I know the guy who got this tattoo thought he was being clever, but seriously, if you’re going to permanently mark your body in order to make a point about the stupidity of religion then you should at least make sure that your point isn’t… well stupid.
This tattoo is just wrong on so many levels, not the least of which being that it appears to claim that mankind reached it’s peak under the cross of Christianity and it’s all down hill from here.
It’s stuff like this which makes our arguments so easy for the religious to ignore.
To me it appears like he is saying that under the cross we will become monkeys again…Basically that if we dont kick religion it the butt we wont evolve further…Makes sense to me.
Yes, but this particular depiction of evolution usually portrays evolution/improvement from left to right… So, in that case the monkey on the right should be carrying the cross.
Evolution isn’t an improvement. It’s merely change over time. It’s not showing improvement. It’s showing a timeline of events.
Evolution not being an improvement is your opinion. I believe a trip to the zoo may change your opinion.
why, we didn’t evolve from any of the animals that are in a zoo
Of course not. Any person that resides in reality knows that evolution (change) is not observable in our species. But it is observable within species with short life spans and higher reproductive rates like fish. Professor Dawkins gives some great examples of this in “The Greatest Show on Earth”. We may have not evolved directly from any one animal in a zoo but we are related to a great many of them. If you are one who finds an issue seeing an animal being related to you and its actions offends you… or maybe it just doesn’t seem right. Go to a church and observe those freakishly ignorant assholes in action. You are directly related to that species. I prefer the zoo. The zoo tends to smell better.
True – evolution is not always improvement, but improvement is what is meant/implied by the tattoo.
Well, actually that’s incorrect, the evolutionary adaptation is an improvement to better exist/make use of the available resources/survive in the environment in which the organism exists. That really only becomes a problem when an organism over specializes and then the environment it has adapted to changes.Perhaps progress is a better term, and that is certainly what is implied by the tattoo, and it’s fair to say that there are very few people would *not* consider the evolution of our species to it’s current form to be an improvement.
evolution is not a line, it’s a tree……. my only problem with the tattoo is that it didn’t branch out to where atheists are in a space ship.
Another thing that makes your arguments easy for the religious to ignore is referring to “the stupidity of religion”.
Dan, if you’re going to quote me, please at least put it in context – ”
if you’re going to permanently mark your body in order to make a point about the stupidity of religion then you should at least make sure that your point isn’t… well stupid.”
I was talking about this person making his statement about the stupidity of religion.
Also, FYI, this site exists for those who are already aware of the stupidity and is not an attempt to convert anyone away from their beliefs. There are numerous sites that attempt to educate, persuade and other wise raise awareness about the idiocy of believing in an invisible deity while telling your kids that their imaginary friend doesn’t exist.UFJ is for “poking fun at religion with a really big stick”. That is what this site does.
I understand that. I know you’re not here to convert anyone. I’m not trying to cause a row or stir the pot; just making an observation.
But… but… Stirring the pot and causing rows is what we’re here for! C’mon Dan!!
Also, sounded if I sounded aggressive/defensive in my reply, I didn’t mean to. Sorry.
Ok, ok.
You atheists and your sciency reason witchcraft. Always out to convert the world so you won’t be lonely in hell.
Seriously though, apart from the believing in a magical deity, I’m among the more level-headed believers. Atheists are alright in my book, with the exception of those pushing an agenda. At the same point, I have a dark spot in my heart for religious people doing the same thing.
Cheers and beers (soonish?)
That you are Dan
Beers sound good mate (when don’t they?). We’ll have to make a plan for it
Dan, One thing you need to realize is that, here on this site, people such as yourself are the minority. More and more everyday Christians are becoming the minority. Not only by way of Atheists growing in numbers, but also by Islam. No one is noticing that Islam is one of the fastest growing superstitions at this moment in time.
Perhaps the creators of this site may want to spin a new site, UnFollowingMuhammad. Can I trademark this right now? Anyway, I am digressing. My point is this, religious people do not like facts and they certainly do not like their faith being the butt of jokes. This young man in his own mind and through his own angst wants to lash out at Christianity alone. But doesn’t realize that it is religion in general that is poisoning this world we live in. A tattoo is a piece of observable art, and its meaning lies with the observer. So for any one of us Atheists to judge what another thinks of this piece of art, makes us just like a religious bigot. Xenophobic, and very judgmental. I think we as Atheists need to support this young man and realize his statement is to support our movement and getting his message out without so many words.
I have a question for Christians… How many times have you seen one of your fellow apes with a rosary tattooed on their body somewhere. I personally have many tattoos and I have hung out at shops a lot. I have seen an obscene amount of Protestants come in and get a rosary or a version of the liar Mary, (Jesus’ mother). These people have no idea at the time these things are solely a Catholic belief… Even upon receiving the knowledge of this Catholic practice, they still indulge in the tattoo and shrug it off. Now, that my friends is ignorance at its best! You can’t make this shit up!
I like the tattoo, it may not be my vision but I support it. I support its message and I support the person wearing it. Some of us just get wear t-shirts, others like a more permanent statement… At least its not an upside down cross on his forehead! LOL!
**So for any one of us Atheists to judge what another thinks of this piece of art, makes us just like a religious bigot. Xenophobic, and very judgmental.***
I take issue with that statement. Atheists have every right to judge, comment and critique on a piece of art, or well, anything for that matter, or is there some special reason why we are not allowed express our opinions? Atheism is not a religion and it certainly isn’t some indoctrinated place wherein we have to always agree with each other.This notion of “You’re an atheist, and I’m an atheist, therefore we must agree with each other” is ridiculous and frankly for sheep.
Ok, so you have someone take you out of context and now you place it on me? What I said was”
A tattoo is a piece of observable art, and its meaning lies with the observer. So for any one of us Atheists to judge what another ***THINKS*** of this piece of art, makes us just like a religious bigot. Xenophobic, and very judgmental.” Thinks, is the key word. I do not believe that we should be so judgmental of what this tattoo means to the wearer or any other person. Why should we assume like the Christians? We as Atheists should not judge based on someone’s opinion. We have every right to judge a piece of art and state our opinion. We have every right to be judgmental and question everything, but as a whole we should be more supportive within our communities of Atheists.
I think it would be a great thing for us to know the story behind the tattoo. I have seen it on evolvefish, so I can see where the idea came from… But what is the young man’s back story and why he specifically got that tattoo?
We all have our own walks of life and our own opinions and interpretations of it all. It is all based empirically, so what put the man down for his statement. That is all I am trying to say.
First off all, you may want to be, but I most certainly don’t want to be part of a community that fails to think for itself.
You push that we should support each other, that’s fine we do, but we should do that at the expense of common sense, critique, our own opinions? I would certainly completely separate myself from the term “atheist” if it means I can’t make fun of or criticize them.
Many in the atheist community feel it is okay to publicly ridicule the beliefs of others in the name of deriding religion, I do it, I KNOW you do it, but lets be honest here… We are nothing but hypocrites if we can’t do it to ourselves, to people who identify as being part of the community and if it can’t be done to us.
Further, art is subjective, which and is open to critique, interpretation and dare I say – ridicule. That’s it’s purpose. That’s why it’s publicly displayed.
As for the tattoo itself, we post stupid tattoos regularly on our sister sites, but we should not do so here if it belongs to an atheist because we identify with the atheist community???
I’m sorry mate, I really am, but when it comes to making fun of things, nothing is or can be off limits, because then EVERYTHING becomes off limits.
If we can’t laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at?
Ok, I get your point… We should laugh at each other and most definitely ourselves. But there is a difference in judging someone and making fun of someone. You can make fun of something you agree with just as much as you can something you disagree with.
When you judge something, you are on the ignorant side of it or you are afraid of its content and you feel as if your opinion is the only one that matters or should be considered.
When I make fun of things, you are right, nothing is off limits. But I want to make sure I know what the hell is going on before I open my pie hole!
I never said that I want to be apart of a fascist society of atheistic individuals either. Nor am I suggesting it. I am just suggesting that maybe we make an attempt at being more cohesive. I make fun of other Atheists all the time! Some of the best debating I have ever been involved in has been against another atheist. Its fun!
I feel that I am possibly missing the mark for two reasons. #1. It is written not verbalized. It is kind of like fighting with your wife through text messages… You can’t fight like that. And B… We are both Irish, opinionated, assholes and so damn hard headed we don’t see each other’s point of view.
1. If you have enough of an opinion to make fun of something, you have made a judgement on it. It doesn’t mean that you’re ignorant – ignorance comes when you accept and cling to your conclusions in the face of other opposing evidence.
2. You are correct you never said that you want to be “part of a fascist society of atheistic individuals”, but you did rebuke me for making fun of a member of the atheist community and point to cohesion as a reason against it.
Perhaps cohesion should have been left out of it all together? Maybe there’s a post in that?
3. Arguing with you is NOTHING like arguing with my wife via text message. If that happens with her, I’m dead when she gets home… I ‘m not dead here unless you find me
LOL
In reply to last… Touche Paul… Touche. Until the next time! LOL
I’m very surprised that this tattoo is portrayed in a negative light on UnfollowingJesus. Yes, I occasionally follow you folks, but -excepting Reddit forums- this website is ‘Bible thumping’ for atheism. I surprised that this image had this effect on you, in light of so many other similar posts. Oh well, I suppose the world of Atheism is just as varied as the religious.
I wouldn’t call it “Bible Thumping” as much as I would call it a great and awesome “Ridicule Machine”.
As for the effect, well, this site ridicules everything, including atheists when we do or say something daft or stupid… It’s just that happens, in a format that we can post, far less often than material the religious provide us.
I thought it was kind of funny. It says to me that man evolved, eventually into a Christian. At that point he’s basically a chimp, the Christian, not the atheist. The atheist evolutionary timeline split off and continued advancing.. At least that’s how I see it but perhaps I’m an optimist.
Truthfully that’s how I interpreted it as well.
*A generally large LOL to those who misunderstand evolution.*
Bwa ha ha, fools, evolution has never been observed at all. It’s just a monumental hoax being perpetuated by fools who just want everbody to “look at me, look at me” . Tards