View: Atheists should stop joking about Satan

[Faith No More]

A fundamentalist that generalizes all atheists as baby eaters and Satan worshippers isn't likely to be swayed by atheists playing nice. These people are closed minded, and the foundation of their beliefs is that without God, you are a terrible person. Regardless of what we say, their opinions are going to be set in stone. Now I'm not saying we should just be assholes. I do think that we ought to be 'ambassadors' so to speak for the unfaithful, and we should try to dispell the myth that we are all evil people. I'll be damned, however, if I'm going to check my sense of humor at the door, because some fundy might actually believe that we do worship Satan.

As for putting other people in harm's way, if a fundy will go as far as to cause physical harm to an atheist, there is nothing you or I could say that would make them understand that atheists are good people. Many of them need atheists to be bad people, so no matter what they see, they will believe we are evil.

[Norfolk And Chance]

We should be bridging the divide by teaching each other how we're similar and mocking stupidity.

Mocking religious belief is mocking stupidity.

[thesummerqueen]

I wasn't saying it wasn't - although there's way more stupidity than just religious beliefs in this world.

[NoMoreFaith]

Well, I hate being wrong as much as the next person.

But I'm not ashamed to say that I can see why my initial view is subject to flaws.

I still think that there are times when we absolutely shouldn't be using baiting, but perhaps those situations are not as common as I originally conceived.

I retract my original statement, at least in part. Kudos to all. I don't object to having woolly thinking pointed out.

EDIT: Most specifically, its crippling to my case that what we say is irrelevant to the fundamentalists who wish to paint us as devil worshippers, and jokes about it, or more to the point, lack of jokes, would have a next to negligible effect on this view.

[Norfolk And Chance]

All you have to do is search "cock shaped plants/vegetables" and you'll have an endless supply of avatars.

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Ahahahahahahaha!

Not even one kudos for a cock shaped chilli on a satan thread?

[thesummerqueen]

For the record, I totally agree that people shouldn't be "baited" - but there's a difference between inciting people and mocking them.

[Norfolk And Chance]

What is that difference? Mocking often incites.

[thesummerqueen]

The difference between a comedian making jokes or a comic artist drawing pictures and the Dove Community Center publicly burning korans with malicious intent.

[UngodlyFossil]

Ungodlyfossil (a German with now-dead family who actually participated) makes Nazi jokes at me all the time simply because I'm Jewish. He frequently makes me laugh so hard I nearly puke. WTF is the difference?

Is he supposed to worry that he makes all Germans look bad?

Even if I would be supposed to worry, I wouldn't.
If there are two things we germans take very seriously, then it's freedom of speech and humor/satire.
Btw: I have great respect for your jewish ancestors, Summer. If two of them hadn't found the same penny, we still wouldn't have copper wire.

I'll try to explain why I wouldn't worry, by using the initial posting as an example:

Atheists need to stop responding to obvious Fundamentalist Statements with jokes about worshiping Satan etc.

The issue I have with it is that statements like this, while clearly a joke, have a detrimental effect on Atheism as a whole.
Now, Atheism isn't really a movement, its a description of a state of belief, but to me, that does not absolve you of obligations to those that share your philosophical stance.

While I understand where NoMoreFaith is coming from and what he wants to say, I can't switch off my german mindset. I don't - and I can't - speak for all of my people, but I guess I am safe to say that most germans around the age of 30 and above would instantly (because it's a posting about making jokes) substitute "Atheists" with "Humorists/Satirists" and have, just as instantly, a problem with it.

The german would ask: "If we start here.... Where do we stop?"
If Atheists can't mock bullshit believers say, because this bullshit is sacrosanct to the believers, then what if satirists mock bullshit politicians say?
There certainly are people, to whom political opinions are just as sacrosanct as some beliefs are to theists. I actually know a few "political believers" and if you mock their party's agenda, they feel deeply, deeply offended.

So, as a german, I have to ask: If Atheists should stop mocking bullshit believers say, because that could "damage" atheism, would satirists and humorists have to stop mocking bullshit politicians (or other people) say, because it could damage satire or humor?

If we start granting people the "right not to be offended by humor", for example by making Atheists stop mocking believer's bullshit, then where do we stop?
Where is the point where courtesy ends and censorship begins?

[thesummerqueen]

And yet your country still won't let you make Holocaust jokes.