If there's one thing I've noticed amongst atheists is that we can have a pretty good sense of humor about everything. Take Penn Gilette, George Carlin, Tim Minchin, etc. Those of us less talented find our ways, but one of the most prominent I've seen is poking fun at superstitious thinking in the form of the images we use. I've counted more than a dozen 'devils' among regular posters here, and I can't think of a single prominent atheist Youtuber who hasn't amusingly referred to (or deferred to, depending on the joke) Satan. I find it as funny as the rest of us, but are we hurting the cause in doing so?
I know a lot of firmly devout people who are paranoiacally averse to Satanic/demonic imagery and symbology. Take, as a popular example, the lunatic who sees '666' in the Monster Energy Drinks logo. These people also tend to be rather vocal, and work to indoctrinate others, especially the young, into fearing these same things. In my own childhood, I remember the classically 'Demonic' images as being presented in a way that was a clear, present, and fatal danger to myself and others. For people who don't have as much of an ability to distance themselves from this kind of dogmatism, what are they to think when they see people with smiling faces, genuine camaraderie...and horns/tails/pitchforks, etc? I would think, to them, it would be like that last scene in Rosemary's Baby.
I'm not trying to be a stick in the mud about any of this. As I said, I laugh when I see things like the 'Portuguese skeleton bike' (Youtube that for a real laugh) and South Park, and so on. But I'm also trying to help people understand that there is such a thing as 'good people without God'. A big problem is that religion has taken the 'nuclear option' in planting a cognitive bias in people that anything good an atheist does or experiences is only that way thanks to the Devil. Should something be changed about any of this, or am I making a Bald Mountain out of a pointed molehill?
TL;DR: Should we stop using demonic imagery?
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"TL;DR: Should we stop using demonic imagery?"
To stop stupid people from learning how stupid they are?
absolutely not.
Let them be pissed off, even offended, maybe they break the law and mange to get their brainwashing cult(religion) banned for children at last.
That be the day.
btw i'm fine with the devil, he is a nice guy compared to the christian god in the story.
Still changes nothing. In the mind of an atheist, the devil is nothing more than myth, just like the Greek or Egyptian gods, and yes this applies to your God as well.
"His biggest and oldest trick is that god does do not exist and that the devil does not exists."
The biggest and oldest trick to make you believe that someone/something exists, is to make you think that whoever says otherwise is evil and lying to you.
Really pathetic bronze age trick which unfortunately Christians swallow hook line and sinker.
Brainwashing makes them believe anything.
Instead of looking at the usage of demonic/satanic imagery as a negative, look at it this way: the more we laugh and ridicule something that causes unnecessary and unbased fears, the more likely others who may be questioning their faith or are on the cusp of those questions, may start to see the ridiculousness in fear of the imaginary. I get that there are people, especially children, whom are subjected to mental torture and emotional abuse and long years of nightmares due to the indoctrination of deviis headed by the archnemesis Satan. Satan, who will tempt all to the dark side, and is solely responsible for all ills in the world. However, if one of those kids, even one, can escape that torture through humor and ridicule, I don't think its such a bad thing to do. Just my opinion.
One more thing. Has anyone else, besides me, ever had profound, or even fleeting, pity for sad little Satan? I really felt sorry for the supposed angel who wanted Eve to be educated. Amongst the other deeds Satan was supposed to tempt god's favorites to do: sex, enjoyable for women, too! Clothing, useful when it's cold! Knowledge, always useful when thinking for yourself. How can you have free will without knowledge? The more you think, and I mean really think, the more ridiculous belief in the imaginary becomes.
Yep, the devil is a better character then god in the story.
At least he did not engineer sin, did not put a talking snake in the garden so that he would enjoy punishing Adam.
BTW Satan is just an adversary, hired by god himself during appeals.
Christians later in history made a devil out of the Satan character just because they needed a bad guy since they could not accept that their own god was the bad guy.
The Satanic Temple has been very effective recently protesting impingements on the separation of church and state. If you want to pass out bibles at school you might just have to tolerate Satanic Bibles also. Very funny and effective.
I really want to spend time showing jstone how many gaping holes are in his 'think therefore it is' theory of ethics, but I'm not going to derail my own topic. As for the character of the Devil? I really think it's a matter of how he was originally presented. In my upbringing, he was depicted as being more of a trickster or the theological equivalent of an internet troll. My original faith put a high value on free will, but only to make ones sins that more egregious, because you 'chose' to disobey the sky-wizard.
As for the Satanic Temple...I'm really torn on how to think about it. I know that they're actually a secular organization that's fighting for separation of church and state; I know they're not actually theists, but people poking fun at the inane superstitious behaviors of those who are. I understand that, and I know they're apparently pretty darn good at sculpture... But I can't help thinking that they're doing more harm than good by 'proving the point' of the theists. What are they to anybody who's not in on the joke but a group of actual Satan worshippers eroding their rights and trying to bring about the apocalypse? I support their actual goals, but I have to call foul on their methods.
Jstone has been blocked for trolling.
http://www.atheistrepublic.com/forums/site-support/reporting-jstone-trol...