It makes you look very, very stupid. Kevin Sorbo doesn’t understand why atheists might be angry.
“I’m a Christian myself and had to play an atheist. I see the anger of these (atheist) guys on TV and it’s like ‘wow, how do you get so angry at something you don’t believe in?” Sorbo said.
Guy, it’s pretty simple. We’re not angry at any gods. We know they don’t exist.
We’re angry with you.
If I had an address, I’d send him a copy of Greta Christina’s book. I wouldn’t do that for every stupid Christian (there are so many it would be a total transfer of every penny of my income to Greta), but my kids were huge fans of Hercules, so I’d be willing to do that for him.
At least Xena seems to have left god behind.
I rather liked Hercules, but then Xena came along and i inmediately stopped watching Hercules…Xena was just so much better…
I’m not surprised Lucy Lawless is not a practicing catholic, i’m surprised she is not openly and explicitely atheist.
So, he doesn’t understand what atheists are actually offended by, doesn’t understand the separation of church and state, doesn’t understand why majority rule should always be moderated by protection for the rights of minorities. Moreover, since figuring this stuff out would be trivial, he must be willfully ignorant.
Yep, he’s definitely a Christian.
Sorbo also has the full on xian persecution complex. Like Kirk Cameron, he blames his failing career on anti-xian attitudes in Hollywood. Clearly it can’t be related to the fact that he’s an asshole about it.
Or that he’s a mediocre actor.
I’ve had that question directed towards me several times and it is one of the few that I have no patience for. It is one of those questions where as soon as the questioners pose it, they reveal themselves as massive nitwits who don’t even understand the issue they’re trying to discuss. It is every bit as stupid as this other gem: “If humans evolved from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys?!”
The persecution mentality is such an inseparable part of Christianity that even UU Christians- who generally barely even qualify as theists- display it over imaginary slights from other UUs, especially humanists.
It all starts with Christ/God himself orchestrating his own execution in order to kick off the movement. Persecution is the name of the game.
If you think you will be able to explain this to Kevin Sorbo, you’re bound to be…
disapPOINTed!
I would consider myself an angry atheist.
Angry that so much of my life was wasted with pointless superstition.
Angry that someone argued with me as a child that blind faith was more important than reason.
Angry that they think I belong in hell.
Angry that they disapprove of my disapproving of them for the their disapproving of me.
Yep I’m an angry atheist and proud of it.
The real question is, why is every single Christian not permanently in an enlightened, awed, and serene state knowing that they have amazing knowledge about the universe that Newton, Einstein and Hawking couldn’t even come close to and knowing that after these few decades of joy and agony that is life, everything will be fucking awesome for them forever?
Why do their lives and emotional states look pretty much the same as everyone else’s?
Alas poor Sorbo. Can’t ask a question that hasn’t been asked (and answered) thousands of times before. Is this the Christian Anti-Atheist Mantra? To reiterate: We are not angry at the mythical God. We are angry at people who demand we believe in such a being. What part of that clarification don’t you understand?
Ask why they are so upset about evolution if they don’t believe in it. The same for same-sex marriage, climate change, etc.
I wonder if I tell him that some of the people I know angriest about the most toxic forms of Christianity are theists, if it would blow his mind.
I was one of the privileged, like PZ. My dad was an atheist/agnostic, and Mom was a liberal Christian who felt religions were personal, so had little desire to push us kids into one. Some of my friends, however, were raised in fundamentalist households, or had parents who experimented with that, or flirted with it themselves in their search for meaning. This deeply messed them up; consequently, their anger towards fundamentalist Christianity and its proponents has a lot more heat because it’s personal.
People are angry because we see suffering and want to alleviate it. Nativities and opening prayers are small potatoes, except they are continual signs that some people are more equal than others in the eyes of what should be a secular government.
Gods haven’t given me any reason to hate them. It’s their followers who keep causing trouble.
Naw.
1. We aren’t offended by Nativity scences. They are boring, trite, and clichey. Seen one plastic sheep, seen them all.
2. We are offended by them putting their plastic animals on our property though. We are the owners of public property. Clichey plastic animals belong on your lawn or your church’s lawn.
3. They also discriminate. Very rarely do they let other religions put up their holiday displays on public property, which is the law. And quite often, they vandalize them, sometimes within hours.
I’m offended when they tear down an All Zombie Nativity scene. (Which BTW, are commercially available.)
The article on Lucy Lawless does not really support the claim that she’s an atheist. As a comment there says, her remark about “losing my religion” might mean that she felt burned out on acting.
Come now PZ, you can’t expect theists to be able to tell the difference between themselves and god.
You’re going to confuse the poor Little People.
They use the god idea as the ultimate deflector of everything. Their subconscious minds hold it up as a shield to protect them against 1) anger directed at them, 2) reason directed at them, 3) information that conflicts with their beliefs, 4) responsibility for their actions. It’s the imaginary friend who will beat up their enemies and take the blame for everything. That’s a powerful drug for the childish mind.
Nonstampcollector refuted this 5 years ago.
This is slightly off-topic, but everyone should go and watch Double Dare- a documentary about stunt-women (specifically one who was a stunt-woman for Xena). It was really fascinating.
The absurdity being that Sorbo just starred in a movie where they didn’t just slander atheists, they actually killed one in effigy.
But no, atheists are the ones with anger.
A cursory glance at Kevin S.’s facebook page shows that if Sam Harris and Pat Condell weren’t so darn atheist-y, he’d get on really well with them. Just sayin’…
everyone should go and watch Double Dare-
By a rather odd coincidence, a netflix queue operation for something completely unrelated just suggested it to me. So based on your comment, and netflix’ algorithms, I’ll be watching it! Thanks!
(unrelated: I am shy of movies involving stunt men since that thing with Peter O’Toole in it..)
Sorbo played an angry atheist in a movie and yet doesn’t understand why they are angry. I believe that shows exactly what was wrong with that movie in the first place. No understanding, all straw man. It would be like if you wrote a movie about anti-life protestors and hand them chanting exclusively about Precious Bodily Fluids and the abortion clinics not having crosses on their lawn.
I’m just going to steal someone else’s response to the old “you atheists just hate God” canard:
“People hate Harry Potter too, but last I checked, the FAA didn’t exactly have broomstick regulations in place.”
Perhaps someone ought to point out to him that if you’re an actor playing an atheist in a movie the time to ask – and receive answers to – such a question is before you make the movie rather than after? That he didn’t speaks volumes about him and the film.
Also what’s wrong with Sorbo purely as an actor.
Kevin Sorbo spends a lot of time making ignorant statements about atheists for someone who isn’t angry with them. I think that if Sorbo actually asked this question with the honest intent of learning, he would already know the answer. Rather, this question is meant simply to get support from and rile up the other willfully ignorant people who are all nodding, saying, “Yeah, how can they be angry at something they don’t believe in?” It’s easier to decide atheists are just irrational anger bots than to actually listen to what they’re saying.
I don’t hate Yahweh just like I don’t hate Valdemort or Iago or Sauron or any other fictitious villain. That would be silly.
this is as good as you’re going to get on that subject, AFAICT, Lawless has never elaborated further.
http://hollowverse.com/lucy-lawless/
I’d go so far as to say: “inevitable atheist” base on her other professed views.
I remember a while ago, reading about Sorbo whining about losing acting gigs, because he’s a Christian. So I looked up his rotten tomatoes score. It’s not like he’s going to win Oscars anytime soon.
Or ever.
Compare and contrast with Tom Cruise. Who has kooky beliefs that Mr. Sorbo, and yet is a very successful actor.
The problem is that he thinks he does know. Didn’t he play an “atheist” who was actually a misotheist/maltheist who actually hated god?
@gijoel,
Ah, but don’t forget, Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. It’s Christians who are a suppressed minority in this country. /s
FTFY.
Well, really, people like Sorbo and the writers of this drek will tell you they don’t believe there ARE any atheists, just people who hate god.
at least they are being consistent. Consistently delusional.
I dunno… there are definitely some fictional characters I do actually hate.
Jar Jar Binks comes to mind.
Has he said this explicitly though? His fall from fame is a bit more interesting than the “turns out he was just an asshole/racist/sexist” usual stuff. Apparently he suffered an aneurysm and multiple strokes right at the height of his career, after going to a chiropractor, and his health was bad for years after that. This was talked about a bit on the skeptic blogosphere at the time he revealed it, and apparently after surviving that is when he got god good (HuffPo link) (Sorry).
I had some sympathy for the guy actually, before I learned about this stupid movie.
Saad @5:
I’m occasionally told that I must believe in god because I don’t go to work on Christmas day, even if my workplace is closed and I can’t get in. Fun fact: a few years ago this exact argument led to a rabbi (implausibly) threatening to kill me. He also used the angry-at-something-I-don’t-believe-in argument, showing a fairly confused sense of logic.
As for the business of being angry, my father once read my blog, was appalled at how angry I was at religion and demanded to know why. Sadly, this was before Greta’s book existed so I had to list for myself the hundreds of reasons I’m cross with religion. Greta’s book has since been a hell of a timesaver.
seems apparent the stroke affected his judgment of who to go to to seek treatment for it.
chiropractor??
oh, sorry, the chiropractor MAY HAVE ACTUALLY CAUSED HIS STROKES.
from the second link:
Chiropractors can indeed be dangerous. Only use when healthy.
and? Was he convinced, or did he just shake his head.
Mine couldn’t ever wrap his head around it.
Not any more he’s not.
What Sorbo doesn’t want to understand is atheists are agry at what christians do, not what they believe. DOr exaple, I am personally angry at:
Allowing children to die from lack of medical care so they can “pray over them.”
Trying to get their beliefs enacted int laws for everyone.
Bombing family planning clinics and murdering those that work there.
Discriminating against minorities and anyone that doesn’t believe exactly as they do.
Attacking gays like Matthew Shepard who was beaten and left to die hanging on a barbed wire fence.
Complaining that they are being persecuted whenever they are prevented from persecuting others.
Instead of whining about “putting christ back into christmas,” how about putting christ back into christians?
don’t you actually have to have a beginning where that was the case before you can put something “back”?