A collection of essays and rants, inspired and taken from a series that I have been writing for several years concerning this subject. A stirring account of how certain issues are poisoned by organized religions and why we as a society would be much...
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"The characters and events depicted in the damn bible are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental." - Penn & Teller
While attending my first year of post-secondary education at Memorial University, I met a few atheists that I enjoyed hanging out with. We would play various board games (such as risk, chess, etc) and also debate about things while sitting in the dormitory lobby after dinner. Some people who would hang out with us were also devout Christians, and one of them was my former roommate Kenneth. During one of our debates about faith and God, Kenneth made a bold statement that caused pause amongst our group: non-believers shall perish.
We all paused for a moment, trying to come up with a clever comeback for Kenneth and his rather insensitive statement. It was Darren who had come up with one first when he turned to Kenneth and replied: So will food if you leave it out of the refrigerator. Confused to what the statement meant, Kenneth then asked Darren: what's your point?
Darren answered his question with one word: Chill.
That funny exchange has stuck with me ever since and is often a line I use when someone religious tries to conjecture that all non-believers will perish. It's one of many comebacks I use when confronted by someone who isn't interested in having a meaningful debate and just tries to tell me how things are rather than discuss them. I've been involved in many such 'discussions' where someone just wants to tell you their side and walk away, never really giving you a chance to respond to their side, ignorant of the fact that there is another side at all. These days I usually try to avoid conflicts like that because of someone isn't willing to hear out my ideas and thoughts, why should I give them my time just to hear them rant the same old junk I've heard already time and time again?
When someone of faith is more polite and willing to exchange ideas, this is where things get interesting. I've never flat out told anyone that they're wrong, even if I thought they were as that was just rude to not acknowledge that someone has a view that means something to them. I may not agree with that view, but that doesn't mean that I can't at least confirm that it exists and means something to the person I am speaking with. If you want the person you are speaking with to hear out your crazy ideas, you at least have to show minimal respect to theirs. Then that's when I usually drop the hammer.
One thing I like to do when confronted by someone who proves difficult to move or sway during a feisty debate is to whip out what I like to refer to as 'The Unicorn Test'. When I feel there is a stand still or logjam of idea, I will quickly change the focus and attack it from a different viewpoint. I will ask the religious person if he/she believes in Unicorns, those mythical creatures that look like horses and have a single beautiful horn sticking out of their head.
The majority of the Christians I talk with never hesitate to walk right into what is nothing short of a set up. They immediately claim that there is no such thing as Unicorns. They have never existed and there is no evidence that one ever walked the earth. Once they make wild claims like that, I'll close in by agreeing with them. I too do not believe in Unicorns and agree they are nothing more than fictional creatures. Now the trap has been sprung when I toss over my next question: then why are there Unicorns in the bible?
