# Ok atheists, settle the fuck down. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 15, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366 "2009-01-15T02:10:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/61 "2009-01-15T06:12:09Z")
> [@SSG\_Schwartz](#): > > It also makes an assumption about my beliefs. I object to that more than anything. How about if the cashier returned my change with, “Meat is murder,” and a sunshine smile on her face. Or let us say that someone tells racist jokes in front of you. Hell, it is only a way to break the ice with people you don’t know, and the jokes must be funny, or they would not be being told. > > But I am hijacking too much. I fight my fight on a personal level, and I think the OP was on a national level. I completely agree. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/62 "2009-01-15T06:13:08Z")
Except Meat is Murder has never by any culture been considered a polite greeting. Whereas such blessings were the mainstream in this country for most of its history. ---
**Author:** ![Jaglavak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jaglavak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaglavak)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/63 "2009-01-15T06:17:34Z")
Well, I’m glad y’all understand the true purpose of religion. Which is to give us something to argue about that can never be logically resolved. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/64 "2009-01-15T06:18:37Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I’m far more bothered by, “How are you?”, and then not listening to the answer. But why? Isn’t that a cultural norm? 😛 Standard greeting, is it not? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/65 "2009-01-15T06:20:03Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > > [@MEBuckner](#): > > > > So, once again, atheists are actually reasonably well accomodated, but another great big **“Fuck you!” from the federal government to pagans or polytheists or other sincerely religious people who wish to become good citizens without either swearing by the Judeo-Christian God or making a secular “affirmation”.** > > :dubious: As I [said in the Great Debates thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10693821&postcount=84), federal law repeatedly seems to take the position that a person (a federal office-holder, enlistee in the armed forces, or immigrant seeking naturalization) can either make a Judeo-Christian religious oath or a secular affirmation. Someone who wants to become a U.S. citizen, join the Army, or become a deputy undersecretary is not allowed to swear by the Goddess, or in the Name of Allah (or however Muslims swear). The Constitution does not discriminate in this way in the oath of office for the President; the religious bit is left out of the Constitution entirely, allowing a Christian President to add “So help me God”, while another President could say “So help me Goddess” or whatever appeals to his or her personal conscience. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/66 "2009-01-15T06:22:36Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Except Meat is Murder has never by any culture been considered a polite greeting. Whereas such blessings were the mainstream in this country for most of its history. What about the militant vegetarian culture? What makes you think the atheist/agnostic culture considers a blessing a polite greeting. Actually, it’s been made pretty clear it’s not culturally acceptable among atheists and agnostics. Just because most of you are Christians doesn’t make it acceptable to bulldoze everyone else with your platitudes. Might does not make right. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/67 "2009-01-15T06:25:38Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I don’t think that recessive cultural accretions are a wrong that ought be righted. So you think that any cultural habit, no matter how morally wrong, ought to be left alone because it’s a cultural accretion? Do you really want to put yourself in the position of having to argue for that? What you really mean is that you don’t think there’s anything wrong with the stuff the atheists object to that the OP is talking about. If you thought there was, you wouldn’t be arguing that they should remain - even though wrong - merely because they are encrusted. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Why? You trust in God, too- you just trust that he won’t actually start existing tomorrow, rather than that he’ll Bless America and protect our troops and make sure the markets run smoothly and so on. I suspect she trusts in the continuation of reality as we know it. It’s inapt to suggest that one trusts in something that doesn’t exist that it won’t begin to exist. It doesn’t exist and therefore can’t be trusted in. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/68 "2009-01-15T06:36:08Z")
> [@The American Heritage Dictionary](#): > > The verb _bless_ comes from Old English _blœdsian, blēdsian, blētsian,_ “to bless, wish happiness, consecrate.” Although the Old English verb has no cognates in any other Germanic language, it can be shown to derive from the Germanic noun \*_blōdan_, “blood.” _Blœdsian_ therefore literally means “to consecrate with blood, sprinkle with blood.” The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, the early Germanic migrants to Britain, used _blœdsian_ for their pagan sacrifices. After they converted to Christianity, _blœdsian_ acquired new meanings as a result of its use in translations of the Latin Bible, but it kept its pagan Germanic senses as well. So the etymology accommodates pagans, but not vegans. Have a bloody day! ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/69 "2009-01-15T07:30:54Z")
How about “Have a butthurt day”? Non-religious, and pretty much guaranteed to be fulfilled on the instant, whereas “Have a nice day” is patently offensive to people whose evidence-based point of view is that nice days aren’t to be had for the wishing, for a start. ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/70 "2009-01-15T08:18:10Z")
> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > Newdow and his followers are taking a perfectly acceptable set of beliefs and taking it to a preposterous extreme. It’s funny how if I say the same thing about, say, Bill Donahue, I get people jumping up to berate me for the implicit assumption that Donahue speaks for Catholics. And Donahue’s the head of a large advocacy organization that’s been shouting from various soapboxes for thirty years or so. Michael Newdow, by contrast, is one man with a lot of time on his hands. He doesn’t have “followers” in any non-preposterous sense of the word. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/71 "2009-01-15T08:30:27Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I’m wondering how long it’s going to be until atheism is held by some crackpot court to be a requirement for public office on separation grounds. After all, how can you separate religion from government if government is run by people who are religious? > > I imagine our forefathers’ spinning has reduced their coffins to splinters by now. :rolleyes: We wouldn’t want our politicians basing their beliefs on _evidence_, would we? If they did, they might stop making stupid, costly mistakes. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/72 "2009-01-15T10:18:16Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > We wouldn’t want our politicians basing their beliefs on _evidence_, would we? If they did, they might stop making stupid, costly mistakes. You’re kidding, right? ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/73 "2009-01-15T10:26:56Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > You’re kidding, right? Yes, I am. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2009, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/74 "2009-01-15T12:02:36Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I don’t think that recessive cultural accretions are a wrong that ought be righted. It’s not a “recessive cultural accretion”; it was put in the Pledge and on the money as a deliberate slam against atheists, during the anti-Communist hysteria. Sort of a way of saying “See, we’re God-fearin’, Red-hating True Believers, not godless Commies ! And we all know those atheists and evil-utionists will burst into flame if they speak God’s name or handle God’s money !” ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/75 "2009-01-15T12:24:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You have to be a Christian to work at the Holy Land Experience. Not that I wanted to, or anything. I just thought they were practically begging for a lawsuit. OK, I’m curious - what the hell is the Holy Land Experience ? What do people do there ? Whippings and crucifixions ? Slaughter the cursed hordes of Saladdin ? Lob rockets at passerbys ? If they don’t, there’s grounds for a misleading advertizing lawsuit IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/76 "2009-01-15T12:37:21Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > I also do not like the motto of “in god we trust”. Really, we do? Do we also trust in leprechauns? Because I think our money might be worth more if that were to be the case. It would be backed by a myriad pots of gold! 🙂 Sounds like what you need to do is get a tiny chisel and change all your coins to read “In Gold We Trust”. Back when I said the Pledge of Allegiance, I just left out the “under God” part. It’s not a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/77 "2009-01-15T12:51:51Z")
I have been known to sit down on a quiet evening and black out “In God We Trust” from all of my bills. Since I’ve gone to using a debit card, I don’t do this as often. I haven’t found a chisel small enough for coins. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/78 "2009-01-15T13:24:45Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Sounds like what you need to do is get a tiny chisel and change all your coins to read “In Gold We Trust”. Not since Nixon, you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/79 "2009-01-15T13:57:05Z")
I really don’t give a damn whether someone tells me to have a blessed day or not. If it’s meant sincerely, I’ll accept it sincerely. I’ve had people attempt to preach me to see “The Way” or whatever, and I just get very… irritating to them. I’ve been asked whether I’ve talked to Jesus today, and I’ve told them that, “Yeah, talked to him this morning and he told me that some idiots were going to try to talk for him to me today”. For me, let me believe what I want, I’ll let you believe what you want. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366/80 "2009-01-15T14:01:53Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I have been known to sit down on a quiet evening and black out “In God We Trust” from all of my bills. Since I’ve gone to using a debit card, I don’t do this as often. I haven’t found a chisel small enough for coins. Dremel tool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-atheists-settle-the-fuck-down/481366.md?page=5)