Atheism and mockery

The new atheist Richard Dawkins has encouraged his supporters to go beyond humorous ridicule. He wrote, "I lately started to think that we need to go further: go beyond humorous ridicule, sharpen our barbs to a point where they really hurt."

Unlike Christianity, which is supported by a large body of sound evidence (see: Christian apologetics resources), atheism has no proof and evidence supporting its ideology (see: Attempts to dilute the definition of atheism). In addition, atheists have a tradition of making assumptions about various matters that have later have proved to be wrong.

The appeal to ridicule fallacy, also known as the appeal to mockery and the horse laugh, is a fallacy of relevance. It consists of mocking an opposing argument rather than considering it on the merits.

Atheist mockery and the history of French atheism

On July 14, 1789, the Bastille was stormed by a mob and its prisoners freed, which is regarded as the start of the French Revolution.

See also: Atheism and logic and French atheism

The Reign of Terror of the French Revolution established a state which was anti-Roman Catholicism/Christian in nature (anti-clerical deism and anti-religious atheism and played a significant role in the French Revolution), with the official ideology being the Cult of Reason; during this time thousands of believers were suppressed and executed by the guillotine.

Kenneth Weinstein wrote in The American Interest:

“

Charlie Hebdo has suddenly become the best-known example of a venerable French tradition: vituperative and unrelenting anti-religious satire, a provocative yet regular phenomenon of French public life. And now—not, alas, for the first time in that nation’s history—it has occasioned actual bloodshed. Lampooning of the Bible, Christian doctrine, and clergy dates back almost 400 years to the “strong thinkers,” French learned skeptics in the 16th century. The primary target of anti-religious satire was France’s official religion, Catholicism, the Church’s ties to the state, and its control over education. And the ridiculing wit long directed against these targets would eventually play a central and crucial role in reducing the status and influence of religion in the French Republic... The method of the forerunners of Charlie Hebdo—unrelenting and vicious satire of religion and clergy — proved so effective that France became a fully secular state, to such an extent that certain of its practices, laicité, would be regarded as unsettlingly alien and intolerant by most Americans.

”

Ineffectiveness of French atheist mockery in modern France

French scholars say, evangelicalism is likely the fastest-growing religion in France – defying all stereotypes about one of Europe’s most secular nations. In 2011, The number of evangelical churches increased from 769 to 2,068 in 2011.

See also: Growth of evangelicalism in Europe and Desecularization

The tactic of employing mockery instead of reason has been ineffective in stopping the rapid growth of evangelical Christianity in modern France.

On July 12, 2012, the Christian Science Monitor reported:

“

French scholars say, evangelicalism is likely the fastest-growing religion in France – defying all stereotypes about Europe’s most secular nation... Daniel Liechti, vice-president of the French National Evangelical Council, found that since 1970, a new evangelical church has opened in France every 10 days. The number of churches increased from 769 to 2,068 last year.

”

Ridicule has been an ineffective tactic in modern France against the growth of Islam in France. The Washington Post declared in 2015: "One widely cited study by Pew from 2010 showed estimated that France had 4.7 million Muslims. At 7.5 percent of the population, this meant France had the largest Muslim population in Western Europe. A 2010 estimate projects the Muslim population to be 10 percent of France's population by 2030.

In April of 2010, the British academic and agnostic Eric Kauffmann declared that "the rate of secularisation has flattened to zero in most of Protestant Europe and France."

Various reasons why French atheist ridicule is ineffective against evangelicalism/Islam

Atheism is in global decline, with the number of atheists falling from 4.5% of the world’s population in 1970 to 2.0% in 2010 and projected to drop to 1.8% by 2020.

One of the reasons why French atheist ridicule may not work to halt quickly growing evangelical Christianity and Islam and that many of these individuals are immigrants who have the support of their local immigrant communities and thus they are thus largely insulated from such attacks.

In addition, many Christian immigrants are refugees who faced Muslim persecution and as a result they often have strong faiths that are resistant to mere ridicule.

Furthermore, given the current and past ill-behavior of many atheists (see: Moral failures of the atheist population), many theists have a low regard of atheists so their opinions are not valued (see: Views on atheists). For example, Charlie Hebdo is a secular left, French, satirical weekly newspaper that often features generally vulgar cartoons (often with stylized cartoon versions of homosexual acts on the cover), articles and profane jokes that "celebrate" liberal values frequently via blasphemy towards any form of religion, but especially Christianity and Islam. See also: Atheism and profanity).

Factors which limit the amount of ridicule that religious immigrants are subjected to

There are some mitigating factors which lesson the amount of ridicule that religious immigrants are subjected to by the secular leftist community: immigrants often vote for left leaning candidates and are seen as a tool to increase votes for leftists; multiculturism; and identity politics.

The new atheists Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and the late Christopher Hitchens have received multiple accusations of engaging in Islamophobic behavior by fellow secular leftists. On the other hand, defenders of atheist criticisms of Islam/Muslims indicated that New Atheists should be able to criticize Islam without being accused of Islamophobia. See also: Atheism vs. Islam

Multiculturism, assimilation and the desecularization of Europe:

In the Europe of tomorrow, immigration and religious fertility will increase the proportion of committed Christians in Europe, many from the developing world.

Professor Eric Kaufmann in an academic paper entitled Shall the Righteous Inherit the Earth? Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century wrote:

“

Ethnicity and race may succumb to liberal modernity, but committed religious populations cannot be assimilated to liberal secularism fast enough to compensate for their demographic advantage in a world of plunging fertility and growing migration. In the end, it is a battle between religious fertility on the one hand, and, on the other, religious decline through the 'assimilation' of religious offspring into secularism. This paper argues that the weakness of secularism and a widening secular-religious fertility gap points toward a religious victory... The principle of tolerating and 'celebrating' diversity is a corollary of postmodern relativism which opens up space for antimodern religious 'diversities' to take root. If they are demographically-powerful religious movements like Islamism or evangelical Christianity, they will exploit this weakness to progressively erode the hegemony of western secular humanism.... In the Europe of tomorrow, immigration and religious fertility will increase the proportion of committed Muslims and Christians, many from the developing world. It may seem fanciful to imagine a moral conservatism uniting white and nonwhite Christians as well as Muslims against 'secular humanists'. However, a version of this process has occurred in the United States, and it can be argued that the cocktail of cultural relativism, secular exhaustion and demographic change is even more potent in Europe than America. The division between native ethnic groups and immigrant groups is currently more important in Europe, but as the Muslim and religious Christian minorities grow, they will become as important for conservative politicians as the religious Hispanics of America whom the Republicans have so assiduously courted. At some point, it will make more electoral sense for European conservatives to appeal to a trans-ethnic coalition of moral conservatives than it will to stress anti-immigrant themes and ethno-nationalism. The liberal-left will find it extremely difficult to craft a defense of secularism given its investment in cultural relativism, the exhaustion of its secular religions, and its laissez-faire attitude to demographic change. Standing back from the fray, we can think of demography as the achilles heel of liberalism.

”

See also: Desecularization and Multiculturism and European desecularization

American and British militant atheists and the use of ridicule

Richard Dawkins and mockery

Matt Barber

See also;; Richard Dawkins and anger and Abrasiveness of Richard Dawkins

The new atheist Richard Dawkins declared to this fellow atheists:

“

I suspect that most of our regular readers here would agree that ridicule, of a humorous nature, is likely to be more effective than the sort of snuggling-up and head-patting that Jerry is attacking. I lately started to think that we need to go further: go beyond humorous ridicule, sharpen our barbs to a point where they really hurt.

”

Freedom From Religion Foundation and mockery

In his article, Mockery - the M.O. for atheists, Matt Barber discusses an incident in which the Freedom From Religion Foundation encouraged atheists to engage in tactics which Barber considers to be acts of hateful mockery.

Reddit atheism and mockery

Reddit atheism has become well known for its childish/"low brow" humor.

A June 14, 2013 Mashable article declared concerning Reddit atheism:

“

In recent years, r/atheism has become known for memes, images, quote pictures and other content viewed by some as "low brow."

”

David Silverman took feminist Rebecca Watson off the speakers list for the Reason Rally after Richard Dawkins objected to her speaking at the event. See: Elevatorgate

Reason Rally and the mocking of religious belief

The 2012 Reason Rally was billed as the largest secular event in history.

Salon magazine described the Reason Rally thusly:

“

Right from the start, the 2012 Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., set the tone that was to dominate the rest of the day. As the crowd was filtering in to the National Mall, a band fired up the crowd with a rousing song that lampooned the belief in “Jesus coming again,” mixing it with sexual innuendo. As the assembled crowd clapped and sang along to other songs satirizing religion, a large costumed puppet figure of Jesus danced among spectators. “We’re not here to bash anyone’s faith, but if it happens, it happens,” comedian and master of ceremonies Paul Provenza announced to laughter and applause at the outset of the event. The bashing and attacks on religion, mainly Christianity (in its evangelical and Catholic forms), happened as much if not more than positive portrayals of secularism and were in sync with new atheist leader and scientist Richard Dawkins’s advice to “mock and ridicule” people’s beliefs. When one of the authors asked an official from the Secular Students Alliance, a group prominent in organizing the event, about whether the ridiculing of religion was productive, he answered, “This is what we do.”

”

Richard Dawkins has encouraged his supporters to go beyond humorous ridicule. At the Reason Rally he exclaimed, "Mock them. Ridicule them! In public." He also wrote, "I lately started to think that we need to go further: go beyond humorous ridicule, sharpen our barbs to a point where they really hurt."

See also: Richard Dawkins and intolerance

Atheists Penn and Teller and mockery

Penn Jillette

Atheists Penn and Teller produced a poorly reasoned video disputing the veracity of the Bible which used low grade humor and it was entitled "The Bible is bull****""." (see also: Atheism and the Bible and Bible apologetics website resources). Yet, after producing two videos after being listed in Conservapedia's atheism and obesity article and having a debate challenge directed his way which employed some humor, atheist Penn Jillette posted a video on the internet which declared:

“

I didn't really read the stuff so I guess I can't really comment... I don't tend to react to satire, or sarcasm or irony, I pretty much say what I mean and that is what I react to the most... I do know people and love people who believe...who are Christians and who have belief and who believe this stuff strongly, and as much as I want to argue with them, I don't want to show them disrespect. And I will say that that's a ****ing stupid argument, but that's not disrespect.

”

After refusing to debate the Christian apologist Sye Ten Bruggencate, Penn Jillette said, “I’m not trained in debate. It’s turning conversation into competition." See also: Atheism and cowardice and Atheist hypocrisy

A National Public Radio reviewer of one of atheist Penn Jillette's books found the book "showy and assaultive" in terms of its use of profanity. See: Atheism and profanity

Hateful mockery can backfire - especially when a group in the minority. Atheists are the least trusted group in America (see: Views on atheists).

PZ Myers and Creation Museum buffoonery

During his visit to the Creation Museum, PZ Myers had noticeably greater difficulty than others climbing on and off a dinosaur model due to the fact that he was overweight and out of shape (See: VIDEO)

In August 2009, Myers led a group of over 300 atheist and agnostic students on a tour of the Creation Museum. Myers clearly had the intention to mock the museum.

However, the visit backfired and made Myers look foolish. During the visit, Myers had noticeably greater difficulty than others climbing on and off a dinosaur model due to the fact that he was overweight and out of shape (See the video: PZ Myers riding the triceratops at The Creation Museum).

In addition, the purpose of the dinosaur model is clearly for children to sit on for photographs. Myers donned a borrowed cowboy hat and was egged on by the cheers and laughter of the students.

See also:

• PZ Myers and obesity

• New Atheism leadership's problem with excess weight

Thunderf00t's criticism of PZ Myers' blogging tactics involving mockery

YouTube atheist Thunderf00t mocked atheist PZ Myers for commonly using comic sans font and Monty Python "My brain hurts" graphics to deride those who he disagrees with.

Secular leftist Saul Alinsky and ridicule as a political weapon

Saul Alinsky, an agnostic, was an American secular leftist who championed ridicule as a means to achieve political ends. One of his 12 rules of radicals was "'Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.' There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions."

Mocking of Christianity on British television

In article about the mocking of Christianity on British television, journalist Jonathan Wynne-Jones wrote in The Telegraph:

“

Meanwhile, in Hollyoaks, a soap hugely popular with teenagers, the Christian in the show claims to have found an image of Jesus in a potato. The message is clear: Christians are nutters. The anti-Christianity streak on television has been noted by a media blog, tvscoop. "As a non-believer myself, and an argumentative one, there's nothing I like more than getting into debates and discussions with religious people," it says. Yet it continues: "Anti-religious feeling is now reaching saturation point on the box." Some would argue that Christianity has been being undermined for some time on television. Even some of the BBC's religious documentaries have tended to challenge traditional beliefs, from claiming Mary was raped by a Roman soldier to arguing that Paul conversion on the road to Damascus was caused by an epileptic fit. The tvscoop blog goes on to question whether Islam would receive similar treatment, before concluding: "I don't like the snide, cowardly kickings that Christianity is getting at the minute. "There's no point feigning debate just to have a dig." And that's exactly what Corrie and other soaps seem to be doing. Outspoken criticism of Christian beliefs should be expected, but the stealthy attempts to make believers look absurd is much more damaging. Once faith has been made to look ridiculous, the attempts of believers to rebut the criticism will be met with deaf ears. And then the line between ridicule and persecution becomes even thinner.

”

Atheist art commonly employs mockery and/or ugliness

See also: Atheist art

An atheist posted to atheist Sam Harris' discussion board: "This idea started when I googled “atheist art”. You see I was expecting to find art. Instead, what you get is a whole bunch of knockoffs of famous religious art that has been disfigured and mutilated. This made me slightly ashamed."

Parody and satire have their place - Christian parody of atheism and evolution

Although mere appeals to ridicule is a logical fallacy, parody and satire certainly have their place. Because Christianity is so well attested to via evidence and sound argumentation such as the work of Simon Greenleaf and other Christian apologists, Christians certainly have liberty to use parody and satire. For example, there are certainly many parodies and satires of atheism and evolution (see: Comedy and satires concerning atheism and evolution ).

In terms of Christian satire, the Christian apologist JP Holding features a humorous Christian satire work entitled You may be a fundamentalist atheist if..... The biblical creationist organization Answers in Genesis has used satire to ridicule evolutionism.

Thin-skinned atheists and humor

Gustave Doré's depiction of Satan from John Milton's Paradise Lost. It is often said that atheism is a result of demonic deception (see: Atheism and satanic deception). Thomas More said, "The Devil, the proud spirit, cannot endure to be mocked.".

As far as Christian internet evangelism, YouTube is a popular online video sharing site that provides a method distributing Christian/creationist videos across the world. The YouTube search engine is the second largest search engine in the world. There is a widespread problem with atheist cyberbullying on YouTube toward Christian and creationist YouTube channels. CreationWiki has developed a web page entitled Creationist YouTube video designed to show creationists how to thwart atheist/evolutionist cyberbullies.

The popular Christian YouTube channel, Shockofgod, which often uses humor to poke fun at the foolishness of atheism, was shut down several times by atheist cyberbullying through false reports, but he developed counter measures to overcome this problem. These false reports are not isolated incidents. Atheists have repeatedly used this deceitful tactic to block out Christianity and creation science.

Oswald Chambers declared about atheism: "The real attitude of sin in the heart towards God is that of being without God; it is pride, the worship of myself, that is the great atheistic fact in human life." See also: Atheism and arrogance

It is often said that atheism is a result of demonic deception (see: Atheism and satanic deception).

In a 2008 interview, Dinesh D'Souza declared:

“

Look at Satan's reason for rebelling against God. It's not that he doesn't recognize that God is greater than he is. He does. It's just that he doesn't want to play by anybody else's rules. This idea that it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven is Satan's motto, and it turns out that this is also the motto of contemporary atheists such as Christopher Hitchens.

”

Thomas More said, "The Devil, the proud spirit, cannot endure to be mocked.".

Atheism and trolls and atheist trolls

Both atheists and Muslims have developed a reputation of being thin-skinned (and for wanting to impose their ideology on others). It has been quipped that "Atheism is the easiest religion to troll". Internet trolls often actively pursue trolling atheists due to their penchant of being so proud and so easily angered.

In 2012, The Guardian published an article entitled Limmy's Show: Confessions of an internet troll which had the subtitle There's a witch-hunt going on against internet trolls right now. But, argues Scots funnyman Limmy, randomly goading atheists, jocks and non-existent techno geeks can be fun. And of course, being thin-skinned is symptomatic of having excessive pride.

Most people and cultures take a very dim view of proud people and some cultures are known for actively engaging humbling successful people and/or proud people (Several Anglosphere nations are known for having tall poppy syndrome and Filipinos are known for having a "crab culture". Crabs in a bucket of water will pull down crabs trying to escape from the bucket).

Atheist trolls and atheist bullying:

At the same time, atheists are known for trolling others and for engaging in internet atheist bullying.

Bible verses related to mockers

"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap." - Galatians 6:7 (NASB)

"Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.' For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day." - 2 Peter 3: 3-6 (NASB)

See also

• Atheist bullying

• Antitheism and antisocial behavior

• Atheism and humor

• Atheism and irrationality

• Poe's law

• Atheism and love

• Atheism and loneliness

• Atheism and morality

External links

• Richard Dawkins espouses Militant Atheism: "Mock them, Ridicule them."

• Atheist Mockery Effective?