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all 44 comments

[–]LeetroyJnkns 15 points16 points ago

As a scientifically minded person, this propaganda actually makes sense. Atheism is the floor, and is thus energetically favoured. It's a poetic expression of Occam's razor.

[–]sparkyjunk 28 points29 points ago

Accurate depiction: 10 Step program to get your feet back on the ground.

I followed a similar path myself.

[–]tothemooninaballoon 9 points10 points ago

I like the word Modernist. Coined after WWI. I'm sure many started to question religion after that war.

[–]nhhow 14 points15 points ago

The "no deity" step is already atheism, gnostic atheism.

[–]Toxzy 8 points9 points ago

I was curious about this as well. I tracked down the source of the cartoon. First published by E.J. Pace in 1922 (see here) and then republished by William Jennings Bryan in 1924 (see here).

From the context of the chapter "The Deity of Christ" this step in the cartoon is probably referring to denying the deity of Jesus Christ while still believing in the Judeo-Christian God.

But in recent times some who regard Christ as merely a good man and a great teacher, but entirely human, acclaim His Divinity, explaining that He was Divine in the sense in which all men have something of divinity in them. The interpretation which they give to the word "Divinity" robs Christ of His Lordship and makes Him differ from men in general only in the degree to which He approached the perfection of the Heavenly Father.

--Seven Questions in Dispute, William Jennings Bryan, 1924.

[–]nhhow 2 points3 points ago

Oh I see. Thanks. I still find it amusing.

[–]Duskur 3 points4 points ago

You know I'd be more than happy to hang out with that Freud guy at the bottom.

[–]xhable 4 points5 points ago

no atonement & resurrection in my head should be above no deity.

[–]imagitcha 1 point2 points ago

Does the middle Guy look like Nietzsche to anyone else?

[–]writealetter 1 point2 points ago

Yes, except Nietzsche was arguably postmodernist.

[–]panamafloyd 1 point2 points ago

Hasn't changed much, has it?

Or has it? <evil grin> http://www.pewforum.org/Age/Religion-Among-the-Millennials.aspx

[–]Grytpype-Thynne 1 point2 points ago

At first, I thought the old guy at the bottom was carrying a steak.

[–]defacingbills 2 points3 points ago

Love the concept.

If I'd drawn it, though, I'd've made the staircase going up rather than down, with the modernists emerging into the light.

[–]Eveverything[S] 6 points7 points ago

I'm pretty sure this cartoon is anti-atheism- it was published in William Jennings Bryan's magazine, a guy best known for his "cross of gold" speech.

[–]defacingbills 6 points7 points ago

Wow, then they accidentally made a really excellent point.

[–]shelby-skywalker 1 point2 points ago

I originally thought that too, then I kind of got the "grounded" idea, rather than the lofty, empty-space side.

[–]LokisDawn 0 points1 point ago

I want to look like the bottom guy when I'm 60 or older, that guy looks badass and has a cauldron in his arm.

[–]Blaster395 0 points1 point ago

*Alembic

[–]Msj2705 0 points1 point ago

Well there's nothing at the top of the stairs, but a whole lot of stuff at the bottom...

Who would want to be at the top of those stairs, anyways?

[–]dirtygerman55 0 points1 point ago

Those steps are in no logical order. I wouldn't expect more from the kind of person who would make a cartoon like this.

[–]NeuroG 0 points1 point ago

Actually, I wouldn't expect a person to follow logical steps from Christianity to atheism as most people would be learning to reason logically as part of the process.

[–]jumpingsuits 0 points1 point ago

So with age comes wishdom?

[–]thegreatwhitemenace 0 points1 point ago

was this supposed to portray it as a bad thing? aside from the word "descent" nothing about this image conveys an anti-atheist message.

[–]BigRubberMallet 0 points1 point ago

The person slowly degenerates and ages as he steps down.

[–]fluffhoof 1 point2 points ago

Or he has grown wiser (as some people do as they age).

[–]Lobotomus_Prime 0 points1 point ago

How amusing... they thought these were bad things?

[–]OneWord_Reply 0 points1 point ago

repost

[–]numpad 0 points1 point ago

I'm pretty sure people should know that virgin birth is bs. It should be higher on this stair.

[–]Lots42 0 points1 point ago

I know a guy on step 2. There's hope.

[–]gwthrowaway10003 0 points1 point ago

I find it interesting that "agnosticism" comes after "no deity" which would essentially be atheism.

[–]kahluakoala 1 point2 points ago

as per etmology.online: "a" without + "gnostos" to be known.

It's not exactly atheism. Atheism relies on logic, proof, or faith of a lack of any God's existance. Agnosticism is nothing like that, even in their essentials.

[–]Haikus3n531 0 points1 point ago

If george carlin is right, there is a strip club in the tunnel under the stairs...

[–]Corrinth 0 points1 point ago

Disbelief in a deity comes before disbelief in the resurrection? That doesn't sound right.

[–]thuderroar 1 point2 points ago

No, that's in the right order. The belief in a deity is a much larger and more comprehensive claim with less evidence supporting even it's hypothetical possibility. Resurrection is much, much smaller in scale and would require less evidence to be supported. It's still not true, but it's more likely than an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent creator of everything who cares about how you have sex.

[–]SapientSupreme 0 points1 point ago

The title is "A man who is on a tiny staircase"

[–]QBRebel16 0 points1 point ago

Why is 'agnostic' even a step? Is it really that common of a belief that there is no such thing as an agnostic atheist/theist?

[–]barjam 0 points1 point ago

Where I live (Midwest, US) it seems agnostic = no belief in god one way or the other and atheist = believes there is no god. There is no such commonly accepted term as agnostic atheist and identifying that way guarantees a 10 minute explanation that I am not interested in giving so I identify agnostic.

[–]QBRebel16 0 points1 point ago

Yeah, I get your point. I live in the same area (Twin Cities metro, Minnesota). It gets annoying, but I prefer to give the explanation. Why, I'm not sure. I guess I just enjoy teaching people.

[–]MoroccoBotix 0 points1 point ago

'Not sure of the year of this picture, but not everyone was religious back then.

[–]nthensome 0 points1 point ago

Is this depicting that a bad thing is happening here?

I'm not trying to make a point, I'm actually asking a question...

[–]BadFengShui 0 points1 point ago

This makes me want to label my stairs.

[–]darkNergy 0 points1 point ago

The order isn't set in stone, but this seems fairly accurate.

[–]mobyhead1 0 points1 point ago

Aww, they're so cute when they inadvertently compliment us.

[–]Sunsh1neMelting 0 points1 point ago

Anybody else notice that "atheism" is shown as four steps down from "no deity". I don't think that word means what they think it means.