{"id":4147,"date":"2012-10-26T15:06:40","date_gmt":"2012-10-26T21:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?p=4147"},"modified":"2017-02-09T00:04:15","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T07:04:15","slug":"christian-persecution-are-atheists-vampires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2012\/10\/christian-persecution-are-atheists-vampires\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Persecution: Are Atheists Vampires?"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/254\/2012\/10\/911_cross_rubble.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-4149\" title=\"911_cross_rubble\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/254\/2012\/10\/911_cross_rubble.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"220\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>I haven\u2019t written about the recent flap over the 9\/11 Cross.<\/strong> I\u2019m not going to say much now. I just want to share a theory I have that might clear up a small mystery.<\/p>\n<p>For those who don\u2019t know, the 9\/11 Cross is a cross that formed by two pieces of rubble falling together amidst the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The 9\/11 Cross has great meaning for many people, and so far as I can see, harms none of those who do not find it meaningful.<\/strong> However, <strong>the American Atheist Foundation disagrees. They filed suit against use of the 9\/11 Cross,<\/strong> which was dedicated to the World Trade Center Memorial.<\/p>\n<p>According to a September 11 article in Charisma News, their claims of the \u201cdamages\u201d they have suffered because of the 9\/11 Cross include,<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;\">David Silverman, president of American Atheists, contends that atheists are experiencing horrible physical reactions after seeing the rubble cross, such as \u201cinter alia, dyspepsia, symptoms of depression, headaches, anxiety, and mental pain and anguish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;\">The atheists claim that the cross makes them \u201cfeel officially excluded from the ranks of citizens who were directly injured by the 9\/11 attack.\u201d (Read more <a href=\"http:\/\/www.charismanews.com\/us\/34132-911-sees-atheists-launch-war-on-christianity\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>As they used to say on the old Laugh-In show, \u201clet that percolate through your being.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>These folks are seriously taking the position in a court document that the mere sight of a cross causes them to experience, among other things, \u201cdyspepsia, symptoms of depression, headaches, anxiety and mental pain and anguish.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Atheists aren\u2019t very hardy people are they? It makes one wonder how such delicate little flowers managed to survive millions of years of natural selection. One would think that they\u2019d have just dyspepsiad away some night after witnessing an unshielded baptism.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve thought about this. Not a lot. But I have thought about it. I can only come up with two possible conclusions.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>1. Atheist organizations are set on harassing, insulting and attacking Christians at every turn in an attempt to drive us underground and silence us.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>or \u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Atheists are vampires.\u00a0I mean, who else reacts like that to the sight of a cross?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>These not-so-well-thought-out conclusions, if followed to their own conclusions, lead us inevitably to two possible plans of action.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>1. We can fight back. Maybe sue them for harassment or wanton stupidity or something.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>or \u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2. We can try putting a couple of them in front of mirrors. \u00a0See if they have a reflection. If they don\u2019t, well, we\u2019ve all watched enough vampire movies to know what comes next.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whichever way we go on this, I think it\u2019s important to never invite an atheist into our homes. You <em>know <\/em>what happens when you invite a vampire in, don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, I guess that\u2019s all for now. Remember: Next time you see an atheist, whip that mirror out. And keep your garlic, backup holy water and crucifix handy. Even if they don\u2019t turn to ash or anything, the crucifix alone is documented to produce crippling dyspepsia.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I haven\u2019t written about the recent flap over the 9\/11 Cross. I\u2019m not going to say much now. I just want to share a theory I have that might clear up a small mystery. For those who don\u2019t know, the 9\/11 Cross is a cross that formed by two pieces of rubble falling together amidst [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,39,726,549,518,1],"tags":[1096,1095,1101,1100,742,1099,1098,1097],"class_list":["post-4147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america","category-christian-persecution-2","category-following-christ","category-freedom-of-speech-2","category-humor","category-uncategorized","tag-1096","tag-911-cross","tag-911-cross-lawsuit","tag-american-atheist-foundation","tag-atheist","tag-september-11","tag-twin-towers","tag-world-trade-center-memorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Christian Persecution: Are Atheists Vampires?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I haven&#039;t written about the recent flap over the 9\/11 Cross. 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I just want to share a theory I have that might clear up a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2012\/10\/christian-persecution-are-atheists-vampires\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Catholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-26T21:06:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-09T07:04:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/files\/2012\/10\/911_cross_rubble.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rebecca Hamilton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rebecca Hamilton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2012\/10\/christian-persecution-are-atheists-vampires\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2012\/10\/christian-persecution-are-atheists-vampires\/\",\"name\":\"Christian Persecution: Are Atheists Vampires?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-26T21:06:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-09T07:04:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d\"},\"description\":\"I haven't written about the recent flap over the 9\/11 Cross. 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