A Message To Atheists

In all earnestness,

Take it easy. I understand your frustration, I do. I rant against ignorant people all the time. I feel your pain. But…

Please see that you don’t go off the deep end with it, okay? Most atheists are converts, and they say there’s no zealot like a convert.

It seems like lately Facebook has been ramming atheism down my throat. I thought that was an odd way to feel, but that’s how I feel. First I had to examine my own irritation, to make sure it wasn’t grounded in personal insecurity. It wasn’t.

Please, if you are atheist, try to keep a few things in mind:

Most of the religious types you are railing against exist primarily in the South, and don’t even directly affect your daily dealings. Most religious people are fairly quiet about it. Sure, once in a while, there’s a reference to their faith in a Facebook status update or something, but that’s more a matter of the reference to God being inseparable from their culture or personal lives than being dominating with their viewpoint. If somebody makes a reference to a lovely religious event they attended and say “Praise God!” that’s not exactly incendiary. It might be a little annoying, but let’s be reasonable: you do the atheist-equivalent thing all the time. Praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Invisible Pink Unicorn, and the hilarious but overtly snarky Patton Oswalt joke about “Sky Cake.” I’ve been hearing more about those than God lately, but that’s just my news feed. I know a lot of atheists on Facebook, after all. It could be that they just happen to use Facebook more frequently than the non-atheists, but that doesn’t explain the sometimes bullying tone.

Believe whatever helps you sleep at night, so long as you are a good and decent person. Basically, what bothers me is that it seems like atheists are “pushing back,” which is perfectly relatable and understandable, but they end up coming off as proselytizing about it—proselytizing just as much as the faithful they seem to hate so much.

Nobody likes proselytizing.

Hypocrisy annoys me. A lot. So please don’t be a dick about your faith, whatever it is. Sure, I already hear a rebuttal about how “At least atheism hasn’t led to war because other people disagree.” Well, of course. Atheists don’t usually go around killing people over matters of faith, and that’s grand. But that’s not even remotely related to what I’m talking about, is it? So please don’t spear me with comments pointing the finger back at examples of Christians who are way worse than you are, because that’s irrelevant.

The reason for this blog post is that lately it seems like my atheist friends are going a little too far with the exact same sentiments that they hate about the faithful (Christians and Muslims in particular):

“My way is the only way.”
“Anyone who disagrees with me is wrong, misguided, and probably less intelligent.”
“You have to see it my way or you are closed-minded.”
“If you really searched for the Truth hard enough, you’d end up where I am on the road of faith.”
“I have to speak up for my faith at every possible opportunity.”

All I’m saying is, if you’re an atheist please try to catch yourself before you turn into exactly what you despise. That’s all. That, and don’t be a preemptive dick to your friends who weren’t pushing their faith on you in the first place.

If you’re so enlightened, try to act like it. Just use a discerning eye when looking at your own statements. Is that fair enough? I’m not asking more of you than of anybody else. I’m not looking for an argument at all. I’m just saying try to rise above the bullshit that bothers you so much, because you just might be coming off as the exact same thing to others, and that’s not helpful to your case at all.

If you are offended by this, well, then… that is very curious indeed, isn’t it? You’re not necessarily an example of who I’m talking about, so don’t get offended. And if you’re not, I think this is still a good message for you to hear if only to serve as a reminder. Right? Just a public service announcement.

It’s up to you to use your best judgment. Snarky satire can be amusing and even healthy, but there’s such thing as too much of a good thing.

That is all.

Peace, and Dog bless.