# Religious people who are being dicks in the Christopher Hitchens thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 16, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413 "2011-12-16T15:19:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/81 "2011-12-16T18:40:31Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > > [@Skammer](#): > > > > > [@Yogsooth](#): > > > > > > It always amuses me how especially happy Christians are when an atheist dies. You can always tell who’s not really a Christian by the amount of joy they express. Those people basically outed themselves as religionists who believe only because they fear punishment rather than love god. > > > > Point to the post where a Christian has expressed happiness that the man has died. If you need to go back to other atheists who have died I’ll accept that as well. If you find them I’ll join you in proclaiming their hypocrisy. > > I was speaking generally. Your general statement is horse shit. Christians aren’t \*generally \*happy when an atheist dies. That’s your own persecution complex. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/82 "2011-12-16T18:54:40Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > You said that they’re dicks for offering their opinions. I don’t think so. Thank you, that is a much more accurate representation of what I said. I think this thread, incidentally, is the first time I have been called “butthurt” on the SDMB. Is there some sort of merit badge I can get for this? ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/83 "2011-12-16T19:00:41Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > You’ll have to point out where I claimed moral superiority. I disavow it. “I would pray for anyone when they die (and preferably beforehand) to find reconciliation with God.” –\> Stating that you pray for certain people to reconcile with a being they don’t believe exists means either you believe yourself to be religiously superior or you pray for terribly unimportant things. > [@Skammer](#): > > I never said that about Jews either. I never said you did, I was making an analogy between the above statement and a similar, and equally crass, statement that could be made. Upon rereading, I should have made the hypothetical nature of the second statement more obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/84 "2011-12-16T19:08:20Z")
As an atheist, I find atheists who are offended by theists’ wishes for devine mercy on them to be slightly more ridiculous than theists who are offended by “Happy Holidays.” ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/85 "2011-12-16T19:08:48Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Thank you, that is a much more accurate representation of what I said. > > I think this thread, incidentally, is the first time I have been called “butthurt” on the SDMB. Is there some sort of merit badge I can get for this? We don’t hand out merit badges for just being butthurt one time. The bronze level requires 15 butthurts. I’m not sure you want to know what you need to do to get gold. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/86 "2011-12-16T19:09:57Z")
Believers in the Christian death cult are like vultures. The smell of a corpse brings them circling so they can shill their religion to the bereaved. And if you call them on it they get all offended. Ghouls. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/87 "2011-12-16T19:11:50Z")
As an atheist, ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/88 "2011-12-16T19:16:20Z")
**Slithy’s** with Jesus now. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/89 "2011-12-16T19:20:59Z")
(sorry -got cut off) As an atheist, I can still be offended by the convent at Auschwitz where Catholic nuns prayed for the damned souls of murdered Jews. I don’t sit back and say “well Catholic God doesn’t exist, Jewish God neither, those Jews are long dead so it’s no skin off their asses.” It’s condescending, and offensive to dance on someones grave. And if your kneeling while you’re doing it you are fooling no one. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/90 "2011-12-16T19:22:54Z")
I’m not in charge of PR for atheists, but if I were, “nuns praying for Jewish Holocaust victims” would not be high on the list of stuff I would try to stamp out. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/91 "2011-12-16T19:26:17Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > We don’t hand out merit badges for just being butthurt one time. The bronze level requires 15 butthurts. I’m not sure you want to know what you need to do to get gold. Don’t even ask about gold level with hemorrhoidal cluster… ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/92 "2011-12-16T19:27:18Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Except when Chick dies, _nobody_ on this board is going to be saddened by it. On the contrary, we’ll be devastated. A straight man like that comes along once in a generation. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/93 "2011-12-16T19:28:50Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m not in charge of PR for atheists, but if I were, “nuns praying for Jewish Holocaust victims” would not be high on the list of stuff I would try to stamp out. Well I wish someone would put you in charge of it, then! I mean, apropos of Hitchens, I’ve called out Mother Theresa’s offensive behavior to friends before, but I didn’t include “She asked her imaginary friend to _be nice to victims of genocide!_” :eek::eek::eek: ---
**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:** [December 16, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/94 "2011-12-16T19:29:12Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m not in charge of PR for atheists, but if I were, “nuns praying for Jewish Holocaust victims” would not be high on the list of stuff I would try to stamp out. There is a difference between praying for them because they suffered greatly and were murdered, and praying for them because they were damned for all eternity for being Jews, don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/95 "2011-12-16T19:35:56Z")
I can’t get on board. I never saw anyone wish harm on the deceased. I didn’t see anywhere near the level of nastiness you can get in other R.I.P threads. Of course a Christian is going to frame their response to someone’s death through a Christian perspective. They are going to react out of what is their lived reality and probably refer to the afterlife. To expect otherwise just seems… irrational. It’s the same as expecting an atheist to say, ‘‘Oh, Jerry Falwell is dead? God rest his soul. I’ll pray for his family members.’’ That would be ridiculous, right? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/96 "2011-12-16T19:37:34Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > (sorry -got cut off) > > As an atheist, I can still be offended by the convent at Auschwitz where Catholic nuns prayed for the damned souls of murdered Jews. I don’t sit back and say “well Catholic God doesn’t exist, Jewish God neither, those Jews are long dead so it’s no skin off their asses.” > > It’s condescending, and offensive to dance on someones grave. And if your kneeling while you’re doing it you are fooling no one. You really don’t see the distinction between “dancing on their graves” and “praying for their souls”? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/97 "2011-12-16T19:40:19Z")
> [@Crawlspace](#): > > “I would pray for anyone when they die (and preferably beforehand) to find reconciliation with God.” –\> Stating that you pray for certain people to reconcile with a being they don’t believe exists means either you believe yourself to be religiously superior or you pray for terribly unimportant things. I’ll cop to believing that the religion I follow is superior to atheism. If I didn’t, I’d become an atheist. It does not follow that I therefore consider myself morally superior to atheists however. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/98 "2011-12-16T19:40:24Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I think this thread, incidentally, is the first time I have been called “butthurt” on the SDMB. Is there some sort of merit badge I can get for this? Yep. Guess where you have to pin it. :d&r: ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/99 "2011-12-16T19:43:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Imagine that Billy Graham dies tomorrow and some atheist says “I hope that just before he died, he realized that the whole God thing is ridiculous and that his existence was about to terminate abruptly and forever and that he died in deep confusion while fearing that perhaps he’d been wrong for his entire life and might’ve wasted a lot of it.” That wouldn’t be very nice either. 😛 I’m fairly confident that Mr. Hitchens would find that to be [something of a breech of taste.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbBVB66DC5k)\<—YouTube ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413/100 "2011-12-16T19:44:04Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I can’t get on board. I never saw anyone wish harm on the deceased. I didn’t see anywhere near the level of nastiness you can get in other R.I.P threads. Of course a Christian is going to frame their response to someone’s death through a Christian perspective. They are going to react out of what is their lived reality and probably refer to the afterlife. To expect otherwise just seems… irrational. It’s the same as expecting an atheist to say, ‘‘Oh, Jerry Falwell is dead? God rest his soul. I’ll pray for his family members.’’ That would be ridiculous, right? Is it ridiculous to expect the atheist to refrain from posting something to the effect of, “Sorry to hear this person is gone, but I’m sure he’ll be surprised to find that there is no afterlife and he’s just worm food now”? Because IMO that’s pretty much equivalent to posting “God have mercy on his soul” about a known atheist, i.e., using the person’s death as a platform to express your own personal beliefs and how they are superior to the beliefs of the person who has died. Not appropriate and kind of dickish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-people-who-are-being-dicks-in-the-christopher-hitchens-thread/606413.md?page=6)