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Comment by leereeves | Hacker News Reader

People buy clothes with religious, political, and identity writing all the time.

Why would you call atheists "sad individuals" for doing the same?

As an agnostic, I wouldn't call them "sad," but it's like Neil deGrasse Tyson said. [0] It's fine to see people interested in golf congregating and talking about it, but it'd be stranger to see a bunch of anti-golfers congregating and talking about how they don't like to play golf.

[0] https://twitter.com/jonathan_blow/status/273582094448476161

If golf were responsible for as much tragedy as religion, congregations of anti-golfers would make a lot of sense.

No one cares if you're a non-golfer. Atheists in quite a lot of the country (and the world, for that matter), are a notable minority group. "Persecution" implies a bit more gravity that I'd aim for in describing it, but certainly there's enough of a cultural "thing" about it that it should no longer surprise anyone that atheists might want to congregate together and talk about it.

If someone influential had a plan to buy out some beloved public property and make a golf course there I'd bet there would be a lot of meetings of anti-golfers discussing of not so much how they hate golf but how much it's pointless and adversly affects their community.

Somewhat related: this memorable 20-second _Kids In The Hall_ skit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-pzFNTo8L8

http://www.antigolf.org/

That's a fair point: I got a little too snarky at the end of my comment. I guess I just view 'atheism' more as a lack of religion, rather than a religious option along the lines of Christianity, Islam, etc. Along that logic, I don't feel like I'd ever wear/display symbols of my atheism, but I guess that shouldn't deter others from doing so.

I don't get it either, but it's better than paying Nike for the privilege of wearing their advertising.

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