silent_enigma

It's painful to hear little jokes like those passed off as good reasoning that "proves" a point.

onlooking eternal

I have heard the barber story before, but not the second one.

All I can say is that critical thinking is a very valuable tool.

to_hobbes

On the contrary, those stories weren't so amusing as they were vomit-inducing. I'm sorry but I just can't have a sense of humor about this, it's so sad how people just want to believe that atheists are dumb and they will do anything by any means necessary to make everyone believe that.

On the other hand, thanks for sharing those stories with us. I guess it's good to know what people who hate us say about us. Of course, the congregation was bashing atheism, but to people like that, agnosticism is no different. So yes, they hate us, but claim that they love us and want to save us, but enjoy making fun of us and attacking straw-man arguments supposedly by us to prove how stupid we are...

__________________
---

(By the way, it's all in your head.)

xxkayxx

those stories/jokes prove nothing really. you can find a barber and a brain anywhere almost. you cant personally find god. if thats their logic for nonbeliervers and their "stupidity" im curious to know who the real ignorant ones are. in my opinion anyone who is 100% sure of anything has to be foolish to some degree. thats what made agnosticism appealing to me. agnostics done pretend to know anything for sure, but seem instead to just want answers, which i guess no one will ever find till we're dead =/ i wonder are there any jokes like that aimed at catholics/christians? im sure there are of course, just want to know if anyone knows any not to bash anyone of course, just curiosity ^^

__________________
If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing

onlooking eternal

I came upon this old thread today, and it got me to thinking. Then I realized what it was that really bothered me about this whole joke: the fact that it's offensive if turned around the other way.

Religious people tell jokes like this and make smug comments about non-believers (and members of other religions as well), and they act like it's perfectly okay for them to do that (which, in essence, it sort of is). But if anyone says anything bad or even critical about what they believe, they get whipped into a frenzy over it and start with the "Blessed are the persecuted" stuff. If you know what I'm talking about, just look at the loud, public temper tantrums that were thrown when movies like "The DaVinci Code" and "The Golden Compass" came out. Much of this came from the same people who went around chiding people for not going to see "The Passion of the Christ."