Separating my family and friends from the rest of my irreligious Facebook page was the best thing I've ever done. The first hint was when my sister told me during our last conversation over a month ago that she was so glad that I did this. When I asked why she revealed that some of the comments on my posts had offended her. I had to chuckle at that. But I do feel bad that the Christian religion makes it's followers thin-skinned and easy to offend. When my religious relatives post about god/Jesus it doesn't offend me, but it does makes me sad that they are gullible to the point of being proud that they believe in something with no evidence. I want to help but I know they will cop an attitude and think "How dare Tina!" So for the most part I leave them alone to their delusions.
My family Facebook page also includes my tennis friends who I know can't be bothered with the concerns of the irreligious. And it's really none of their business anyway. A couple of them spout bible verses and their weird love of a guy that's been dead for several thousand years so I just hide them. The religious ones never post anything interesting anyway. I mean, what's interesting about private religious schools and devotionals?
Two things have recently happened on Facebook that I find fascinating. On my irreligious Facebook page my friend Jorge will occasionally post provocative statements that his Christian friends will comment on. The comments are usually defensive and end with a general faith statement that proves nothing to atheists. The last comment thread I participated in involved a commenter that felt the need to tell of a medical miracle that convinced her of God's presence and strengthened her faith. The only thing I saw was her inability to separate fantasy from facts. She saw divine intervention in a well run medical procedure where an atheist sees a team that is well practiced and well prepared. From her point of view, even if the people involved had died it would still be God's divine plan. It makes no sense.
The other thing that happened was a Republican senator got elected to Ted Kennedy's long time held Democratic seat in Massachusetts. Admittedly the Democrat that was running against him was pretty terrible and didn't deserve to win. It's not hard to see that it didn't take divine intervention to get the Republican elected. Besides he was good looking, young, and well spoken...just like the Democrat candidate that won the election in 2008. What was his name?
Anyway, one of my super-duper crazy religious (she would be proud I called her that BTW) relatives posted something like "a Republican got elected in Mass....God is soooooooooo good!" It was funny to me because it showed how out-of-touch these religious zealots can be and how uneducated they are about the real world. They close their minds, put their fingers in their ears and shout "Lalalalalalalala I can't hear you! And I don't care what you say!" I responded in a way that I thought was thoughtful yet thought provoking and went for a long walk with my dog. As we walked I thought that perhaps my post was too confrontational for my relative. When I got back home I deleted it and put something very mild down like "I'm glad that good looking guy got elected too." But about 10 minutes later I notice that my super-duper crazy religious relative deleted the whole post.
Question for the day: Why are Christians so easily offended?
6 comments:
Why are they so easily offended?
I think they are like someone standing at the very edge of a cliff, and aware that the least little tap, a breath of wind, a sudden noise, will knock them off. If they really were so sure of their faith, all the atheists everywhere, standing on soap boxes shouting challenges would not disturb them. Just like you're not afraid of falling off the earth, no matter who pushes you.
They own absolute truth, which is circularly reinforced by their interpretation of the Bible. If you disagree with them then you are disagreeing with God in their eyes. I can't imagine a more arrogant stance than one that makes a single person think they know the mind of the infinite, but that's the stance they take, of course, Flying Spaghetti Monster forgive me, but I used to take that stance too, and it made perfect sense to me then.
The funny thing to me about the super political Christians is that there is nothing in the New Testament to support their beliefs. Jesus was not and is not a U.S. citizen. If he returned today in the United States he'd be an illegal alien.
Mike! I love that last line. Excellent.
Yeah, not many family members go to my page any more on Facebook, too atheist I think.
Thanks!
Another observation I've been spreading around is that if Jesus and his 12 disciples boarded a plane and began to speak excitedly in Aramaic the plane would be grounded faster than you could say Allahu Akbar. I don't think these U.S. jingoistic Christians would even recognize Jesus at all.
I agree Mike. Many of them would probably not like the real Jesus, if he existed at all.
I don't think many even read that book that they adore so.
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