, I _was_ thinking of him actually. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/28 "2011-02-05T19:30:42Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > Why, exactly? The world would be sooo much better if the atheists would shut up and leave the Christians alone to practice their religion in private, right? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/29 "2011-02-05T19:32:47Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The difference is, the Left is correct. The Right is full of loonies and worse, and they have repeatedly demonstrated that not only do they not know how the real world works, they don’t care. Unlike us in the “reality based community”. Thanks for proving my point. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > The world would be sooo much better if the atheists would shut up and leave the Christians alone to practice their religion in private, right? The world would be a lot better if **everyone** would get their nose out of everyone else’s business. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/30 "2011-02-05T19:35:17Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > I dont think you _need_ God, I think you _knead_ you’re dick while you’re reading the Bible. Missed it by _this_ much! :smack: And FYI, no one gives a shit what you think, you gross motherfucker. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/31 "2011-02-05T19:50:58Z")
Dick atheist here, and this board is about reducing ignorance. And theism is about the most ignorant thing possible, because it generally requires action without evidence. Saying Jesus made the universe isn’t an opinion, it’s a factual assertion. Someone pointing out that your factual assertion isn’t logically sound isn’t being a dick, they’re trying to let some light into the cobwebby belfry of religious thought. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/32 "2011-02-05T19:59:45Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > Thanks for proving my point. I did no such thing; facts are facts. Just because it is a common article of faith that Right and Left are “just as bad as each other” that doesn’t make it true. When two sides disagree, sometimes one is wrong and the other not. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/33 "2011-02-05T20:01:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The world would be sooo much better if the atheists would shut up and leave the Christians alone to practice their religion in private, right? First, not everyone who believes in a god is Christian. Second, speaking your mind doesn’t mean you go around calling everyone who does believe in god a “deluded nutjob who worships a magical skyfairy.” Nor are all Christians a bunch of fucktards who want to force everyone to believe as they do, or say they’re all going to hell. Those are just the ones you notice the most. It’s gotten so people can’t even have a discussion about religion without some asshole coming in and saying, “Religion is a lie!” I’m not talking about witnessing threads, but discussions about say, “what does religion X teach about subject Y?” Or, “what exactly is ‘y’, and what does religion X say about, or what is its purpose?” When the fundies do it, they’re jackasses. But apparently, it’s okay for YOU guys to do it. Because you have the Truth on your side! You’re all a bunch of assholes. I don’t care WHAT you believe or not believe. Just don’t be a dick about it. You don’t “speak up for what you believe.” You just go around making up a bunch of stereotypes, and then when called on it, play the martyr game. **Der Trihs** is especially guilty of this. Fuck this bullshit – you’re just a bunch of fundies. (Edited to add: there’s a LOT of ignorance spread around about what religious people believe. NOT ALL CHRISTIANS/JEWS/MUSLIMS ARE ANTI-SCIENCE!!! GAH!) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/34 "2011-02-05T20:02:02Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > The world would be a lot better if **everyone** would get their nose out of everyone else’s business. Write back when you get a sense of perspective, 'k? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/35 "2011-02-05T20:15:45Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I’m not talking about witnessing threads, but discussions about say, “what does religion X teach about subject Y?” Or, “what exactly is ‘y’, and what does religion X say about, or what is its purpose?” Cite where this happened, it was reported to the mods, and nothing was done. I know that I would jump on that in 2 seconds if it were reported to me. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/36 "2011-02-05T20:21:23Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > First, not everyone who believes in a god is Christian. On a mostly-American board those are the vast majority however. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > Second, speaking your mind doesn’t mean you go around calling everyone who does believe in god a “deluded nutjob who worships a magical skyfairy.” Truth is truth; they _are_. Which is why people complaining about it like you are demand that the atheists should just shut up, instead of providing evidence that what the atheists say is wrong. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > Nor are all Christians a bunch of fucktards who want to force everyone to believe as they do, or say they’re all going to hell. Those are just the ones you notice the most. Those are the ones that matter, those are the ones that are driving force behind Christianity, the ones that comprise its core and control its direction. And the rest support the ones that are like that, ideologically and finacially. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > (Edited to add: there’s a LOT of ignorance spread around about what religious people believe. NOT ALL CHRISTIANS/JEWS/MUSLIMS ARE ANTI-SCIENCE!!! GAH!) Yes they are, whether they intend to be or not. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/37 "2011-02-05T20:36:16Z")
Some atheists understand religion: what it is, how it works, and the tremendous range of possible ways to be religious. They don’t personally believe, and there may be incredulity that humanity can behave so badly using religious as a motivation / justificiation, but in general they get it. Those atheists give an interesting perspective to discussions of religion. The OP is the other kind of atheist: the kind who decide that anything that relates to magic or the supernatural is just stupid, and anyone who has anything to do with religion in any aspect is stupid, and that this stupidity is beneath contempt. It’s tiresome, but worse than that, it’s simplistic and rather ignorant. You seem caught in an antiquated idea, expressed by James Frazer among others but debunked over fifty years ago, that science is meant to replace religion, that it’s one or the other. That is just wrong. (Oddly, the two groups who remain wedded to this idea are religious fundamentalists and what I might call fundamentalist atheists). Learn something about religion. Take an anthropology class, or a psych class, or a myth class. Religion does something for people other than waste their time. Once you’ve taken it seriously, if you want to decide it’s a net negative then more power to you. But don’t just ignorantly dismiss it because you think it’s dumb to believe in magical beings. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/38 "2011-02-05T20:40:25Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Write back when you get a sense of perspective, 'k? Do you disagree with what I said? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/39 "2011-02-05T20:49:14Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Some atheists understand religion: what it is, how it works, and the tremendous range of possible ways to be religious. They don’t personally believe, and there may be incredulity that humanity can behave so badly using religious as a motivation / justificiation, but in general they get it. Those atheists give an interesting perspective to discussions of religion. > > The OP is the other kind of atheist: the kind who decide that anything that relates to magic or the supernatural is just stupid, and anyone who has anything to do with religion in any aspect is stupid, and that this stupidity is beneath contempt. It’s tiresome, but worse than that, it’s simplistic and rather ignorant. > > You seem caught in an antiquated idea, expressed by James Frazer among others but debunked over fifty years ago, that science is meant to replace religion, that it’s one or the other. That is just wrong. (Oddly, the two groups who remain wedded to this idea are religious fundamentalists and what I might call fundamentalist atheists). > > Learn something about religion. Take an anthropology class, or a psych class, or a myth class. Religion does something for people other than waste their time. Once you’ve taken it seriously, if you want to decide it’s a net negative then more power to you. But don’t just ignorantly dismiss it because you think it’s dumb to believe in magical beings. I’d venture to guess that the average atheist on this board understands Christianity better than the average Christian. Obviously religion has some value. It makes violent people afraid of doing violence for instance. But that doesn’t mean it is any less stupid to be religious. Taking things as fact without evidence and living your life according to arbitrary rules is the height of ignorance. There isn’t a nobility in believing really hard that there is an invisible guy who loves you above the clouds. It’s simply a comfortable delusion that has negative effects throughout our culture. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264/40 "2011-02-05T21:07:24Z")
Sigh. Where to start? “It makes violent people afraid of doing violence”: does it really? Colour me skeptical. “Living your life according to arbitrary rules is the height of ignorance.” But the thing is, they’re _not_ arbitrary. They may be pointless or counterproductive or silly, but they are not arbitrary. They arose within a specific cultural context, and there is some value in having the same rules as the other members of your culture. “There isn’t a nobility in believing…”: True, but the comment suggests that you’re confusing theology with religion. Religion is belief, but it’s also behaviour, ritual, and culture. You seem to be assuming that the purpose of religion is to provide a sort of belief-based instruction manual for individual humans to live by, and that’s really only a part of the system. You also ignore the fact that you can be a Christian without believing “really hard.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-jesus-and-all-other-fairy-godfathers/570264.md?page=3)