# In re: Atheists v. Christians debate **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 19, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153 "2015-10-19T17:19:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/81 "2015-10-20T19:52:29Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > I admit I hadn’t really thought of that as _courageous_, since I don’t live in some totalitarian theocratic police state. "Oh, yes ma’am, that’s the Medal of Virtual Valor. In Scientology, wasn’t it “a special Freedom Medal of Valor” given to Tom Cruise by David Miscavige? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/82 "2015-10-20T20:01:44Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > In Scientology, wasn’t it “a special Freedom Medal of Valor” given to Tom Cruise by David Miscavige? Excuse me, please, for the tangent…but how is that name “Miscavige” pronounced? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/83 "2015-10-20T20:29:50Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > “continue”? > If you were writing this as an essay and one of my high-school English teachers were grading it, he/she would put a red line through “continue” where you quote me, after reading your examples, followed by the standard abbreviation “ww”–wrong word. > One swallow doesn’t make a summer–nor do two, for that matter. not even close - you would have flunked the course for trying to write a one sentence essay and then telling the teacher to go review someone else’s words, because - “you can’t do any better than them”. So - you’ve done it twice - you have yet to give any of your own reasoning (such that it is) and the only thing the reader can do is ‘go over there’ to find out what the fuck you’re talking about - you’re one huge detour sign - so, by your doing “nothing” - you continue to shill for them. ---
**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:** [October 20, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/84 "2015-10-20T20:48:17Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Excuse me, please, for the tangent…but how is that name “Miscavige” pronounced? Thanks. It is a Slobbovian family name that goes way back, and the “v” is pronounced as a soft “r” sound. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/85 "2015-10-20T22:05:00Z")
I thought Miscavige was pronounced “butthole”. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/86 "2015-10-20T22:13:09Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I thought Miscavige was pronounced “butthole”. ElRon’s gonna smite you for that. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/87 "2015-10-20T22:32:55Z")
Ok - 86 posts into this and we still don’t know why it was posted. Can someone tell me what the fuck a J-dub is? Jehovah’s Witless? Will anything be thrown into the quarry? ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/88 "2015-10-20T22:45:24Z")
> [@ddsun](#): > > Ok - 86 posts into this and we still don’t know why it was posted. > > Can someone tell me what the fuck a J-dub is? Jehovah’s Witless? > > Will anything be thrown into the quarry? Socks. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/89 "2015-10-20T22:50:40Z")
> [@ddsun](#): > > Ok - 86 posts into this and we still don’t know why it was posted. > > Can someone tell me what the fuck a J-dub is? Jehovah’s Witless? > > Will anything be thrown into the quarry? > [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > Socks. Is _that_ what the mods do to 'em? I always wondered. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/90 "2015-10-20T22:56:59Z")
> [@ddsun](#): > > Ok - 86 posts into this and we still don’t know why it was posted. > > Can someone tell me what the fuck a J-dub is? Jehovah’s Witless? > > Will anything be thrown into the quarry? For the answer to these and other painful questions, tune in tomorrow, as the SDMB turns. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/91 "2015-10-20T23:07:12Z")
> [@ddsun](#): > > Can someone tell me what the fuck a J-dub is? Jehovah’s Witless? yes - ‘J-dub’ is a reference to the Jehovah’s Witnesses - of which **dougie\_monty** is a shining example as a witless member of - when he’s not shilling for the Presbyterians. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/92 "2015-10-20T23:52:33Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > My challenge to god, stolen from an old website: Pi, rounded to thirty-three places, would be precise enough to describe the diameter-to-circumference ratio of a circle comprising hydrogen atoms that could enclose the entire universe. Therefore let God change mathematics such that pi is rounded to thirty-three places; and I’ll be a believer. God has already heard you and done you thirty-three better. Pi = 3. [It’s in the Bible!](https://answersingenesis.org/contradictions-in-the-bible/as-easy-as-pi/) ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/93 "2015-10-21T00:23:11Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > God has already heard you and done you thirty-three better. Pi = 3. [It’s in the Bible!](https://answersingenesis.org/contradictions-in-the-bible/as-easy-as-pi/) Goddammit, **Bunny** , don’t make me defend anything associated with AIG! (Your link doesn’t claim that _pi_=3, and in fact acknowledges its actual mathematical value.) ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/94 "2015-10-21T00:45:51Z")
> [@simster](#): > > not even close - you would have flunked the course for trying to write a one sentence essay and then telling the teacher to go review someone else’s words, because - “you can’t do any better than them”. > > So - you’ve done it twice - you have yet to give any of your own reasoning (such that it is) and the only thing the reader can do is ‘go over there’ to find out what the fuck you’re talking about - you’re one huge detour sign - so, by your doing “nothing” - you continue to shill for them. The more I read examples of your convoluted reasoning, the more I suspect that your academic credentials were acquired from a correspondence school, or some place whose address you found on a matchbook cover. As for your (lack of) civility, I won’t even make a guess how you achieved that. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/95 "2015-10-21T00:47:56Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It is a Slobbovian family name that goes way back, and the “v” is pronounced as a soft “r” sound. Thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/96 "2015-10-21T01:14:06Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > The more I read examples of your convoluted reasoning, the more I suspect that your academic credentials were acquired from a correspondence school, or some place whose address you found on a matchbook cover. As for your (lack of) civility, I won’t even make a guess how you achieved that. hilarious - really - that almost makes sense - you copy that from a different website or copy of reader’s digest? you still haven’t answered for why you felt the need to shill for the Presbyterians or your thoughts (such as they are) on the topic you started. You plan to do that anytime soon? or do you want to continue driving people to them via the link you posted? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/97 "2015-10-21T01:20:05Z")
[Quote=Czarcasm] : It is a Slobbovian family name that goes way back, and the “v” is pronounced as a soft “r” sound. [/quote] > [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Thanks. 🙂 **Czarcasm** , it’s like you’re shooting fish in a barrel. Not much sport in it. Still, I am amused. Otherwise, apparently I lack the context to appreciate the point of this pitting, as to me one seems to be absent. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/98 "2015-10-21T04:32:37Z")
> [@simster](#): > > hilarious - really - that almost makes sense - you copy that from a different website or copy of reader’s digest? > > you still haven’t answered for why you felt the need to shill for the Presbyterians or your thoughts (such as they are) on the topic you started. > > You plan to do that anytime soon? or do you want to continue driving people to them via the link you posted? Listen, you clod, I’ve had enough of you telling me I “shill” for the Presbyterian Church or for anyone else. It’s not true, so knock it off. As for _Reader’s Digest,_ I never found anything worth quoting in that magazine until I was in high school, and I certainly don’t do that now. I get my remarks from a wide variety of sources, many of them long forgotten over the last 55 years. That link appeared in a local newspaper I have taken since 1961, but it appeared only in last Monday’s issue. And while we’re on the subject, where did you find out about the debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye? Should I accuse one of you of “shilling” for that? ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/99 "2015-10-21T13:10:07Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Listen, you clod, I’ve had enough of you telling me I “shill” for the Presbyterian Church or for anyone else. It’s not true, so knock it off. > … Yet he still gives no opinion or basis for why he posted the op. Step 1 - Display the link in the OP. Step 2 - Argue about anything (bumps the thread to the top) Step 3 - don’t engage in the actual pit or debate, stick to personal insults with random posters Step 4 - Billboard stays in place Step 5 - The masters are happy ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153/100 "2015-10-21T13:43:31Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Listen, you clod, I’ve had enough of you telling me I “shill” for the Presbyterian Church or for anyone else. It’s not true, so knock it off. Shills never admit to being shills - quite often, they deny it vigorously. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-re-atheists-v-christians-debate/735153.md?page=6)