When I was a Christian, my frustration was getting lumped in with all the Christians who didn’t know the bible and who didn’t excel in education. You know, the idiot Christians who shared the same umbrella.
I didn’t want Westboro Baptists and holy roller types sharing the name “Christian” with me.
The more idiot Christians I met, the more apologies I had to make for what I considered a smart form of Christianity.
I hated sharing the title Christian with what I viewed as less than intelligent.
The more I researched non-Christianity, the more I felt at home. Atheism — at least in certain framework of thought — is for intelligent people with perspicacious goals.
But, holy hell, that doesn’t exempt the idiots from slipping through the door. When I visited the Creation “Museum” with PZ Myers, some of the kids Tina and I met were a confused bunch of adolescents. They jumped on the back of the atheism bandwagon and all they proved to do was drag their feet on the ground and make the rest of us have to whip the horses harder.
When you drag your feet through the dirt, you kick up a load of dust … which confuses those following our progress.
For the first time after joining the atheist camp, I second guessed the company that I chose to keep.
And I get it. I get that atheism is associated with Pol Pot, Stalin, etc. I get that Christians throw in Hitler, because how could a believer behave like he did? Somehow I’m unaffected by sharing the atheism title with these guys. It’s atheistic cognitive dissonance I guess.
Whatever, I also get to associate myself with all the babies that are ever born. And babies are cute … so I have that working for me. But they’re dumb, and they are taught all kinds of rubbish.
Then you have the case of John Loftus, and his inability to represent atheists well in debate. He embarrassed us even more by claiming he “won” his debate versus Dinesh D’Souza. After blaming his audience for loss, many supporters ran from him screaming with their hands in the air.
Now after the conversation I’ve been having with a self-described “apostate” over homosexuality, it’s becoming abundantly clear that I should issue an apology for the collective individuals who call themselves skeptical without the faintest clue what it takes to represent the lot of us.
We shouldn’t ignorantly misrepresent the atheist stand and allow hackneyed wannabes claim the atheist moniker just because they find it neat to be in the in-group.
I didn’t want subverted ignorance on my team when I thought I was a Christian. And now — more than ever — I don’t want misinformed babies spouting rubbish on my team either.
I know … I’m pulling a Jesus. You’re all welcome to join atheism, just don’t make it hell for the rest of us.
I’ll share my umbrella for now, but get up to speed, all you promoters of disbelief. You drag us down, but don’t forget, we’re the critics. And not only should we criticize belief and ignorance within it. We will criticize our own.
And we will not tolerate a bar that is set lower just because you can’t reach up and grab it.
Le Café Wittypoots 