What would you think of a person who said to you that you should just kill yourself and save the air for others? Such a person definitely doesn't think very well of you and certainly couldn't be counted on to even be decent and civil, never mind helpful. Well, that would probably describe Nicholas Pfab, a Roman Catholic who wishes atheists all kinds of ill.
Posting on Twitter, Nicholas Pfab insisted that atheists had no reason not to kill -- not to kill themselves and not to kill others:
Nicholas Pfab: I suggest you kill yourself ...if you don't believe in God or meaning to life just kil yourself and save the air for other ppl [alt]
Nicholas Pfab: If there is no life after this why should we be nice to each other...who says we cant kill?
Nicholas Pfab: if there is no God there is no reason to be good or bad!
Nicholas Pfab: you people are so adamant about making people think there is no God and we are evil you just don't know when to stop
So, atheists are the "evil" ones which must mean that Nicholas Pfab is one of the "good" ones -- and "good" is somehow compatible with saying "I suggest you kill yourself." How "Catholic" is that, anyway?
The fact of the matter is, people don't need Pfab's god in order to have meaning in their lives. In fact, gods are quite irrelevant because nothing outside of you can impose meaning on your life for you. It has to come from within, regardless of whether any gods exist or not.
And if Nicholas Pfab thinks that an absence of gods means that killing is OK... well, that's just a bit scary. I'm not sure that I could trust a person who is only "good" because they are promised a reward for goodness and/or are promised eternal torment for being bad. That's not morality, that's just submitting to authoritarian threats.
It's true, I'm happy that Nicholas Pfab isn't going around killing, whatever the reason, but he doesn't appear to have a reason that's very trustworthy or reliable. I'd rather he not kill me because he honestly doesn't want to, not because of threats about what will happen if he does. A person whose only reason not to kill is because of orders from a god is a person who will kill because of orders from a god.
Naturally atheists on Twitter were critical of the idea that they had no reason to not kill others, and Pfab reacted... well, he wasn't receptive to the possibility that he might be mistaken:
Nicholas Pfab: You lose an argument then go to name calling! F**k you atheist piece of s**t and rot in hell
Nicholas Pfab: F**K YOU AND ROT IN HELL BI**H!
Nicholas Pfab: enjoy your short life...I suggest you live somewhere cold bc you will all eternity to enjoy the heat #burn
Nicholas Pfab: take a step back...take a deep breath and LITERALLY F**K YOUR OWN FACE ATHEIST BI**H!
Such reactions might be understandable when one comes in for sharp criticism, but that last comment was in reply to someone saying "It's evolution dude. Those societies that cooperate survive. It's not in the best interest of society to kill." So what we're seeing is some pretty extreme hate and anger at just about any expression of disagreement.
Yet, it's still atheists who are evil and bad and lost:
Nicholas Pfab: if you were once catholic you know God is the truth and you are just denying it to yourself...you knkw God exists...your scared
Maybe Pfab is just projecting?
I can't say that I'd rate his overall reasoning skills very highly:
Nicholas Pfab: i feel like forcing you learn evolution and telling you it is the only truth is unconstitutional. I should have a choice to believe in evolution or special creation, but public schools/universities refrain from giving you the option to choose by forcing you to learn and believe that evolution is right and there is no God.
This is taking away my right to choose what I want to believe and also feel it is an establishment of religion, that religion being a type of atheism, that is worshiping science...
No, schools don't deny anyone the ability to believe something. School simply stick to teaching science in science classes instead of teaching religion in science classes. It's pretty warped to think that because science classes teach science instead of Sunday School lessons, they are somehow teaching you that "there is no God."
But maybe Nicholas Pfab's inability to discern the difference between teaching science and forcibly imposing atheism lies at the hear of his inability to understand that atheists are decent human beings. Unfortunately, I can't figure out what could possibly produce such egregious errors in reasoning, so I have no idea how to correct the even worse errors he makes when it comes to the nature of atheists.
Some people just can't be reasoned with, I guess.
How do you react when a Christian presumes to tell you that they are more moral than you because they believe in God and you should just kill yourself? How do you rebut the hate mongering of claiming that atheists have no reason to be moral?
Pfab is a perfect example of Christopher Hitchens ‘God is not great, how religion poisons everything’ writing. Hitchens warns us about people like him!
Sometimes you just turn and walk away. This person is lost. He has no chance of making his own meaning of life before he dies; he has no chance of seeing the beauty of the evolutionary process or understanding the real ties that bind social groups together. He has made himself willfully blind to the real grand beauty of life, and he will only respond with hate and epithets if you try to share it. Feel sorry for him, for he lives a wasted life.
This is so hateful, and angry, you can see the venom that he is spewing. Talk about atheist being evil. OMG (this is snark)! These ARE the types that would kill for, or in spite of , their belief system. What an example for advocating the benefits of religion. Maybe we atheists deserve to be tied to stakes and burned? Another inquisition, perhaps? After all it’s their right, apparently, as Bible believing “Lovers of God” and followers of “God’s Word”. But the they’d never…oh wait!…. Never mind.
Doesn’t “Christian Love” just drip from Pfab’s FANGS? What a shining example of Catholicism , he is. I have never seen this kind of poison in an atheist’s comments, ever. But we’re the “evil ones”. I’m waiting to find Pfab’s name plastered over a headline about some horrible murder some time, possibly of an atheist. I read an article a while ago about a devout Christian who had gone psycho from his fanaticism and killed his roommate because he was an atheist. It happens.
More:
http://wp.me/p1FCGk-5b
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I’ve often wondered, if heaven is such a wonderful place, why do some christians insist on remaining on earth as long as possible? Why wait (and wait and wait – die waiting) for rapture? Isn’t abortion the fastest way to heaven?
Why do the christians who are opposed to abortion deny these “souls” swift passage to their heaven?
Why do christians think that there is only meaning in the unevidenced?
Why do christians have such well developed inferiority complexes that they need to subject themselves to arbitrary rules that are designed to suppress thought and reason? Why, why, why?
I worked with a guy who had been married for 20 years and he said that if he didn’t have his faith (Catholic), he would be cheating left and right on his wife. I was dumbfounded. I said, ‘Really?’ And he said he needed his faith to be good. I had to leave, but left just shaking my head.
And this person calls them self a christian if thats what a christian is Im glad Im an atheist.
Why is it atheists “should kill themselves” when we se life as a one way ride, nothing after it?
The religious claim “eternal life in heaven” comes after death. If it’s so blissful and perfect, why aren’t they killing themselves to hurry up and get there?
That’s not to say I suggest christians kill themselves. I’m merely pointing out the contradiction in the statements of the raving religious loon.
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Although I accept the definition of atheism as “lack of belief in a god or gods,” when I read the babble of the likes of Nicholas Pfab (and there are plenty of people who “think?” like him) I feel confident that there could not possibly be a god. No one needs science of any kind to come to such a conclusion. All you need is Pfab.
Grandpa
“People go to church for the same reasons they go to a tavern: to stupefy themselves, to forget their misery, to imagine themselves, for a few minutes anyway, free and happy.” ( A quote borrowed from positiveatheism.org)
Reminds me of a married co-worker who gave me a ‘so I hear you think you’re an atheist’ speech. He pulled out such gems as ‘it takes faith to believe your chair won’t collapse when you sit on it’. I couldn’t help but think back to a confidence he shared that made me uncomfortable (internally going, ‘dude, I’ve met your wife, why are you telling me this?’). about an Asian massage parlor he frequented that was basically a brothel. Of course, he isn’t perfect, just forgiven.
There is no way to have a fruitful conversation with a hard-case like this. I’ve left many comments on You-Tube and the shallowness of responders make me very fearful of this country’s future. Can you imagine life in the U.S. with Theocrats like Santorum and Gingrich in charge?! I’d sooner cut my throat.
Obviously friend Pfab has never heard about logical thinking. What sort of person needs to be told what is right and what is wrong? I am sure that I echo the thoughts of many people, religious and non-religious, when I write that I believe you are a very,very SAD and perhaps, dangerous person.
THANK GOD I AM AN ATHEIST.
Nowhere in the bible does the word ‘moral’appear.