Meme Madness Monday - End of September edition

Thanks to the fun of alliteration, I like to look at memes on Mondays, picking out ones I find especially interesting. And by interesting I mean stupid.

But enough introductions. Time to dissect the memes!

Meme #1: "People should not impose their religious beliefs on others... ...which is why I'll use government to impose my atheism on you."

First off, the message of this meme just makes me roll my eyes. Really, this little gem again. If government is not specifically promoting a deity it is automatically promoting atheism? Give me a break. To me this smacks of overprivileged asswipes who need to see their god promoted literally everywhere or else they think his almightiness might get his panties in a twist or something. I don't know. Does god wear panties?

Let's set this straight: government is supposed to remain neutral neither promoting belief or the absence of belief. If your ten commandments idol isn't on the lawn of your town hall, it just means government is not giving preference to your treasured translation of the Biblical text. The government it not supposed to tell you not to believe either. You get to choose.

You can have all your little religious tchotchkes in your house, at your place of worship, in your car, heck even on your body. Hang up the crucifix or the flying spaghetti monster portrait in your entry. Put your manger scene on your lawn or your menorah on your windowsill. Buy a message on a billboard - I see plenty of those everywhere.

You have plenty of places to waste your resources on your chosen religion. Just leave public property alone. It really isn't complicated. AND the fact that all your shit isn't there doesn't mean anything. Government is being silent about your belief.

Second, did anyone notice we've got the traditional use of a young male as representative of atheism? Because clearly there is no other. At least, they didn't go for the subversive or geeky young man like they usually do. Still, this looks like a college student, so we still have the notion that he is just in some kind of phase. Or maybe he's under the sway of those evil college professors.

This trope is really tired. There are atheists of all ages, genders, nationalities and ethnicities and other groupings. It really isn't just some stupid phase people grow out of.

Oh, and if you are a college student, geeky or otherwise, keep learning and exploring. I don't mean this as a rant against you. It is simply that young men are seen as the only atheists. When atheism isn't seen as the sole domain of famous people like Richard Dawkins. Whoever you are, don't let yourself be pigeon-holed. Go read and learn and figure it out.

Meme #2: "Atheism: like a fish denying the existence of water."

Well, the color scheme of this one is nice. I really like the contrast of the blue and orange. It is a really pretty meme. So points for that.

But the message is pretty stupid. So first off, facts about the world are true whether or not anyone believes in them. We may not be justified in believing them if we have no evidence. As an example, let's say there is some non-carbon-based life form capable of living in conditions like those on a Mars-like planet. Let's just say that's true and such a being exists on a planet orbiting a star in our galaxy. I am not warranted in believing it until such a time as this being has been demonstrated to exist. So if someone asks if I believe in it, I would say I don't know.

I know that there are plenty of Christians who see our existence and the mere existence of our physical world as evidence of god. In their argument from ignorance or incredulity, they simply cannot imagine how life came about without their deity as creator. From my point of view, we are continually discovering how our universe and our world work, and the more we learn, the less god is needed. Sure, there are still plenty of mysteries and there probably always will be. A mystery is not a place to insert your god. 

If this little fish truly denied the existence of water, I might wonder if it lacked sensation. Water is something that can be measured and felt. I really can't do this with a deity. Analogies comparing god to the physical world fail for me. He's supposed to be supernatural. Some even claim outside of space and time. How do you measure or feel that?

I get that the meme is saying that the existence of god is just obvious, and I've heard so many religious people of various religions say this. I know people who claim to have a relationship with the risen Christ. These are perplexing utterances to me. I have no idea how this god is so obvious, and I know other people who feel the same.

Christians would tell me that I haven't said the right magic incantation or repented or I just want to sin or some other silliness. This sets aside the fact that I was religious until I was an adult, and I was plenty sincere, feeling moments of oneness with something. I later had those emotions in other non-religious settings, and never did a god make him or herself manifest.

Sorry. like my non-carbon-based life, I'll wait till I get some real evidence before I believe in your deity.

That's it for meme madness! Enjoy the last week of September, y'all!