A Gallery of Local Hatred and Unreasoned Animosity

The Central Valley Alliance of Atheists and Skeptics recently prompted the Freedom From Religion Foundation to send a warning letter to Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin about unconstitutional prayers at City Council meetings. I am not a member of CVAAS, but I am familiar with several of its people. And while I agree with the position stated in the FFRF letter, I did not participate in anything that led to its drafting.

This morning, the Fresno Bee reported on the issue. Some of the online comments are among the most depressing I have read in a while. I have reproduced several below.

From “jessking,” atheists are animals who should not be treated like members of human society:

Atheists don’t believe in God. By default they believe in evolution and life just being an ”accident.” So, since they are just basically the same as any other animal (by their own belief system) why should anyone take what they say seriously? Just throw them a banana and tell them be quiet.

From “hikerdude1965,” atheists are outnumbered and should therefore disappear:

There are millions more Christians in this world than atheists, I think it is about time we told them to take a hike. I’d say tell them to go to hell but they wouldn’t believe it exists.

From “gramavegas,” atheists are sniveling, crying babies who should leave the United States, which “was founded on Christian beliefs”:

First of all we live in a Republic. Second of all, our country was founded on Christian beliefs. If you do not like that I suggest you move to a country that was founded on your belief system, IF you can find one. And that goes for the rest of you that feel the same way. No one is forcing you to live in this Christian faith based country. The borders allow you to leave. Try Australia. Oh no, that won’t work because they TELL YOU to leave if you don’t like a Christian faith based country. And I don’t even go to a traditional Christ based church. I am not a Christian radical. I am not a reborn Christian. I just believe in the FACT that our country was built on Christian values and I respect that. I have the same rights you have…. If I don’t like it I can leave. So stop your sniveling, cry baby!

From “SKWEEKIE,” atheists are bored, nose-picking, butt-scratching attention-seekers “who have the blackest of hearts and car oil for blood,” and who should be eradicated from society:

These atheist groups are not the majority in this country, thank God. They are bored, and have nothing else to do but to pick their nostrils, scratch their butts, and get into other people’s business instead of trying to co-exist with other faiths…seems they have to assert their non-christian opinion and unsolicited advice to wherever there is prayer to Jesus Christ. I think these atheists are attention-seeking, party-poopers and i’m real sick of them asserting themselves in our society as well. How long are they to be tolerated? I hope that before my lifetime is over, they have been irradicated from society altogether. They are merely a handful of skeptics who have the blackest of hearts and car oil for blood.

From “joelprado49” (quoting Saul Alinsky), the best way to deal with atheists is just to ridicule them:

“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.”

Perhaps later I will comment on the issue at hand—unconstitutional prayers at City Council meetings—but for now I just wanted to put these people, most of whom are largely anonymous, and their vicious remarks on display.

It is difficult and depressing to know that others who share my city would think that I am no better than an animal, that I may be a sniveling, crying baby because I do not believe in God and dare to say something about it, that I should disappear (or worse, be eradicated, like vermin), and that the best response to me is ridicule. These are not the hallmarks of a civil society, but the symptoms of deep and cowardly loathing. I certainly do not want to prevent these people from the free exercise of their own religion, on their own time, when they are not acting in a governmental capacity, and I doubt that anyone from CVAAS or FFRF wants to do so either. What so drives their disgust, that they can make the remarks reproduced above without seeing their savage hypocrisy?