Because they don't have any limitations on what they can joke about,
Like me -
I'm atheist, and a proud one at that.
I'll just joke about anything I want to.
Even if it offends religious people.
Bleh.
I'm not getting this idea either. I'm Christian and I have no limit to what I can joke about.
I joke about things that offend religious people, including other Christians - but they (usually) know I'm joking.
Maybe the real answer here is that "religious people" are more able to laugh at themselves than atheists.
(Of course, even if that's true, it's only part of the answer)
Let's put this to the test. Repeat the following words out loud: "I renounce Jesus Christ as my lord and savior." Fun and games, right?
Your sense of humor must be different than mine because I don't get it.
Also, I realize now I had said "no limit" when I meant to say "no more limit than the average person". Oops.
Being an Atheist doesn't expand your horizons on what you can joke about, it limits your experience, especially if you were raised one.
My lack of belief in a deity doesn't impair my ability to read. I've read scripture moreso than many people of their own faith and as such have a great understanding of the ridiculous principles that are so much fun to poke at.
I can, for example, make the joke that since Christians believe that prayer is talking to God, and Jesus is the Son of God, but also God incarnate...
When Jesus prays to his God, is he talking to himself?
Can't say my horizons are limited so much as clear of bias.
Except that you don't have the personal experience. If you've never been to church, particularly at a young age, you can't understand what it's like to have to (in the case of Catholic Church service) kneel, sit, stand, kneel, stand, sit, stand, kneel, etc. I regularly make jokes about going to church counting as my exercise for the day. Or the interesting experience of trying to find a mass that's still going on, and walking into a church doing mass in Spanish, full of Mexicans. Like, "Yeah!" my brother and I fit in, perfectly, but here was my blonde-haired, hazel-eyed mother next to us. That was awkward.
The books, the scripture, the catechism, are all easy to pick at if you read them. But, you don't have the experience actually going to the services, unless you choose to. If you were raised Atheist, it's highly unlikely that you were ever taken. Especially being dragged, going, "I don't WANNA go to church, it's booooooooring!" Just like I'll never know the experience of having to go to church and being required to put a little doily on my head, or going to a Jewish temple and having to wear a yarmulke, or having to sit on a different side of the room as the men. I'll also not know what it's like to have to face Mecca five times a day.
An example:
My mother was extremely competent in Home Depot. If you're not a typical Jew, then it's likely that you don't know what it's like to walk into a store where you buy parts for things, and go "Does anyone work here?" with a lost look on your face.
Being an Atheist doesn't expand your horizons on what you can joke about, it limits your experience, especially if you were raised one.
My lack of belief in a deity doesn't impair my ability to read. I've read scripture moreso than many people of their own faith and as such have a great understanding of the ridiculous principles that are so much fun to poke at.
I can, for example, make the joke that since Christians believe that prayer is talking to God, and Jesus is the Son of God, but also God incarnate...
When Jesus prays to his God, is he talking to himself?
Can't say my horizons are limited so much as clear of bias.
Except that you don't have the personal experience. If you've never been to church, particularly at a young age, you can't understand what it's like to have to (in the case of Catholic Church service) kneel, sit, stand, kneel, stand, sit, stand, kneel, etc. I regularly make jokes about going to church counting as my exercise for the day. Or the interesting experience of trying to find a mass that's still going on, and walking into a church doing mass in Spanish, full of Mexicans. Like, "Yeah!" my brother and I fit in, perfectly, but here was my blonde-haired, hazel-eyed mother next to us. That was awkward.
The books, the scripture, the catechism, are all easy to pick at if you read them. But, you don't have the experience actually going to the services, unless you choose to. If you were raised Atheist, it's highly unlikely that you were ever taken. Especially being dragged, going, "I don't WANNA go to church, it's booooooooring!" Just like I'll never know the experience of having to go to church and being required to put a little doily on my head, or going to a Jewish temple and having to wear a yarmulke, or having to sit on a different side of the room as the men. I'll also not know what it's like to have to face Mecca five times a day.
An example:
My mother was extremely competent in Home Depot. If you're not a typical Jew, then it's likely that you don't know what it's like to walk into a store where you buy parts for things, and go "Does anyone work here?" with a lost look on your face.
A lot of atheists WERE raised Christian, you forget.
Hell, I got the full hellfire and brimstone just short of snake handling Baptist experience, yet I'm very much deist and non-Christian now, so I can joke all night long about it.
A lot of atheists WERE raised Christian, you forget.
Hell, I got the full hellfire and brimstone just short of snake handling Baptist experience, yet I'm very much deist and non-Christian now, so I can joke all night long about it.
I wasn't talking about the ones who were raised *enter Religion here*, silly.
I was talking about the ones who were raised Atheist. Geeze.
Hell, like I said, Bill Hicks was raised Baptist, and he either died Baptist, or spiritual, thanks to the mushrooms.
Being an Atheist doesn't expand your horizons on what you can joke about, it limits your experience, especially if you were raised one.
My lack of belief in a deity doesn't impair my ability to read. I've read scripture moreso than many people of their own faith and as such have a great understanding of the ridiculous principles that are so much fun to poke at.
I can, for example, make the joke that since Christians believe that prayer is talking to God, and Jesus is the Son of God, but also God incarnate...
When Jesus prays to his God, is he talking to himself?
Can't say my horizons are limited so much as clear of bias.
Except that you don't have the personal experience. If you've never been to church, particularly at a young age, you can't understand what it's like to have to (in the case of Catholic Church service) kneel, sit, stand, kneel, stand, sit, stand, kneel, etc. I regularly make jokes about going to church counting as my exercise for the day. Or the interesting experience of trying to find a mass that's still going on, and walking into a church doing mass in Spanish, full of Mexicans. Like, "Yeah!" my brother and I fit in, perfectly, but here was my blonde-haired, hazel-eyed mother next to us. That was awkward.
The books, the scripture, the catechism, are all easy to pick at if you read them. But, you don't have the experience actually going to the services, unless you choose to. If you were raised Atheist, it's highly unlikely that you were ever taken. Especially being dragged, going, "I don't WANNA go to church, it's booooooooring!" Just like I'll never know the experience of having to go to church and being required to put a little doily on my head, or going to a Jewish temple and having to wear a yarmulke, or having to sit on a different side of the room as the men. I'll also not know what it's like to have to face Mecca five times a day.
An example:
My mother was extremely competent in Home Depot. If you're not a typical Jew, then it's likely that you don't know what it's like to walk into a store where you buy parts for things, and go "Does anyone work here?" with a lost look on your face.
A lot of atheists WERE raised Christian, you forget.
Hell, I got the full hellfire and brimstone just short of snake handling Baptist experience, yet I'm very much deist and non-Christian now, so I can joke all night long about it.
Supplementing GSK's post here, i want to add that as an Atheist i still go to temples and churches every now and then. Even if I had not been raised in Christian practice (Which i have, by the way) my experience wouldn't be limited by my obligations.
For example, we all know what it's like to pray because we've all been ignored before. We all know what it's like to be dragged along for someone else's obligations one time or another, and while religion's a little sillier for it the experience is relatively the same.
Chaos kitty's quip about spanish and mexican culture is duly noted for those who don't come from a spanish or mexican heritage. I've got half that privelidge, so she don't need to act "somos familia" for my sake, we all know what it's like to have exclusive heritages and family ideals, religion doesn't hold the copyright to those things, though they'd probably hold the copyright to every race if they could.
I'd also have to disagree with you on the raised atheist stance. You see, I was raised both Christian and Atheist. My mother was a devout Christian on and off like most and my father was an atheist by lack of belief. I was both dragged to church kicking and screaming and given the opportunity to call it bullshite by the end of the day, much to my star-wishing mum's dismay.
So being raised as both, i believe i had quite the opportunity to learn both perspectives, and while others may not have the same opportunities I'd encourage them to go for it. You're also pretty much incorrect about experiencing the sillyness of head-doilies, or yarmulke's, though the temples might be a barred experience depending on their exclusivity.
You see, these are all practicable and mimicable rituals, which don't require faith to perform.
So in reality your mom would be either competent or incompetent in home depot depending on her skills at carpentry, not whether or not YWH taught her them, though i can comprehend the confusion.
You're also pretty much incorrect about experiencing the sillyness of head-doilies, or yarmulke's, though the temples might be a barred experience depending on their exclusivity.
I'm sure a bunch of Orthodox Jews would all over my butt for wearing a yarmulke if I decided to go to temple someday. I don't think they look too kindly to girls wearing them.
You're also pretty much incorrect about experiencing the sillyness of head-doilies, or yarmulke's, though the temples might be a barred experience depending on their exclusivity.
I'm sure a bunch of Orthodox Jews would all over my butt for wearing a yarmulke if I decided to go to temple someday. I don't think they look too kindly to girls wearing them.
Who ever said ANYTHING about it being an Orthodox temple? razz
You're also pretty much incorrect about experiencing the sillyness of head-doilies, or yarmulke's, though the temples might be a barred experience depending on their exclusivity.
I'm sure a bunch of Orthodox Jews would all over my butt for wearing a yarmulke if I decided to go to temple someday. I don't think they look too kindly to girls wearing them.
Who ever said ANYTHING about it being an Orthodox temple? razz
Well, I'm just stressing my argument that there are experiences that some people just don't have. I mean, a 40 year-old Christian woman will probably never know what it's like to have a bat mitzvah, and a 20 year-old white boy will never know what it's like to have a Quinceañera. I, as a mother, have known what it's like to actually give birth, men will never have that experience either, they can only talk about it from an observing, or anecdotal standpoint.
Did a kid who was raised, purely, Atheist know what it's like to have first communion? A bat mitzvah? To have a Jewish, or WASP, family? There are things that you can recreate, and there are some things that you just can't, without either being part of them, or immersing yourself in them. And some things, such as labor, having a period, or awkward, sudden hard-ons which just can't be experienced by some.
Comedians usually speak about what they know. Good comedy is normally based on someone's personal experiences.
