The blogger who writes The Atheist Pig recently asked his readers what were the worst things you can say to an atheist, and from the replies he got, he composed a list of ten. I prefer to call them the 10 silliest things christians say to atheists -- because they really don't make a lot of sense. Here is the list he devised:1. “You’re going to hell.”
2. “I’ll pray for you.”
3. ”I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist.”
4. You did not have a genuine experience of salvation, or you were never a true Christian because if that were true you would have never left the Lord.
5. ”You can’t prove God, you just have to believe!”
6. ”I have proof of God!”
7. ”When we meet in the afterlife, you will look stupid.”
8. “Why are you mad at God?”
9. ”So you don’t believe in anything?”
10. ”It [evolution] took 20 million years? Monkeys don’t live that long!”
Frankly, I think if the speaker had just applied a modicum of logic to his/her thoughts before speaking, these silly statements would never see the light of day.
I think number one and number seven are just pathetic attempts to frighten atheists. If so, they are always destined to fail. How can anyone possibly be afraid of something they are convinced doesn't exist?
Number two seems to be designed to display the christians tolerance and long-suffering. It fails. Would you be impressed if I told you I prayed to the garden fairies for your welfare, especially since you had just told me you don't believe in garden fairies?
Number three is just downright stupid. It doesn't take faith of any kind to be an atheist. Atheism simply means the person doesn't believe in the existence of any gods (goddesses). Why would that require faith. I personally have faith in mankind, but that is a choice and is certainly no requirement to be an atheist.
Number four may be the most insulting (and wrong) statement of all. It assumes that atheists don't understand or never believed in christianity. The truth is just the opposite. Many atheists grew up in christian churches -- and they studied christianity and the Bible long and hard before finally realizing they could not accept it. I grew up in a fundamentalist church, and went to two christian colleges (studying for the ministry in the first one). Becoming an atheist was neither a flippant nor an arbitrary decision, and the road from belief to non-belief was difficult.
Number five is just pathetic. No one has to believe anything. And a belief based on no facts at all defies reason.
As for number six, show the world your proof! Why are you hiding it? The world has been waiting for thousands of years for proof that some kind of god exists.
Number eight assumes that someone can be mad at a non-existent thing. Why would anyone waste their time being mad at something that they don't believe exists?
And number nine is just logical nonsense. Not believing in one thing does not mean (or even infer) that a person doesn't believe in anything. Would you tell a person who doesn't believe in rainbow-colored unicorns that they then must not believe in anything?
As for number ten, that one is just too stupid to respond to. I think even a christian would be embarrassed to hear a fellow christian say such a stupid thing.
Let me just say this to finish this post. You have the right to believe in any kind of god (or gods) that you want to. That right is guaranteed to you by the United States Constitution -- and I have no problem with that at all. All I ask is that you grant me the same right to not believe, which is also guaranteed by the Constitution.
