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What is the most offensive thing a theist has said to you during a debate , discussion or proselytization?
It means that whatever friendship or relationship I thought we had was simply a big front on their part. (Medieval Knievel #1552)
A good example was a couple of weeks ago on CNN's "The Spin Room". At the end of the program, the right wing stoolie with the bow tie made an outrageous claim that demanded rebuttal from his counterpart, but refused to allow his co-host to answer it by speaking loudly and then saying the closing credit information which put an end to all discussion, leaving the cohost with words put in his mouth and no chance to refute them.
The strongest argument is the one that withstands the most questions, not the one with the most strength to prevent them. This is a simple fact theists and other right wingers refuse to recognize. (Bob Dog #153)
Though it offended me, at the time (I'm speaking of when I was quite young), I, now, wear it as a badge of honor. ;-)
Why'd I want to hang out with these rotten fucks for the rest of eternity, anyway? (Hellhammer #1876)
2) 'You say that now, but just wait until you are on your deathbed. You'll be singing a different tune.' - as if I were a hypocrite and a coward. (John Hachmann #1782)
I don't believe in god, and I don't believe in hell, but I was deeply offended that someone could actually be that rude and inconsiderate and rude and thoughtless. It cut deep. (Robert Coats #1856)
I also get offended when they say ANYTHING about my parenting. (ClaySkye #4)
Other stuff I heard was generally just too stupid to consider insulting (remember my old sig "never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity). This "window to hell" business, too, is utterly stupid of course, but to me it's just too evil to fathom. (Orhan Orgun #1867)
That simple phrase was both offensive and very enlightening. It meant that this person thought that basically any behavior was OK, because it would automagically be forgiven. No need for contrition, or penance (in the sense of doing something to actually help the injured party), or anything. It was a real insight into the terrifying abrogation of responsibility I've encountered with many theists. (Dave Opstad #1747)
One of the most offensive dirty tricks I've run across for purposes of retention was the preacher's wife who chastised my mother for letting so many of her kids stray from the fold. She said any mother who would simply let her children go to hell deserved to go there with them. (It was with some satisfaction that I found out years later that both her sons became unbelievers too.)
But I think my favorite instance of theist offensiveness occurred when I attended the True to the Union monument rededication ceremony in Comfort, Texas. This is a monument to a group of Freethinkers who could not in good conscience side with the South during the Civil War. They attempted to leave Texas peacably, as they were told they could do, and were ambushed and slaughtered just a short ways from home. Much of the funding for the monument renovation was solicited, and obtained, from local Freethought groups. But at the ceremony, the attending Freethinkers were clearly snubbed and were not included among those asked to stand and be recognized for their contribution to the project (unlike, for example, the paid caterer who supplied food for the Historical Society meetings). Heaping more insult on, they had two different ministers give eulogies for the dead that gave no recognition to their Freethought heritage, and there were three prayers, a blessing and a hymn during the course of the proceedings. The Freethinkers I was attending with sat impassively through all this but definitely felt humiliated and disgusted that the beliefs of the honored dead as well as their own significant contribution to the restoration effort had been swept under the carpet so as not to offend anyone's religious sensibilities.
As the ceremony was breaking up and I was heading back to my car, a very large man stepped right in front of me, pointed a finger in my face and said "You people need to learn some manners. You bow your heads when people are praying." And then he turned and rejoined his family before I could say anything in response. Probably just as well. Nothing good could have come of anything I felt like saying at that moment. (Kronk)
