h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Apparently next year all students at my uni get a free bible - I'm thinking of organising a bible-burning session... does that count?

Pointless trying to burn all the Bibles in the world, all it takes is one to survive and they'll be up and running again. Just go round handing out copies of the 'Sceptic's Annotated Bible', or other suchlike material, and ask the good students to weigh things up for themselves - do they really want to go back to all of that? Far better to use reason than censorship, because the latter just makes us scpetics look as repressive and small-minded as the people we're supposed to be arguing against...

The naked samurai might be a fanatic, but he is no atheist. He was killing those people because he thought they were possesed by demons or something... guess we can add this to the tally of the crimes of Christianity.

Yeah, book-burnings are the the tools of our small-minded foes... I would recommend instead a book-reading session, during which you could point out some of the lowlights.

Why should they have all the fun? book burning is a *great* way to start off a BBQ...

Oh, and apparently when they arrested the samurai, he couldn't say a single sentence without quoting a line from the bible.... remind you of anyone you know?

It would certainly bring a whole new meaning to the term 'Holy Smoke'...sorry...couldn't resist it

Another fact about the Samurai guy. Apparently, he claimed that God talked to him through his computer when he was surfing the net. Damn, I wish i'd thought of that - "Hi Eden, it's God here. Listen, you couldn't do me a favour and go and cut up a few christians for me, could you? Hugs, God xxx"

How about handing out bibles that have big stickers on them that say "Reading this book may cause you to convert people" or something like that. Like a surgeon general warning.

How about "the book that killed more Jews than Mein Kampf!"

I know that there's an Atheist group out there somewhere that was really pissed off about bibles in hotel rooms, so they came up with a large red sticker to slap on the inside of the Gideons when they stopped for the night; they distributed it to members, and possibly sold it. Can't remember whe they were though, and even if they're still around. Said something like, 'Reading this book has/will cause [various things I can't remember, but something like this] fear, mass histeria, self loathing, misogyny, rape, and murder/war.

-jb

Nah, that's too obvious. What you do is get a sceptic's edition printed up, try and make it look more or less like the Gideon's Bible so that people won't notice the difference at first, and then every time you stay at a hotel take a copy with you and surreptitiously swap them around...

The only disadvantage with this plan (apart from the cost, obviously) is that before long you'll find yourself with an immense stockpile of useless old Gideons, hardly the best thing to fill up that empty space in the attic. Still, there's always the recycling plant...

I've got the solution - first you do the swap, then you sell the surplus Gideons to the Gideon Society people. That way, they effectively subsidise the spread of the sceptic's bible, which has huge comedy value...

Good thinking. But then they'll just take those tatty old Bibles and go round all the hotels putting them back in place of our nice sceptic's copies. So there'll be a circular battle going on between Bible-placers and Bible-replacers and the whole thing'll become a waste of energy. Better to keep this one under our hats...

Or, we could find and break into Gideon warehouses, replace all the bibles with sceptic bibles, and then they will go around distributing them for us

It's a pointless argument anyway, as the only people likely to read Gideons bible are the already converted, who probably won't be too amused. The last time i found Gideons bible in a hotel room, I used it to skin up on. Is that blasphemous? I hope so

No, it's probably the first constructive use anybody's ever found for a Gideon Bible... Surely the already converted are the ones who stand to benefit most from a healthy dose of goodthinkful scepticism. Just think of all those poor lost souls out there who are yet to enjoy the uplifting experience of crushing spiritual disillusionment. We need to reach these folks and, erm, totally ruin their lives, in the name of progress...

I think the important thing isn't to try and deconvert those already converted, but to innoculate the heathen against it's spread. After all, prevention is better than cure...

Gardening Mulch!!
Feed the world!
Stop the Cancer!
Laugh as worms become 'saved' and stage toothipixions based on arbitrary ring placement on their segments. ahhh we'll fix the world yet sorors and fraters!

Sorry I've not been around but I've not been well of late and I'm back now. Little older little wiser, s**tload more pain medication... Ado!

You know what it occurs to me they have missed... the scientific method by definition is violated, so these people obviously need to check their dictionaries before they go around calling what they do 'science'. A scientist (a good one, at any rate) begins with experimental data and uses that data to derive a theory, or model of reality. It seems these folks started with the theory and then went looking for data that would support it; very sloppy. It's too bad people with scientific training aren't made to swear an oath (like doctors are) that they will uphold the standards of their profession.

Yes, I agree RedDice. I was only joking with all that 'ruin their lives' stuff. I don't want to spoil a reputation for tolerance among the sceptic fraternity - that's what distinguishes us from the believers, after all. Anyway, I'm a peace-loving guy at heart...

No, no, I say - if someone's leaning on a crutch, kick it away! Their suicides will only make the gene pool healthier...

Oh, dear - that is Just Plain Nasty. But I have to say, I'm having a hard time disagreeing with you...

I must say this is getting pretty sad. "Let's do the Christians like they do us!" is a pretty immature and non-contstructive approach. Perhaps we should spin off a different forum devoted to the destruction of Christianity as this seems to be the goal of some here. Proselytizing from the opposite direction (un-converting?) is still proselytizing. It is my understanding that this forum was created as a place where one could GET AWAY from Christianity. But this zealousness (anti-zealousness?) is just as bad as I would find any Christian forum, the only difference being that there aren't Christians here dishing it back.

I find it silly that we sit here criticizing Christian methods of spreading the faith, but espouse the same methods as to promoting an anti-Christian philosophy.

Live and let live. Allow the Christians and all others the FREEDOM to believe as they wish, as we claim the same privilage for ourselves.