Some Atheists Are Just As Ignorant About Adult Singleness and Celibacy as Progressive Christians, Secular Feminists, and Protestant Evangelical or Conservative Christians
I don’t normally discuss atheism a lot on my blog, though I do sometimes write posts about my quasi-agnostic status, but I couldn’t help but notice this phenomenon.
My time on Twitter has taught me that some atheists – especially the ones with an irrational hatred of all things theist, especially Christianity – are just as stupid, prejudiced, or narrow-minded about adult singleness and celibacy and adult virginity, as are many Protestant Evangelical Christians, and other types of Christians.
Liberal, progressive, and feminist Christians are also biased against adult celibates and celibacy itself, as are secular, left wing feminists.
I normally don’t usually go looking for fights with total strangers on Twitter.
A few days ago, I was looking for Tweets with the hash tag “single” or “celibate.” You never know if you do what may turn up – you may come across some links to some good articles that way.
In the midst of skimming the tweets with the “celibate” hash tag, I saw two tweets that were very dismissive of celibacy, by two different people, one apparently an atheist, and I think the other guy was an atheist as well.
I was polite in my replies to their Tweets. I was not rude. I didn’t insult either one.
I heard back from both guys.
One guy was definitely an atheist, and I’m not sure about the second guy – though I think he was atheist too, or maybe agnostic.
The second guy wasn’t so bad. He was cordial, so there wasn’t much back and forth with him.
However, first atheist guy, with the handle @atheistic_1, either tagged his buddies in the exchange, or of their own volition, they started to chip in.
The other guys were @JeffMunroe51 and a @lobsterchin.
I don’t remember the JeffM guy being too obnoxious, and he tried to bow out of the discussion after awhile.
The lobsterchin guy began acting like a jackass, and I banned him after a few tweets.
First off, these jokers assumed I was a man. I had to correct them on that.
These atheists who were tweeting me, particularly the “atheistic_1” guy, do not understand biblical views on celibacy or singleness or natalism any more than most Christians do.
As a matter of fact, the atheist and his Twitter buddies sounded remarkably like the ignorant conservative, Reformed, Baptist, fundamentalist, and evangelical Christians whose writings about celibacy, virginity, and singleness I have been regularly criticizing and correcting on this blog the last few years.
One or more of these atheists actually croaked out, “But wait, aren’t you supposed to procreate, Genesis says ‘Be Fruitful.'”
One of the atheists seemed to be scolding me for not pro-creating; he says he taught his children to “make life” one day (that was his phrase, which I found a strange one).
He seems to think it morally wrong for people not to have children.
Second atheist guy feels it’s fine for his atheist friend to issue tweets bashing celibacy and making moral judgments about it, but it’s not acceptable for me to defend celibacy? That seems a little hypocritical.
And in all my tweets about any of this, at no time did I say I am anti-sex, or anti- pro-creation. If other people want to marry and have children, I have no problems with that.
I pointed out to Second Atheist guy, Jeff, (assuming he probably rejects traditional, Judeo Christian values of waiting until marriage to have sex), that just because he teaches his kids to have kids of their own one day does not mean they will.
Jeff’s children might have sex eventually but get abortions or use birth control to prevent pregnancy – hence, they will not be “making life” one day.
As to their observation that the Bible commands all to have children vis a vis the “be fruitful” verse.
No, guys, no.
See, Christians also misunderstand the “Be Fruitful” verse from the Bible as an imperative for all generations and cultures to follow, but it’s not.
In the New Testament, Jesus taught that remaining single and celibate were respectable, viable options for believers. But this is a point that is frequently lost on conservative Christians, many of whom are steeped in “Nuclear Family,” “Traditional Marriage” and “All People Should Have Children” idolatry.
Under the new covenant, there is no commandment from God for anyone to marry, have sex, or to have children. None. In the New Testament, whether to marry or have children is made a personal choice.
As the New Testament presents the situation, whether one marries or remains single (and hence celibate) are choices God leaves up to each person.
These atheists don’t understand that most Christians have turned marriage, sex, and procreation into idols that are worshipped.
Christians put far more importance and emphasis on marriage and having children than the Bible does, and the Reconstructionists (who want an American theocracy) and Quivering families take these concepts to even more of an extreme than regular, garden variety evangelicals do.
One or more of the atheists made a comment in our Twitter exchange along the lines of,
- “Well good, I’m glad these Christians like you are staying celibate because it means they won’t carry on Christianity anymore, and the Christian faith will die out.”
First of all, I do not identify wholly as a Christian right now. This person was assuming I am full tilt Christian.
I am currently somewhere between Christian and Agnostic.
I really tire of the atheists on Twitter who just automatically assume I am stereotypical “Susie Bible Thumper Evangelical.” I have pretty much left that behind me, and I’ve been questioning the Christian faith strongly the last two, three years; I have not totally left all of the Christian faith, but I’m not 100% on board with it at this point, either.
Secondly, the atheist comments about “Yuk yuk, chuckle chuckle, I am so glad you are a celibate, if all Christians are celibates, it means their faith will die out.”
No, moron, that’s not how the faith works.
This is another area where misinformed atheists sound like the evangelicals and fundamentalists they claim to dislike.
Many very conservative Christians – the ones who have made marriage and procreation into a deity – also wrongly believe that the faith is spread via family (ie, marriage, sex, procreation).
But the New Testament says that the Gospel is what saves people; believers are to make more converts by telling people who are not necessarily related to them about Jesus.
Further, the Bible presents the faith as something each person must choose to accept for himself.
That is, just because a child is born to two Christian parents does not make that child a Christian.
At some point, that child will have to choose for himself whether to accept Jesus as his savior or not.
One cannot make Christian converts by being Christian and getting pregnant and having babies. The Bible does not teach or encourage the practice of “bedroom evangelism.”
Jesus taught no where that the Gospel is passed down only or primarily, or should be passed down only, from a married couple to that couple’s children.
Which is not to say that Christian parents cannot teach their own children about Jesus and take them to church and hope that the kid accepts the Christian faith some day, and so forth – but that is not the primary, or only, means by which the Gospel is to be shared.
I do know that a lot of Jewish people are under the very mistaken notion that children born to Christians are automatically Christian, but no, that is not so. Perhaps the atheists I was chatting with were raised in a Jewish family, and that’s where they were getting their moronic ideas from, I don’t know.
Jesus told his disciples to go forth and make disciples of all nations, he did not say, “If you believe in me, go, get married, have lots of children, and those children will already be believers in me, and this is how Christianity will grow.”
I suppose I cannot blame these atheists for being so horribly ignorant about how the faith is shared and spread, when so many Christians today are equally mistaken about it.
One or more of the atheists I tweeted with seemed skeptical that I am still a virgin over the age of 40. He said, “You are claiming that” – as if to say, I could be lying or making it up.
I replied, no I am not just “claiming it,” I am really and truly a virgin over 40 years of age.
There is no concept in most societies today that anyone can or does abstain and can live a perfectly happy, satisfying life going without sex.
It’s amazing, sad, and rather pathetic, how people cannot fathom living without sex. As I told one of them, “you won’t die from lack of sex; sex is not a necessity.”
At some point, one of these jerks retweeted my tweet of, “I’m a virgin over 40,” by saying, “How sad this is,” or some such comment.
I actually feel rather sorry for individuals like him who apparently feel that they need sex to live life to the fullest.
I told the guy I have stayed abstinent so far based largely on personal convictions, and I have done so in a sex saturated culture to boot, which is not “sad” (but is something that should be admired or at least respected.)
I also pointed out I don’t grasp this odd idea that everyone these days is supposed to respect all forms of sexual expression, whether lesbianism or homosexuality, or pre-marital sex, except for a person’s choice to abstain.
Seriously, whether I am talking to, or reading articles by, atheists, liberals, secular feminists, progressive Christians or ex Christians, all of them demand respect for heterosexual fornication and homosexuality, but they totally disrespect an adult’s choice to stay celibate.
Some of what I wrote there is even sometime partially true of conservative Christians and of right wing, Non-Christians.
Conservative Christians will pay lip service to celibacy and virginity, but they ultimately hold a disdain or distrust of any woman over the age of 30 who is celibate or a virgin, because, in part, they have this sexist, weird, insulting notion that by mere fact that women have “baby making equipment” (ovaries, vaginas, and so on) that we women all should be putting that stuff to use and having sex and getting pregnant.
As I was saying above, these atheists who were tweeting me assumed I am a man. I had to inform them I am a woman.
One of the atheists – because dammit, some atheists are so obsessed with hating on religion – said, in a derogatory fashion, that my celibacy (as though celibacy is wrong, bad, or to be pitied) was due to “religion,” in that he made a comment like, “That is what religion gets you.”
Certainly, religious considerations played one role in why I chose, at a young age, to abstain until I got married, but it was not my only reason.
There are other reasons I have never had sex, ones not having to do with religion.
One reason is: I am a woman. If I have sex, I can get pregnant. I am pro-life, not pro-choice, so if I become pregnant, I would have to carry the baby and give birth, and no thank you to that. I don’t want to go through the expense, the doctor visits, the physical pain of giving birth, and so on.
Further, I do not want to spend my money on birth control or go in for the regular GYN visits to get birth control. I hate doctor’s visits for sore throats and the like, let alone some stranger sticking his or her hands and medical equipment in my hoo-hah. I try to avoid doctors if I can.
No birth control is 100% effective, and most men are lazy asses who defer all responsibility for avoiding pregnancy on to the woman; men expect that the woman will provide the condoms and/or be on the pill. I don’t want to be stuck with all the responsibility.
I don’t want any part in any of that, the headaches of scheduling of doctor appointments, paying for birth control, being pregnant as a single woman, etc.
So, a great big “up yours” to the atheists who were harassing me about this on Twitter. I would assume they are all men, and as such, don’t have to worry about getting pregnant when or if they have sex.
Not too long ago, I was telling Christians on another site that in the past two years, I’ve found Christians difficult to talk to about almost any topic, especially if I’m upset, angry, or hurting and looking for sympathy or an understanding shoulder to cry on, because Christians can be so judgmental.
I told these other people at this other site I normally find some atheists and other Non-Christians easier to chat with about problems, because they won’t judge me or put me down.
Non-Christians don’t generally attempt to find “biblical” causes behind your problems, or give you “biblical” answers to them, which can make them easier to talk to.
And rather than trying to judge you or blame you for your issues, I’ve found that some Non Christians will simply lend a compassionate ear and be understanding, which is very nice.
I have to say I am disappointed with the atheists I was corresponding with on Twitter today and earlier in the week. They were being such judgmental, dismissive, or condescending pricks about celibacy and virginity. These particular atheists were acting no better than 99% of the Christian community on these issues.
And again, these specific atheists were just as shockingly ignorant about biblical teachings about virginity, procreation, and celibacy as are most Christians these days. They were even repeating some of the very same arguments about sex, celibacy, and so on I see from Christians all the time.
Update – April 2022
In light of the recent SCOTUS draft leak, which shows that Roe Vs. Wade may be overturned, which would return abortion back to each state to determine:
May 4, 2022
After many took to Twitter to condemn the publication for engaging in potentially dangerous home abortions, VICE instead chose to double down on the medically unsound advice.
Left-wing news outlet, VICE posted a “do it yourself” abortion guide on Tuesday, with details on creating DIY “abortion pills” made with ingredients used to treat horses with stomach ulcers.
Related Posts This Blog:
(Link): Atheist Video About Being a Virgin of Sexually Abstinent – My Critique of the Atheist’s Critique
(Link): Why Are Young People Having So Little Sex? America is in a Sex Recession – by K. Jullian
(Link): Liberals Disagreeing on Personal Preference as Dating Criteria
(Link): Eight of the Most Shocking Cases of People Who Died During Sex
(Link): You’re more likely to die during sex than the numbers suggest (article)
(Link): Woman Paralysed after Orgasm During Sex Caused Brain Haemorrhage
(Link): Teens Too Busy Playing Video Games to Have Sex
(Link): An Example of Mocking Adult Virginity Via Twitter (Virginity Used As Insult)
(Link): Hackers Could Order Sex Robots To KILL Their Owners, Cyber Security Experts Warn
(Link): Woman Dies of Flesh-Eating Bacteria After Sex Game Goes Wrong
(Link): Woman Paralysed after Orgasm During Sex Caused Brain Haemorrhage
(Link): Conservative, Church-Going Christian Guy Participates in Threesome, Jumps To Death
(Link): Couple Fall To Death Having Sex Against Window
(Link): French Couple Having Intercourse In Castle Lose Their Balance, Fall 40 Feet To Their Deaths
(Link): CDC Report: Virgin Teens Much Healthier Than Their Sexually Active Peers (2016 Report)
(Link): A Day In The Life Of An Abstinence Ed Teacher by S. Gomez
(Link): Why Aren’t Millennials Having Sex Anymore? via Relevant Magazine
(Link): More Than 40 Per Cent of Japan’s Adult Singles are Virgins, Says Study
(Link): Living Myths About Virginity (via The Atlantic)
(Link): On ‘Late’-In-Life Virginity Loss (from The Atlantic)
(Link): Why Some People Become 30 Year Old Virgins (Article / Study)
(Link): Virginity Lost, Experience Gained (article with information from study about virginity)
(Link): When Adult Virginity and Adult Celibacy Are Viewed As Inconvenient or As Impediments
(Link): Statistics Show Single Adults Now Outnumber Married Adults in the United States (2014)
(Link): Less than half of U.S. kids now have a “traditional” family
(Link): If the Family Is Central, Christ Isn’t
(Link): When Adult Virginity and Adult Celibacy Are Viewed As Inconvenient or As Impediments
(Link): Childfree By Choice: How Women are Redefining Tomorrow’s Family
(Link): Is The Church Failing Childless Women? by Diane Paddison
(Link): Lies The Church Tells Single Women (by Sue Bohlin)
(Link): Are Single People the Lepers of Today’s Church? by Gina Dalfonzo
(Link): The Nauseating Push by Evangelicals for Early Marriage
(Link): More Americans Than Ever Have Never Married: (2014) Survey
(Link): AZ GOP vice-chair calls for sterilizing poor women: If you want a baby, get a job
(Link): Why It’s Completely OK if You Don’t Like Babies – Is A Baby the Ultimate Buzzkill? by M. Ruiz
(Link): Do You Rate Your Family Too High? (Christians Who Idolize the Family) (article)
(Link): Pew for One: How Is the Church Responding to Growing Number of Singles?
Christian Pundit 
I keep getting my posts removed on Hemant Mehta’s blog, The Friendly Atheist, because I point out the nonsense in atheist propaganda about atheists’ wonderful sex lives. A sexually yucky christian guy who becomes an atheist will discover pretty quickly that he hasn’t increased his sexual market value, even if he approaches atheist women.
Hmm. I think I’ve posted to his blog a time or two, using my Christian Pundit name, but he did allow my posts to go through and remain on his blog.
I’m sorry and disappointed to hear that he’s censoring yours. As long as you’re being polite when making your points, I don’t know why he or his moderators would not allow your posts to stand?
I spent two years being celibate in my early twenties and experienced a lot of shit for it.
I’m sorry people gave you static for that.
I’m annoyed at how most everyone in American culture (and in other ones) respect almost every other sexual behavior and choice under the sun except for people who choose not to have sex, whatever the reason may be.