If I had a stuffed pink unicorn, would you get mad at me for having it?

Question

I don't know if any of you saw the Nightline debate with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron v. The Rational Response Squad . My mom and I watched it and we got so sad watching those people do that stupid blasphemy challenge. Anyways, we were suprised by how bitter those atheists in the crowd and on the podium were getting. So my mom said, "To atheists, our belief in God may as well be a belief in a stuffed pink unicorn. Why do they get so angry at it though? 'WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT STUPID STUFFED PINK UNICORN?! THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A PINK UNICORN Pink unicorns DON'T EXIST!' What do they care if we belief in it or not?" I know that there might be some crazy so-called Christians that get angry at atheists for how they live their lives or whatever. I know there are also some crazy atheists too. Every group has some crazies. But, the majority of Christians are very nice and genuine. And the majority of atheists are the same way. So why do atheists seem so angry? Intelligent answers only. Thx.

Interesting Laptop. The people in the crowd were visibly mad though. Angry. Pissed off. That kind of anger stems from something deep. I think, if I was an atheist, I'd just laugh it (religion) off. I'm not sure I'd jump up and say, "Why do we get cancer? Why do little kids get tumors? Why are people shot?" etc. It just seems like, if you don't belief in something, why put so much effort into it? It takes a lot to be that angry.

This is all seriously interesting. As a Christian, I have a much better understanding of what atheists go through. I think we both go through a lot to stand up for what we do or don't believe in. I've been ridiculed and discriminated against for being a Christian. Not only by people in high school or in college but my own family members. I don't believe in what President Bush is doing in Iraq, and do you think most Christians or Catholics like that? No. I think each side of the argument needs to try and see what the other might have gone through or might be going through. The human aspect of it all. Thank you so, so much for answering. It's been really enlightening reading what you have to say. The honesty is...it's awesome.

Answer 1

Hello (and hi to your mom too).

Ok, lets take the analogy of a pink unicorn. Now, as hard as you can, imagine we lived in a country where people thought pink unicorns were real. That we had to obey the pink unicorn. The Unicorn Rules were written down and you had to swear on the Unicorn Rulebook when you testified in court.

In school every day your kids had to pledge that the country was "under the Unicorn." Most members of congress were Unicornists, as was the President. And one president said that you, as a non-unicornist, shouldn't even be considered citizens. You get the idea.

I think thats why.

(Edit) Why are they angry.

I asked a similar question here http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ain3uZFcQ.iiSGX94A_cDVjty6IX?qid=20070510172909AAFbARj

Some of the answers are far more eloquent than I am. Basically it has to do with, Atheists who USED to be Christians carry a lot more emotional baggage into the conversation than people who were raised Atheist. I became an Atheist while in bible college. It was the defining moment of my life and it crushed me to lose my faith. My faith was EVERYTHING to me. For a long time, I approached religion with a lot of intensity. Once I had been an atheist for longer, I settled down a bit more.

Answer 2

the vocal majority of the Christian religion.

are the ones trying to legislate their morality..

make Abortion illegal,
refuse Gays the right to marry.

would be just the 2 hot issues today.

300 years ago it was these folks that were killing off native Americans to steal their land, and making legal deals with them knowing that the people did not understand what the deal was.

200 years ago it was these same "good christian" folk that were saying that Blacks should be slaves.

80 years ago it was these same people that were stoppong blacks from rideing the White bus or useing the White fountain.

50 years ago it was these same people that were fighting a Woman's right to vote...

the Civil liberties fight seems to be constantly fighting the "Good Christian ideals."

and you are welcome to your opinion. but when you try to FORCE my kids to pray to your god in a school that i am obligated to send them to....that is where i get angry.

prayer is legal, and actually protected in public school. it just can not be led by a teacher or over school PA equipment.
yet Christians constantly whine about no prayer in school...because they are not allowed to force it on others. or to do it in a manner which would disturb the general student body.

and people like Kirk and Ray, who somehow see a Banana as the end all of the evolution debate, give me a break. if the banana was designed for human consumption then why does it not grow in the part of the world where the bible says that god created humans?

Answer 3

Unless you have evidence to support your assertion that the angry people in the crowd were atheists, I would retract your statement (not your question), now. The most visibly angry person in the crowd, was the woman who ask Ray Comfort how intelligent design explained cancer. This may well have been (it certainly was my impression) a person who has faced cancer personally -- either living with it herself or in a loved one, living or recently deceased. Ray Comfort's flippant evasion of the question (he tried to change the subject away from cancer) was flagrant. He repeatedly moved away from cancer, and when he finally moved to his prepared speech on why God allows suffering and tried to replace the word "suffering" with "cancer", he kept stumbling and saying "suffering". He refused to answer the question which displayed an incredible insensitivity, only exceeded by your insensitivity that the woman was angry because she was an atheist. Unless you know that she was a disinterested atheist and not a woman struggling with the issue how God could allow cancer, you have a pile of crow to eat.

Answer 4

1) No one has ever tried to get it taught in public school science classes that pink unicorns exist.
2) No one has ever said that if you don't believe in pink unicorns, you'll burn in a lake of fire.
3) Pink unicorns aren't on our money or in the Pledge of Allegiance (which, at least where I went to school, was mandatory to say every morning).
4) Belief in pink unicorns has never stopped people from running for public office (there are some states where atheists are forbidden to run for that reason).
5) Belief in pink unicorns has never stopped scientific progress.
6) Belief in pink unicorns has never kept people from marrying.
7) If you don't believe in pink unicorns, you can pretty safely tell other people (as opposed to the God of the Bible, which -- at least in this country -- if you publicly reject, you're met with confusion and sometimes even anger).

Bottom line: Belief in the God of the Bible affects affairs in this country. Belief in pink unicorns does not. That's the difference.

Answer 5

Christians are commissioned to give them the message of salvation. Other than that we are to be ready to give an answer for the hope we have. (1Peter 3:15). That's it. The rest is up to the Holy Spirit. We do not, cannot, convert as we are accused.

All Jonah said was Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown. (Jonah 4:3) The entire city repented and was spared. Jonah was the messenger but it was the Holy Spirit doing the rest.

What other recipients choose to do with the message is up to them.

Answer 6

Think about it this way-

In the United States, non-believers are a minority. George Bush even said he does not think an Atheist can be a patriotic American.

Non-believers are discriminated against in schools, in employment, and the ultra-right wing Christians are even trying to make thins nation into a Christian country.

What most people don't realize is that slogans like "In God We Trust" and "One Nation under God" began in the 1950's. It was all part of a systematic process of one religion trying to gain control of this country- just like one religion controls Iran.

That's what makes non-believers angry. We feel like we are being pushed out of our own country.

The world looks completely different when you are a member of a minority population.

Answer 7

Atheists are angry because they are overexaggerating the number of Christians who are out to evangelize and convert everybody they see. Many Christians' beliefs are a very benign source of internal, personal fulfillment, and many Atheists get angry at specific types of obnoxious Christians and tend to overreact, make broader generalizations, and get lost in rhetoric (for example, talking about pink unicorns or the idea that there could ever be "proof" for/against God's existence) when the debate gets heated. Christians tend to do the same thing though, in their own way and often depending on their denomination.

It's the same thing as Democrats thinking all who vote Republican are greedy, far-right-wing, self-justifying, so-called-Christian bigots.... or Republicans thinking all Democrats are Birkenstock-wearing, pot-smoking, gay-loving, Peace-freak hippies.

It's called activism... and the line between a furiously intolerant, overopinionated person and an activist tends to get blurred when two different sides are debating.

Answer 8

I'm not mad at you for having the unicorn. I'm a Christian myself, and the ones who annoy me are the ones who insist I should give up my stuffed polar bear and own the unicorn instead.

Answer 9

I don't mind if you have a stuffed pink unicorn, if it gives you support in hard times and strength and causes you to love and help others in his name, that's fantastic. I might not believe in it, but I'll go 'hey, that's a cool unicorn, good for you'.

But when I'm told (not asked, *told*) that I'm going to burn in hell if I don't believe in your unicorn I do get slightly bitter.

Answer 10

Most atheists that I know are very laid back, and only get angry when "belief in pink unicorns" are forced into our laws, etc.