Some people just have too much nerve. I don’t know if it is that there ego is just so large. Or if it’s that they are just too arrogant. Or if it’s that they are just too stupid. Or maybe a combination of the three. Well, let me tell you about somebody who has just really gotten to me today.

Okay, my husband loves Slashdot. I would say the majority of slashdotters are not real friendly toward religion of any kind and I don’t mean just Christianity (as the following discussion will show). Part of the discussion of life on Mars moved into a discussion on religion Part of this discussion just has me flabbergasted. Here’s the pertinent parts of the discussion (you can read the original story and entire thread here.)

Person A posted:

I’m an atheist. A few weeks ago, a Christian friend asked me, “When you look out at the night sky, across billions of light-years of interstellar space filled with billions of worlds we haven’t even imagined yet, aren’t you a little afraid that you might be wrong?”

Your idiotic post made me realize — way too late, of course — that I should’ve asked her the same question in reply.

Person B in reply stated:

If she’s wrong, it doesn’t matter…

Person C, who is the subject of this post, then states
(and this is not the scary statement):

Yes, it does.

Think of how much more she could have accomplished had she not been wasting time on religious rituals and discussions?

My husband then replies to Person C:

Yea just think what Gandhi, Sister Theresa or Cardinal Tutu might have done if hadn’t been wasting their time on spiritual things.

Please even if you don’t like religion I doubt that it is as big of waste of time as TV, music, or Slashdot.

Person C then replies: back (and this is the scary part):

Gandhi, Sister Theresa, and Cardinal Tutu could have achieved more if they spent more time on learning reality, rather than fantasy. I’m not saying they didn’t achieve great things; I am saying that they would have had more time in their lives. As you imply, I could do more also (I could be programming instead of typing this, and I could have rejected fantasy-based thinking for scientific thinking earlier in my lifetime).

What I don’t understand is how anyone could have the nerve to say that Gandhi, Mother Teresa or Desmond Tutu could have done more. There is only one man who would have the right to make that judgment and Person C is not that man. I can’t even imagine thinking such a thing, better yet saying it. I know I am not worthy to make that statement. I am just so shocked that Person C thinks he is that special.