Stupid Christians

[Astonished]

I don't think it behooves us to criticize Christians en masse like this, as it has been stated it does perpetuate a negative stereotype of atheists. Were it the thoughts or claims of one particular theist or theistic organization, that would be different; but this seems more like a roast than a discussion.

Here's my favorite response.  Kudos to RedgraveStorm.  

I have read the responses.  I understand the objection.  We run the risk of behaving toward religious people the way they have behaved toward us.  I would like to take the higher road, although I don't know that I'm always strong enough or wise enough to do so.

BUT, as an atheist who was raised . . . well, the Westboro mentality without the signs - - batshit crazy protestant fundamentalist . . . I have a lot of STUPID preacher stories that are fun to share in such forums.  And they can be excellent debate ammunition too.  The Westboro types are SO insular, SO misogynistic, SO xenophobic and SO . . . anti-secular education, that every church service of theirs would provide a dozen huge jokes to tell to any outsider. (The sect I was in refused to let kids go to college.  Any college. Thankfully my Father disagreed.) This is valuable information.  I think that we should try to be respectful, but I also think that the world would be a better place without religion.  So it's almost my duty to call out religious absurdities when I encounter them.  

So perhaps we should not say "stupid christian" but it's surely ok to slam a "stupid teaching".  

Here's one of my favorite examples.  As a snarky teenager, I once dared to ask a holy roller preacher why he used "Thou" and "Thee" so much when he was praying.  His response was "Because that's the way HE spoke!  That's the example HE left for us!  I do him honor by following HIS example and speaking his language."   I bit my tongue and desperately tried to keep a straight face.  Because I so wanted to ask him why he thought that a first century, Aramaic-speaking Jew would have actually spoken to his followers in early 1600's Late-Elizabethan, King James era English.   English didn't exist when Jesus walked the earth.
    This is the kind of teaching we need to call out.  The preachers who are spouting ignorance in every sermon.  The mindset that no education is needed to preach, just inspiration from "god".  (This still exists in the US of A.)  So while we shouldn't lump all christians into the "stupid" category, we should be holding up statements like the one above as examples of why we call for logical examination of what some christians are teaching.

Brings to mind (forget who said it but Hitchens referenced it in his book), "If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me."

The intransigence is the bothersome part. Try as we might we just sometimes cannot get through. I know stubbornness is not a universal quality in theism but I never said it was (nor stupidity); just the delusional part. But that is sufficient to invite all the other negative aspects to run rampant when they otherwise wouldn't, or at least not to the degree it does.