this post was submitted on
902 points (62% like it)
2,272 up votes 1,370 down votes

atheism

subscribe1,116,822 readers

2,402 users here now

a community for

reddit is a source for what's new and popular online. vote on links that you like or dislike and help decide what's popular, or submit your own! learn more ›

all 146 comments

[–]FissureKing 52 points53 points ago

I think they have a vague idea that a Chimpanzee gave birth to a Human.

[–]alittler 10 points11 points ago

Ironically, the people that are preaching this act more like chimpanzees than anyone else

[–]DMTandME[S] 24 points25 points ago

I'm pretty sure that is what they think.

[–]-Tommy 28 points29 points ago

Two fish had second and had a lizard, that lizard had sex with a lizard and had a monkey, those monkeys had sex and made a human. We are all retarded fish lizard monkey babies.

[–]Prime-eight 12 points13 points ago

You forgot all the but fucking and the monkey fish frogs.

[–]-Tommy 10 points11 points ago

Sorry I'm just a godless heathen, what do I know?

[–]GearsOfZelda 6 points7 points ago

Absolutely nothing, because ypu shouldn't be allowed to show us you are! So shut up you retarded butt fucking fishmonkey!

[–]Snarfbuckle 6 points7 points ago

But wait, Adam and Eve must be put somewhere in that chain, and dont tell me that Adam was born from an Ape and God then took a rib and made Eve?

[–]dirtydave71 2 points3 points ago

Maybe this is why some people I know refuse to drink water on the grounds that "Fish fucked in that!"

[–]Careful_Houndoom 1 point2 points ago

[–]WolverineofReddit 8 points9 points ago

Christians have a terrible rep on this subreddit because you guys make examples out of people who are idiots. I apologize if I offended someone with this comment, but most Christians dont think how the guys you make examples of. I honestly don't care what you believe or who you are. I just want people to be happy.

[–]FissureKing 14 points15 points ago

You might not hear people say things like the one I alluded to often. But spend some time in r/atheism/new and you will.

My original comment is a factual statement about what quite a few theists have said about evolution in discussions I have had with them. It is not my fault that it sounds stupid and shows a bad misunderstanding of evolution. I didn't make fun of or insult a single person with my response. Saying that an idea is mistaken or wrong says nothing about the person espousing that idea. They may be intelligent but misinformed. That isn't necessarily their fault.

[–]WolverineofReddit 1 point2 points ago

I'm not saying that you offended anyone haha I'm just saying that a lot of the time we get bad raps because of the select few who are "silly". I agree with you that some people think that way, but a lot of Christians don't. Im jus sayin

[–]Globalwarmingisfake 1 point2 points ago

Well what do you do to mitigate the bad rap beyond the easy to say "we aren't all like that!"?

[–]WolverineofReddit 1 point2 points ago

If I knew you personally, you'd know that were not like that. I can't just instantly convince you by saying something

[–]Globalwarmingisfake 4 points5 points ago

If I knew you personally

Oh I am sure on a personal basis most are indeed fine and dandy. However as a group you guys produce a great number of nutbars and fruitcakes.

you'd know that were not like that.

But there is plenty who are. And they fall under the broad umbrella that is christianity. What do you do to mitigate these "fringe" groups? Do you ostracize them? Do you reach out to them and convince the errors of their ways?

[–]WolverineofReddit -1 points0 points ago

We don't necessarily exclude them from us. We look at them and basically say "are you kidding me dude? Your giving us a bad reputation" we accept that they may feel this way about it, and try to convince people such as yourself, that we're not all nutbars. Some of us are, but not all.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points ago

We don't necessarily exclude them from us.

Then maybe it's time you did. Stop referring to them as fellow Christians. Stop supporting, and voting for, their discriminatory and revisionist agendas. Stop inviting them to participate in religious conferences. Ostracise them the same way that you now ostracise atheists. Make their spokesmen unelectable. Then they might start getting the message.

[–]WolverineofReddit 0 points1 point ago

I don't ostracize atheists, I often invite my atheist friends to church and listen to their opinions on religious matters. I think we shouldn't have religious involvement in government, or that the crazies should be classified with the normal Christians, but I can't decide that, sadly

[–]Chrome_Sponge 1 point2 points ago

Please, move to the bible belt and talk sense to them. 95% of them are fruitcakes and nutbars and I wish that was over exaggerating.

[–]elbruce 0 points1 point ago

We see lots of them shouting their stupid in public. We see none of you responding to their stupid. What we do see is you complaining to us when we try to respond to their stupid.

If we're facing them in an argument, and you walk up, turn your back to them, and face us in argument, then when the battle lines are drawn you're ultimately on their side.

[–]swampskater 7 points8 points ago

FissureKing wasn't talking about Christians in general. He was talking about creationists, as the title of post points out.

[–]WolverineofReddit 0 points1 point ago

I notice that now. Thank you good sir. But Christians still believe in creation so...

[–]swampskater 3 points4 points ago

But not all believe in a literal interpretation of the bible. Creationists take the bible literally.

[–]WolverineofReddit 0 points1 point ago

TIL: Some people take the bible 100% literally... A lot of it is metaphors and such.

[–]swampskater 7 points8 points ago

Google Kent Hovind and Answers in Genesis. It's a sizable portion. People think that /r/atheism makes fun of religious people in general. Most of us have no problem with people and their religion. Just when they try to use it to justify laws that affect us. Also, most of what we make fun of tends to be ignorance.

[–]WolverineofReddit 1 point2 points ago

Oh.. Thank you for properly informing me. I've spent all this time browsing the subreddit and thinking how they probably hate me...

[–]Erska 1 point2 points ago

well depends, do you understand evolution? if not, then do you claim that it is false? do you rub this in peoples faces, or are you in a position where this lack in your understanding would affect other people?

if not then I can say for myself, that no...I do not hate you...

but i see one problem with normal people calling themselves Christian, this lends credibility to the people who say the bible contains truth or even worse that it is the unaltered word of god or whatever and well those people lend credibility to people who read/preach the bible thinking it is truth and lends support to crazy people who actually go around bombing abortion clinics or flying airplanes into buildings.

the whole environment of 'it's cool to believe stuff, even if it makes no sense, as long as you have faith' allows so many people to do absurd and horrible things(without major backlash)...

over here I bring this up to people, IRL I do not...unless it's brought up by other people and well that tends not to happen.

EDIT:

also note that if you hold absurd beliefs, people will mock them, that does not mean they are mocking you.

[–]WolverineofReddit -1 points0 points ago

I completely grasp the concept of evolution, and I do think it's true to a CERTAIN extent, like adaptations and such but hey that's just me. I agree with you that when normal people say their christians just to do and say various things that would normally be insulting, but its okay, their a Christian and it's their belief. I think that's what you were getting at, if not I apologize.

[–]elbruce 0 points1 point ago

By what consistent method of exegesis do you separate the literal statements about reality from commandments about to behave from metaphors from nice stories?

Please be specific.

[–]MacroSolid 0 points1 point ago

Wrong. Many christians are not creationists and many creationists are not christians.

[–]WolverineofReddit 0 points1 point ago

I said I realized that haha But if someone was to walk up to me and ask "Which religion believes in creation" the first religion that pops to mind is Christianity.

EDIT: I accidentally some words.

[–]elbruce 0 points1 point ago

many creationists are not christians

True, other religions have creation myths as well.

[–]elbruce 0 points1 point ago

If you believe in creation, then you're probably that stupid too.

[–]hellbrainsx 1 point2 points ago

My entire family, all of whom are college educated mind you, think like that.

[–]dirtydave71 0 points1 point ago

Christians have a terrible rep because of the idiots in popular culture. It is easy to find many of them to make examples of.

[–]Valdair -1 points0 points ago

Truthfully, both sides do it. 'Tis the nature of human argument. Complete generalizations are just stupid, but they still happen all the time. And they wouldn't exist if there wasn't some truth to them, but you still have to be reasonable.

[–]Endemoniada -1 points0 points ago

This "most people", "most atheists" and "most Christians" gets thrown around a lot as well, quite often by the very same people complaining about over-generalization. You think about that for a second.

"Most" depends on where you draw the borders on this particular map. It's a statistical fact that "most" people in the USA are Christian, and even including those who aren't, somewhere around 40-45% do, in fact, believe that evolution didn't occur. Speaking literally, yes, "most" people accept evolution, but in context, highlighting the fact that up to 45 percent of people hold views contrary to reality due to nothing but religious beliefs isn't a mistake. Not in any way, shape or form.

You say you don't care what people believe, and that's just an outright lie. Of course you care. You care the very second they try to impose rules and limitations on you because you don't believe what they believe. Think gays, lesbians, atheists, Arabs (because "they" generally don't care if an Arab is actually a Muslim or not, "they" just assume it) or anyone that simply stands in their way. You might say it's fine that they're wasting money building a Creation park in Kentucky (or wherever, I don't really remember), but what if a large part of that money is your tax dollars? You might say it's fine that churches don't pay taxes, but what if they still expect further benefits from the state, as well as unquestioned influence over government elections?

We want people to be happy too, but we'd rather focus on those who are currently the victims of religion being happy, than those who can only find happiness in ensuring their religious faith over the well-being of others.

There are plenty of theists who are good people. That said, there are plenty of theists who are horrible people. The problem is that, whenever this is discussed, it's a very one-sided conversation where us atheists are the only ones actually pointing this out, while the "good" theists are busy making sure even the raging bigots have the right to state-sanctioned bigotry. I just don't accept that situation, and neither should you. Especially if, as you claim, you're really interested in people being happy.

TL;DR Don't tell me to not care about the people who most needs caring about, because you feel uncomfortable when people point out actual, observable reality.

[–]WolverineofReddit -1 points0 points ago

I'm going to be completely 100% honest. I don't care what you believe. I dont care if your gay or lesbian, be happy! I don't care if your Muslim, your doing something that makes you happy! I do think that it's wrong that the church doesn't get taxed but still want's benefits (I don't know if that happens in Canada though, cause that's where I'm from). I know that I'm using the term "most" a lot, and I should stop haha but a good chunk of Christians believe in some form of evolution, certainly not a majority by any means but many do. I respect that atheists are good people too, my best friend is actually an atheist, but that being said, Christians, as well as atheists, have bad people that believe (or don't believe) in what the rest do, so their Categorized with the rest. I never said you should care about people who need caring haha, but I get what you mean, you seem like a good guy, and you stand for what you believe in. I like you :D

[–]MJG1998 52 points53 points ago

I over heard some creationists saying that evolution is so stupid because,"rocks didn't just give birth to chimpanzees". Another time they told me, ".....if evolution really happened then someone would remember being a monkey...." So it should be no surprise when I tell you I live in Alabama.

[–]liam_lifad 10 points11 points ago

There's also Ray Comfort's comparison of evolution to Coca-Cola.

[–]ThatRandomGeek 3 points4 points ago

Wasn't he the guy who compared abortion to the Holocaust of World War II?

[–]ford_cruller 1 point2 points ago

He's also the infamous banana-man.

[–]ThatRandomGeek 0 points1 point ago

So does God not want us to eat Pineapple B/c that looks like we shouldn't touch it.

[–]-Hastis- 0 points1 point ago

Yes, that's him

[–]blackholedreams 6 points7 points ago

Alabama is the reason all the trees in Georgia lean West.

...

Alabama sucks.

[–]MJG1998 1 point2 points ago

agreed.

[–]MisterWharf 4 points5 points ago

That happens everywhere. I live in SW Ontario, Canada, and I had a buddy refute evolution because 'dogs don't just evolve out of rocks'. Riiiight, that's how it works...

[–]elbruce 0 points1 point ago

I gather that they're trying in their limited way to bring up the problem of abiogenesis, but it would be helpful if they could pronounce it.

[–]sapunec7854 1 point2 points ago

*America

FTFY

[–]dirtydave71 3 points4 points ago

*Merica

FTFY

[–]Seanofthebread112 14 points15 points ago

It's true, a creationist asked me "Why haven't we changed in any way for thousands of years? And why didn't we choose evolve into tanks?" *Facepalm

[–]MisterWharf 5 points6 points ago

Yes, natural selection means that we naturally select to become different. Today I think I'm going to evolve into Superman.

[–]Pokemaniac_Ron 0 points1 point ago

Yersinia pestis kills far fewer eople than it used to.

[–]Grishnackolyte 12 points13 points ago

On the Origin of Species

Forward by Michael Bay

[–]Shepherdless 21 points22 points ago

Look at that Escargot.

[–]rnrigfts 12 points13 points ago

More like escargone

[–]Shepherdless -5 points-4 points ago

How I did not get downvoted for my post is beyond me.

[–]Zempie 10 points11 points ago

Transformers: Robots in Disguise

[–]xianxan 9 points10 points ago

[–]Personsen 1 point2 points ago

What was that originally from? My mind just blanked...

[–]xianxan 0 points1 point ago

I think it's from Godzilla, Jurassic Park, or X-Men. I can't remember which.

[–]Calypsee 5 points6 points ago

Evolutionarily speaking, that snail would totally have an advantage...

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points ago

Until gas prices skyrocket again....

[–]robmyers 1 point2 points ago

Nah. Look at the environment it's in.

[–]elbruce 0 points1 point ago

There's a huge energy cost that would have to be offset by its VTOL ability. Often times "evolutionary advantage" amounts to a direct calorie comparison.

[–]NeuroticInsanity 4 points5 points ago

Best gif ever.

[–]marius311 7 points8 points ago

I have friends who were raised creationist who describe being taught evolution as basically exactly this. So no wonder at the time they thought it was bullshit. In a way, they admirably reasoned their way to that conclusion with the information they were given. When actually taught evolution by a real science teacher, they say they were like "oh that makes a lot more sense."

[–]beefmongerer 5 points6 points ago

I used to think shit like this was evolution. I was cool with it. I thought it was awesome. I was atheist.

Then I learned what evolution really was all about. I'm still cool with it. I think it's fucking awesome. I'm still atheist.

[–]cantor_wont 4 points5 points ago

I totally caught myself making sound effects to go with this gif

[–]col381 5 points6 points ago

[–]ApolloHelix 1 point2 points ago

Thank you!

[–]bloopeeriod 4 points5 points ago

Look at that S car go!

[–]coyote1284 0 points1 point ago

I had a bet with my brother that someone would make that reference in this thread... I won a dollar.

[–]16by9 1 point2 points ago

curious how you came across that CG work...

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

No freaking way. This is the snail from that computer game I used to play as a child!! OMG! I'm a huge fan of /r/atheism but this post goes beyond that. It has brought me back to my childhood in a way that no other post possibly could. Well done DMTandME. Does anyone remember that game or what it was called? I'm freaking out right now.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

[–]fuzzy_brows 1 point2 points ago

Thank you! I also played this game as a kid and couldn't remember the name of it for the life of me. All I can remember was shooting different species of animals with something and the forest level being a biggity bitch.

[–]Judgeman 1 point2 points ago

Based on my personal experience: Yes, this is exactly how they see it.

Arguing with a guy once about evolution vs creationism. He said: "It cant just be like BAM! now there's a phone!" and this was suposed to be an argument why evolution was illogical as opposed to creationism

[–]the_boss_23 1 point2 points ago

I always wonder if some creationists have any actual conception of what the theory of evolution states. "If we evolved from chimpanzees, how are chimpanzees still here?" That shows no understanding of anything.

[–]richiewww 1 point2 points ago

Watching Science videos on youtube is soul destroying. No matter how inspiring the video is, the comments are always infested with these home schooled little shitrats talking utter bollocks.

[–]largepanda97 1 point2 points ago

I was debating with a christian friend of mine this weekend, when the subject came to evolution. His argument: If people come from monkeys, then why are monkeys still there? They would have all became people by now! Seriously what in the actual fuck theists?

[–]Sanosuke97322 1 point2 points ago

This is funny, because it's exactly what I do when someone tells me they don't believe in evolution.

[–]-WR_Mr_Waffles- 1 point2 points ago

BEAST MODE ACTIVATE

[–]xwtfmitch29x 1 point2 points ago

my extremely catholic boss and I were "debating" the other night and I kid you not, he ended the argument with " Well whens the last time you seen a monkey turn into a human". -_- how can such stupidity exist?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

Funny that. Evolution is accepted by Catholics, and has been taught in every catholic school for at least the last sixty-odd years. So unless your boss is 80+, I'd take your story with a grain of salt.

[–]OmegaSeven 0 points1 point ago

There are Catholics like that (see also; Rick Santorum) though, even if they are rare.

I'm not sure how exactly it happens but somehow the occasional member of the Catholic Church ends up an anti-science fundamentalist despite the relatively modern stance the church takes on the sciences.

[–]xwtfmitch29x 0 points1 point ago

nope hes 33. just really really not an evolution guy.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

Remind him then that he's going against his own churches teaching on the subject. They accept evolution 100%, and treat Genesis as a metaphor, not literal truth.

[–]elbruce 0 points1 point ago

Pope Pius XII in 1963 and Pope John Paul II in 1997 both published official statements that Darwin's theory of speciation via natural selection was in no way at odds with any scripture or doctrine of the Church.

[–]Testiculese 0 points1 point ago

"2 million years ago. Next question."

[–]fox112 0 points1 point ago

Christian's don't even believe the world is that old.

[–]Boozybear 0 points1 point ago

Must give all of the upvotes

[–]zonedout245 0 points1 point ago

The link gave me an error when I clicked it in Firefox. I proceeded to pasting it to Chrome, and I was not expecting what I saw. Hilarious. Now I really can't sleep.

The animation is great too, and it does seem that some people think evolution is like that. Isn't patience a virtue?

[–]CCCHAMP 0 points1 point ago

Thats probably the coolest .gif i have seen ever.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

[–]FreeThinkerLee 0 points1 point ago

Sometime I feel as if they didn't listen in science class and played way too much pokemon.

[–]alfiepates 0 points1 point ago

You just made my day. :)

[–]King_Sex 0 points1 point ago

In reality, this evolutionary process took thousands of years

[–]Masaowolf 0 points1 point ago

Wait, that's not how it works?

[–]trumblefumble 0 points1 point ago

[–]Colbey_uk 0 points1 point ago

I wish evolution was like this

[–]JurassicParkerr 0 points1 point ago

What? It's not how it works?

[–]Luxray 0 points1 point ago

Um...that's because it is.

[–]They_took_it 0 points1 point ago

Or Karl Pilkington.

[–]hornetblack 0 points1 point ago

Error 403: forbidden.

[–]Nethius 0 points1 point ago

Well they think if you open a peanut butter jar enough your will have a new animal, so this isnt far off.

[–]muckymann 0 points1 point ago

The german muslim Pierre Vogel once asked: "If all forms of life constantly evolve - how does it come the crocodile never evolved wings?"

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

Some species, such as sharks for instance, adapt to their environment to such a high degree that the impetus to evolve further almost disappears. Some shark species have changed very little in over 50 million years.

[–]Squeekme 0 points1 point ago

"If evolution is real why don't we have wings?" It's sad how often I've heard variations of that.

[–]SanityInAnarchy 0 points1 point ago

"Abandon thread"? Sounds about right.

[–]we1shknigh7 0 points1 point ago

That is the most awesome snail ever!

[–]veryfunnyandhandsome 0 points1 point ago

This is bad

[–]Fistandantalus 0 points1 point ago

Now this is podracing!

[–]LittleWho 0 points1 point ago

I'm an Atheist, but I do wish that snails could spontaneously pop out jet packs and whatnot. Evolution at it's finest. And humans would no longer be the superior species.

[–]ModerateConspiracy 0 points1 point ago

That is so cool. I want a snail that does that.

[–]elbruce 0 points1 point ago

You probably couldn't keep it for very long.

[–]onebigwaffle 0 points1 point ago

Now I'm disappointed it doesn't work like that :(

[–]wooda99 0 points1 point ago

Someone really isn't doing their job.

[–]Hamburgsteak 0 points1 point ago

true that

[–]Ullyssys 0 points1 point ago

I love this gif.

[–]JaredM1234 0 points1 point ago

THat is the coolest GIF ive ever seen. Thank you

[–]bigbangbilly 0 points1 point ago

The same thing also applies to some layperson and possibly little kids.

[–]rockoman100 0 points1 point ago

This is too great

[–]thiswhovian 0 points1 point ago

Whoa, did not see that coming.

[–]leex0 -3 points-2 points ago

If evolution is real why haven't humans evolved to be able to breath in space? we've been trying to go there for like hundreds of years.

[–]petemorley 5 points6 points ago

Breathe what? The magic space oxygen?

[–]Stormsoul22 4 points5 points ago

Because evloution takes millions of years, and you have to be in the enviroment (not in a space ship) to learn how to evolve. Or some crap like that... I know nothing on this subject, and even I understand that.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

Some humans have evolved to tolerate lower oxygen levels than the rest of us. Checkmate, creationist.

[–]leex0 0 points1 point ago

hey guys. u do realize that was a joke right?

[–]Lord_Harry_Potter -2 points-1 points ago

Most of human evolution has occured millions of years ago, a long slow process. The ability to breateh in psace would clearly be a slow gradual process, and we humans have only been seeking space travel for like 50 years, so your argument is just invalid.

But let's pretend 1 million years ago human ancestors magically evolved to breath in space (at the expense of say losing some aggressiveness). Which you think would survive?

Throughout the millions of years of evolution, "breathing in space" is definitely not a beneficial trait since it would not have helped any human ancestor survive any better.

THEREFORE YOUR ARGUMENT IS FLAWED AND LOGICALLY INVALID. PLEASE LEARN EVOLUTION PROPERLY YOU RETARDED CHRISTIAN, TRYING TO RATIONALIZE IT AWAY.

[–]TheAurelian -1 points0 points ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that exactly what evolution is? That's like text book.

[–]robmyers 5 points6 points ago

It totally is!

By the way, my text book is the complete Pokémon guide.

[–]OmegaSeven 0 points1 point ago

I think you might be skipping a few steps there.

[–]Saberwulfe -5 points-4 points ago

Is the link supposed to be broken? lol

[–]mcilrain -2 points-1 points ago

lol no lol.

lol

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]beefmongerer 2 points3 points ago

I mean, if it wasn't a repost a billion times, yeah.

[–]PullOutBoy -3 points-2 points ago

and this is what atheists wish evolution was haha

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]beefmongerer 2 points3 points ago

So what you're saying is... you missed the point?

... or are you being sarcastic?

[–]Ymabean -1 points0 points ago

This reminded me of one of the armadillo bosses in Donkey Kong 64. This