My own take on the subject of religion, which seems popular in this qotw
An old aquaintance of mine, name of Coleman, was widely regarded as a bit of an attention whore, (his girlfriend came down the visit him once, and he actually took her to one of his lectures so everyone could see. I wouldn't mind, but she's not exactly what most people would call a looker) so when he suddenly decided he was a Pagan, he naturally took every opportunity to remind everyone of his beliefs. He even went so far as to criticise the film The Wicker Man as being "an unrealistic depiction of pagans" despite freely admitting to having never actually seen it.

Of course part of being a pagan for him was frequently making a point of how terrible other religions were. (Christmas was originally a pagan festival until the christians came along and stole it, the inquisition killed loads of innocent nature-worshippers, etc.) When we came across a street-corner preacher he'd stand there seething with over-the-top indignation until we lead him away, and maintain afterwards that it was a good job we did, because he was 'on the verge of saying something' to him. All in all it soon became quite irritating for the rest of us.

One day as a small group of us were walking through town we passed a small Christian Bookshop, and the following conversation took place;

Coleman: Huh, Christian Bookshop. I'd love to burn that place down.
Me: [sigh] Why exactly?
Coleman: Well they're bloody Christians aren't they? Always going around forcing their religion down other people's throats, it pisses me off.
Me: Have you ever actually been in that shop Coleman? Or even seen the people who own it?
Coleman: No, but they're...
Me: So they're hardly forcing anything down your throat, or anyone else's for that matter, are they? All they're actually doing is quietly existing for the convenience of any local Christians who choose to spend their time and money there.
Coleman: Well yeah, but...
Me: In fact, since you take every opportunity to denounce other faiths, I think it's you who's guilty of forcing your religion down our throats.
Coleman: I just...
Other Friend: I think it'd probably be best for you to stop talking now Coleman.

Finally recognising defeat, Coleman went silent, and didn't bring up the topic of religion again.

At least, not till the next day, when we saw a group of Jehovah's Witnesses handing out leaflets.
(Uncle Comrade, Fri 20 Feb 2009, 16:59, 2 replies)

It's something about
paganism, I think.

A couple of years ago my baby sister, a Christian, brought her shiny new boything into the pub where I worked. She had previously told me that Lucas and I were sure to get on as we are both filthy heretics; that is, I am atheist and he is a self-styled pagan.

"See, I knew you'd get on, you both being filthy heretics and that!" she said helpfully, about a minute into the conversation.

"Yeah, Lucas, I'm an atheist." I said. "I don't believe in any religion."

"Yeah," he said, "I'm a pagan. I don't believe in any religion either."

Gah.
(Shinigami, Sat 21 Feb 2009, 2:12, closed)

*vomits*
Sorry, I seem to be doing that rather a lot this QOTW.

Reminds me of me aged 14. I read a bit of "Liber Null and Psychonaut" and performed a telepathy spell on myself, and decided that made me a Chaos Magician. Wanker.
(idle insomniac enjoys listening to Sigur Rós at stupid hours, Sat 21 Feb 2009, 2:46, closed)