This one is a bit less "atheist" and more pro-lgbt, but the point is the same. Seriously? Persecution? And people claim Christians have a persecution complex. That's what this meme represents, a complex whereby if you do not full embrace and condone every single deviancy thought up by the ever expanding rainbow letter brigade, you're somehow persecuting them. I've never seen a less persecuted group in my life. They are extremely over sampled in the media, so much so that though the actual lgbt population in America is actually less than 4% (and even lower in areas of higher education, imagine that! http://www.gallup.com/poll/183383/americans-greatly-overestimate-percent-gay-lesbian.aspx ) they make up approximately 25-33% of those on television and in the media. Their "gay pride" events are not mobbed with people beating them up or gunning them down, and as it turns out, the actual violence against the lgbt community comes from within! (http://www.advocate.com/crime/2014/09/04/2-studies-prove-domestic-violence-lgbt-issue) While violence does occur from time to time (eg the Florida shooter) it is no way at "persecution" levels. The Jews in Nazi Germany were persecuted. Christians in Islamic countries are persecuted. The Afghani's under Russia were persecuted. Just because you get your feels hurt when someone disagrees isn't persecution. Also, there aren't "straight pride" events for two reasons. 1) Because heterosexuality is normal, whilst homosexuality (and the other letters) is abnormal, and deviant. We don't need to celebrate normalcy. And 2) one time someone tried to hold a "straight pride" event, the lgbt community completely lost their minds over it and protested. Its called the "tyranny of the minority".
I've never understood the point to simply quoting one ignorant man as if it somehow lends credence to your own ignorance. It's called the "Appeal to Authority" logical fallacy. The idea that the Bible taught people to rape, murder, and be cruel? Well then what was the excuse for all those in the past that never picked up a Bible? Or how about all those who committed such acts prior to its compilation? You see, even some of the most intelligent people in history are guilty of incredibly shallow thinking when it comes to Christianity. In fact, one of the most ridiculous claims of Paine was "The Bible is a book that has been read more and examined less than any book that ever existed." This statement is laughable, and adds yet even more weight to my point that atheists should remain out of the realm of the theological. The Bible is the most heavily examined (and most well attested) book in history! Too bad Mr. Paine chose not to take his own advice and examine the Bible. He may have become a Christian then.
This one had me laughing. I simply wonder if the person who put this one together bothered to stop and think about the fact that Albert Einstein was a deist (that's s type of theism folks!), and said that the more he studied the universe, the more convinced there was a God. He rejected the God of Christianity because he said (and I'm paraphrasing of course) that it was too easy. That the God that created the universe couldn't possibly be so easy to know. I would've asked Albert, why would God not want to be known? Why create the universe, complete with life and all its wonders, and then just walk away? Now, back to the meme. I also wonder if this meme creator realizes that most of the major branches of science were started by Christians? This is of course ignoring the fact this is a complete strawman. Christians don't deny technology. Although I guess I could say to atheists, next time you need to get medical imaging done, stay away from getting an MRI. I mean, that was invented by a young earth creationist Christian after all, and well since you deny creationism, you can't use the technology created by them. See how the logic falls apart?
Oh the idiocy! To simply slap the label Of "Christian" on a list of torture devices and try to poison the well, or build strawmen. These devices may have been used by the Roman Catholic Inquisition, however, first Roman Catholicism isn't Christianity secondly, these devices weren't invented by Christians, third this is the fallacy of the unrepresentative sample, and fourth these devices were used on Christians! Of course most of us wouldn't be macabre enough to want to go digging into the history of torture devices, but for the sake of this article, I did. Let's break this down one device at a time.
Judas Chair: This image is not of a Judas Chair, also known as a Judas Cradle. The Judas Chair is only alleged to have actually been used. There is no hard evidence it ever was. The image is of something called an inquisitors chair, and was used as a psychological "torture" though it is in fact more akin to a bed of nails. The threat of applying pressure once once was sat in the chair was the catalyst. The fact that they just grabbed an image of what they thought it might be, tells me they did far less research into this than I did.
Torture Rack: while used by the Roman Catholic Inquisition (Roman Catholicism isn't Christianity by the way) it's invention actually dates back to emperor Nero. You know the guy who tortured and killed Christians? Tacitus mentions it's use in 65 AD on a woman. She later committed suicide because of her injuries.
Coffin: This device was used not just by the Inquisition but also by rulers of the time, and usually as a death sentence for a rather serious crime. To claim it's a "Christian" device is absurd.
The Wooden Horse: This more closely resembles the Judas Chair from before, and was actually from the Roman empire. You know, again those crazy guys trying to kill Christians?
The guillotine: First, this isn't even a torture device. It was an execution device made famous by the French Revolution, wherein the people overthrew the French monarchy and beheaded the nobles. It was created as a more humane means of execution, as it was quick and lacked the possible human error of an axe. At times the axeman would miss, not completely severing the head, the victim being left alive and suffering until another blow could be struck. The guillotine got its name during this time, but was in use elsewhere in Europe in different forms for centuries. This takes it out of the idea of it being a "Christian torture device".
Neck torture: The name given this is extremely vague, and the only reference I could find to a similar device was used by the courts during the medieval period, as the Roman Catholic Church disdained the shedding of blood during its questioning.
What does all this mean? Basically that whoever three this meme together had a serious axe to grind and wasn't above lying and slandering Christians to do so. Even the last line: "Where would Christianity be without these" shows a remarkable lack of critical thinking. Christianity would be right where it is today. A handful of reprehensible people using such devices in the name of their religion, does not reflect negatively on that religion unless they are following it's tenets. Since torture is not a tenet of Christianity (seriously, love they neighbor as thyself anyone?) these people were in direct violation of Christianity. Just as atheists don't like it when people like Mao or Stalin and their atrocities are brought up as a negative reflection on atheists and atheism, so too with the Inquisition.
This one is so simple I'm ashamed for humanity that it is even still around. Species is a human construct that has, at my last count, somewhere around fourteen different definitions. To simplify, a species would be like an individual breed of dog. A Chihuahua and a Great Dane are both different species. However, biblical "kinds" are not at the species level but lies more closely to the Family or Genus level. That said, Noah didn't bring two of every Chihuahua on board, but a single pair dog kind. There is a great deal of science behind this, and it's been shown that using this delineation, rather than the absurd species delineation, the Ark would've easily fit all the animals aboard. (http://creation.mobi/how-did-all-the-animals-fit-on-noahs-ark) Oh and before I get the "Yeah but it couldn't float!" argument, let me quote something for you: "“You don’t think of the Bible necessarily as a scientifically accurate source of information, so I guess we were quite surprised when we discovered it would work,” said Thomas Morris, one of the students who worked on the project, in a statement." (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/could-noahs-ark-float-theory-yes-180950385/) Actually I find it surprising that though the Bible isn't a science textbook, whenever if speaks to a scientific idea, it has yet to be proven wrong, and despite that, these people are working under the assumption that it's always wrong. Ah the seared mind of the secular scientist.
Now this one REALLY got me cracking up! Oh the old emotional "problem of evil" canard. Firstly, as an atheist, you'd have no standard by which to judge whether something is evil or not. Without that foundation, you literally are spitting into the wind! Your argument requires an objective standard of morality, something naturalistic materialism can't account for. Now, atheists demand that humans have a "free will" yet here it seems that when they have it, they'd rather blame God for humanity's evil choices? You can't have your cake and eat it too. That's like a parent giving a child of driving age a car, the child crashing that car and blaming the parent because they gave them the car. It's circular, illogical, and childish. Evil exists because mankind is a fallen creature. Our nature is to sin and love it. This is why we have the self-centered, self-absorbed "me me me" culture we have today. You atheists believe in evolution right? Then why not evolve a backbone and take responsibility for yourself.
Again, back to the idea that Christians deny science. This strawman is used and abused so often it looks like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz after the flying monkeys have had at him. We do not deny science, we are not willfully ignorant of science. Most of science is founded by Christians. I think I'm becoming a broken record on this point but it never seems to sink into their skulls. What science are Christians willfully ignorant of? Abiogenesis? That's not science, it's wishful thinking. Even purely secular science has abandoned it as indefensible. So seriously, what science is it that Christians are willfully ignorant of? I'll wait...
This one made me wonder a bit. I'd heard all the rhetoric surrounding Chik-fil-a when the owner said they were pro biblical marriage, but I was unaware that they openly supported the Westboro Baptist wackos- I mean Church! That is what the signs are made to look like. The signs those nut cases (all twelve of them) carry around. So I did a little fact checking. Turns out, it's absolute horsefeathers. The "hate organizations" mentioned in the meme, are groups like Focus on the Family! The "hate organization" moniker was placed there by the Human Rights Campaign, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.(http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/03/chick-fil-a-controversy-shines-light-on-companys-charitable-giving/) Both extreme left wing groups that paint everything short of outright celebration of their views as "hateful" and have even gone so far as to call Dr. Michael Brown (one of the most loving Christians to the lgbt community) an anti-lgbt extremist! (http://m.townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2015/02/13/the-splc-owes-me-an-apology-too-n1956946) Once you dig just a bit deeper, you even find out that Chik-fil-a doesnt directly give to any charity, but gives the money to an agency that then gives that then funnels that money to different charities. Here's a headline from the "fact sheet" from the HRC: "Chick-fil-A anti-gay: Company funnels millions to anti-equality groups". So you can see exactly what I said. It isn't that these people are being fair or taking a balanced approach to their little "fact sheet" but starting out poisoning the well, and because they don't adhere lockstep with their particular worldview, it's somehow "anti-equality". As I asked before, what persecution has the lgbt community undergone that people such as myself haven't undergone our whole lives? I dealt with the bullying all through my childhood, and even into my early twenties. So do millions of people every day. Jerks are a fact of life. You realize either they grow up and become decent people, or they don't and you ignore them! These people have become the bullies instead of fighting them. I encourage you to read the articles above as they will shed a great deal of light onto what I'm talking about.
I think, after all the other memes I've taking to the curb to await the garbage truck, this one takes the cake. Looking back at this article, it should be quite easy to see who isn't using their critical thinking skills. Instead, what shouldn't be admired is the willingness to turn ones brain off at the juncture where your worldview is challenged by the idea of someone or something greater than yourself. (Bill Maher has been called out for such numerous times, so I won't open that particular can of worms.) This is typical of atheists. Now let me make a clarification. When I say atheists, I do not mean the ones who are happy to live side by side with theists and have no problem interacting with and talking with us like a rational human being. I'm talking about the atheists, probably more accurately known as "anti-theists" or "misotheists". Those would be the ones who happily ignore the facts to have created this trashcan load of nonsense and piled it into a meme. Ever been having a perfectly reasonable and productive discussion with someone, and then a their party jumps in with something ridiculous and horrible? That's who I'm talking about. The ones who are so childish that they cannot help themselves. The ones who know God is real, yet are so angry that they know it, that they will lash out at anyone and anything that reminds them of it. This may be subconscious, or it may be deliberate, but the outcome is the same. We need to pray for these people, we need to give the Gospel to these people, and we need to make sure to keep their lies in check! As Johnathan Swift once wrote "Falsehood flies and truth comes limping after." We must be the ones to give truth a ride! God bless!
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