Behold: The Greatest Atheism Meme Ever
I found this on the front page of Reddit today, and I can say that this is unequivocally, objectively, scientifically the greatest atheism meme ever. I have deduced this through my observations in the physical universe (Reddit) and have collected the data in a non-biased fashion. In other words: You can trust my claim… or you can disagree with it, whatevs.
This is atheist/scholar/UFO-lovin’ Carl Sagan. He’s dead now, and he died before he could witness the culture of the Internet, where skepticism is king. Fortunately for Sagan, he did not witness the floodgates of hatred that were blasted open with the advent of the web. You know what I’m talking about – the people who refuse to speak kindly to others if they’re speaking from behind a computer screen. We’re all guilty of it at some point. So now, this quote is needed more than ever.
“…let us temper our criticism with kindness.”
This is not done anymore. Our generation as a whole has prioritized our stances and opinions over kindness to others. It’s cool to be a jackass on the Internet, because we’re right and they’re wrong and they’re stupid. Right?
Now, I’m not an atheist, but I do have atheistic tendencies. And atheism has a lot of excellent ideas that should be implemented. For me, atheism is like a cat: I can become best friends with an individual one, but I don’t think I’ll ever adopt it. My personal favorite atheist is Christopher Hitchens. My least favorite would be Richard Dawkins, mainly because he seems to be the embodiment of what Sagan is criticizing here. Still, people like Carl Sagan and the works of these very intelligent people are worth reading, regardless of what your philosophical opinions are. Both theists and atheists can learn a lot from Sagan’s quote here. Be nice. Use empathy. Don’t be a d-bag. I would add to challenge yourself. That’s it.
I’m going to leave you now with some of my favorite quotes from various people, because it’s happy-fun-times and they make me think:
Søren Kierkegaard:
Listen to the cry of a woman in labor at the hour of giving birth — look at the dying man’s struggle at his last extremity, and then tell me whether something that begins and ends thus could be intended for enjoyment.
Peter Rollins:
Christianity, in so far as it is reduced to simply one more political, cultural, or religious narrative, is unmasked as having the same status as the six categories that Paul wrote of in his day: Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male and female. The event testified to in Christianity questions all such narratives.
Christopher Hitchens:
Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.
More Christopher Hitchens:
Whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants.
THINKING IS FUN!
Question: Do you feel like it’s easy to be nice to others when they believe totally opposite crap than you do?
