General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Community Wants Atheist Santa Billboard Taken Down [View all]muriel_volestrangler
(101,271 posts)There are also people who have a vague relation to Christianity, who are the kind of people who won't go to church often, but turn up when they feel "they ought to". So this advert is suggesting to them that attendance is not only not mandatory, it's not a part of being 'good' either - you can work out what you think is 'good' without a preacher telling you, or the disapproval of your neighbours for not turning up at church implying you've done something wrong.
if you start from the assumption that atheists are trolls, and therefore their audience must be the people who would be most offended by a message, you're just going to see trolling, and you'll end up seeing the whole message as insulting, because that's what you expect from a troll. But that is, ironically, an ad hominem. You're arguing that because it's atheists saying it, it must be insulting.