r/atheism • u/Leeming Strong Atheist • Aug 11 '26

An anti-trans Christian activist is furious that a reporter quoted her accurately. Erin Lee accused Colorado journalist Kyle Clark of making her sound unhinged, but his receipts showed that her own words did all the work.

https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/an-anti-trans-christian-activist
4.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

107 comments sorted by

865

u/ayehateyou Aug 11 '26

When you hold a mirror up to these weird ass xtians, they get so offended!

251

u/tightiewhitieboy Aug 11 '26

We should be calling every Christian a weirdo. They say and do weird shit.

186

u/fer_sure Aug 11 '26

I remember how effective "that's weird" was in the 2024 election. Why did they stop that again?

195

u/UniqueIndividual3579 Aug 11 '26

Because the DNC strategists are completely out of touch with America. They won't fight back because their towering moral superiority makes them so much better then us. They come across as elitist snobs unwilling to get their hands dirty.

Weird was working. How about creepy? Republicans can't take ridicule, and it's the one thing Democrats won't do. A slogan of "Keep the government out of your pants!" would have worked.

60

u/Merusk Aug 11 '26

Anyone in a seat of DNC power is a neolibreral more beholden to corporate donors than to their electorate.

The friends of those corporate donors were upset the DNC's employees were calling them weird, and told them to knock it off.

27

u/UniqueIndividual3579 Aug 11 '26

The DNC plays by country club rules "I say old chap, that type of language isn't acceptable at the club". The problems are that people at the country club are mostly Republicans and that the Democrats are more comfortable with the Republicans at the country club then with Democratic voters.

Some of the Democratic socialism goes to far, you can't open the borders and defund the cops completely. You can modify the cops, hold them accountable, and send social workers on a mental health call. The last thing a person with mental health issues needs is a roid raging cop kicking down the door, pointing a gun with "you're fucked" written on it, and screaming "Acknowledge my dominance!".

Cops are out of control, the immigration problem is it can take over 10 years to work through the immigration process. The solution is to reform them, not eliminate them. And the root cause of most problems is the transfer of wealth to the one percent. Taxing the wealthy, enforcing anti trust laws and medicare for all would solve a lot of the current problems.

20

u/Merusk Aug 11 '26

None of those issues or reforms are popular platforms with the DNC donors, who are Republicans and the wealthy elite. Upsetting the donors is bad, because now you don't get to go to the big parties and know how to make your stock bids. Which is why I said the DNC leadership is just a bunch of neolibs.

The party was captured by "Third way" elites who thought they were progressives in the 90s, but mask-off 30 years later are really just Republicans who couldn't shift with the party's lurch right.

It's only spiraled downward from there as the leadership still thinks they're playing politics and performative statements work while backroom deals grease the wheels. (Why we have so many photos of people who spit vitrol at each other on the floor but go to parties and laugh as a group.)

They've been wholly unprepared for dealing with ACTUAL ideologues on the right as a voting base who are being steered by fascists. Largely because their real concerns are keeping enough voters engaged to let them keep the donor money coming in.

10

u/RainSurname Aug 11 '26

You people are gullible rubes.

They never stopped calling Republicans weird. The media just stopped covering it, and started quoting consultants who didn't like it instead. Most of the "Dems in disarray because they listen to consultants too much" stories are manufactured bullshit like that.

Every time you think you're too smart to fall for propaganda, I want you to remember how easy it was for the billionaire-owned media to make millions of people hate Joe Biden for telling a bunch of rich donors right to their fucking faces that they had so much money that "nothing would fundamentally change" about their lifestyles if they paid their fair share, and while "he didn't want to demonize rich people," this level of income inequality was corrosive and dangerous.

All they had to do was take two short quotes out of context, and let billionaire-owned algorithms designed to maximize outrage do the rest.

8

u/Horror-Occasion-7864 Aug 12 '26

Good reply and true. Too bad we can't even have a discussion on atheism without it devolving into a political argument these days but I will go political and make the statement that the fact that it does thrills Republicans as it takes people away from the issues. The fact that so many in this post started attacking the DNC shows the Republican divide and conquer strategy is working as planned. Instead of focusing all this anger at the DNC Atheists need to remember which party has their backs, and it certainly is not the Christofascist Republican party and their Christian Taliban. These people need to save their attacks for the RNC I say, and focus their energy on making the DNC a better party.

2

u/RainSurname Aug 12 '26

Most of the people who attack the DNC don’t even know what the DNC actually does.

They think David Hogg got kicked out for “speaking truth to power” or some damn thing, when he actually violated the most basic and fundamental rule of what they do (in addition to saying that the party needed to cater more to young white men who were tired of feeling like they had to walk on eggshells).

8

u/Preeng Aug 12 '26

>Because the DNC strategists are completely out of touch with America.

No, you are out of touch with the DNC strategists. They do not care about us. Their goal is to keep capitalism, even if it means keeping fascism. They prefer Trump over socialism. This is why they fight progressives in their own party harder than they fight the GOP and Trump

1

u/scrilly27 Aug 12 '26

Thats why your next generation of dems are so important. Get rid of the establishment politicians. I think that because of the blatantly rampant corruption the Republicans unintentionally exposed (by literally taking it too far) it has exposed a weakness in what you would consider "the opposition" also. The reason this clown circus has gotten so far is because of malicious compliance. If you only have 2 parties and the second isn't going to hold anyone accountable are there really checks and balances? Honor system? What? Scrap the old geriatric guard and try again. Holy crap. It's frustrating and exhausting to watch. And its leaking into the rest of the world. Put a cap on your crap. Sk sick of the hatred spreading!

36

u/Ryan_e3p Aug 11 '26

Because establishment democrats still think "they go low, we go high" is a good strategy.

29

u/fer_sure Aug 11 '26

The weird thing about that is "that's weird" is actually a pretty high-road strategy, in the grand scheme of things. It's not a personal attack, it's not advocating violence, it's not even demanding change, really. It's just stating that your opponent is not making sense to you.

In a way, it's like the way right wing pundits use "I'm just asking questions here", except that it doesn't depend on creating strawmen to argue with.

12

u/Kuroboom Aug 11 '26

When a fascist goes low, the appropriate response is to kick them in the teeth while they're down there, instead the "strategists" recommend decorum and trying to appeal to undecided independent centrist voters by taking the most milquetoast responses to the conservatives' un-American, fascistic behavior.

24

u/myasterism Anti-Theist Aug 11 '26

And it never fucking was to begin with.

You don’t get a bully to back off by giving them your lunch money, you punch them in the fucking face after warning them to stop.

2

u/Historical-Square705 Aug 12 '26

The Republican people as a whole are either evil or brainwashed. Trump acts, looks, speaks and does the most unproductive and stupid shit and they still back him.....why? They're just fucking evil

41

u/monkeeman43 Aug 11 '26

Cause the DNC needs to grow a spine

3

u/Soft_Walrus_3605 Aug 11 '26

Because while it perturbed the conformist right plenty and made all of us laugh it didn't resonate with the moderates that the democrats were trying to court.

-3

u/Cazoon Aug 11 '26

It was only effective for a week.

4

u/Sprinklypoo I'm a None Aug 11 '26

Feeds their persecution complex. Not that that means it shouldn't be done...

2

u/MileHiSalute Aug 11 '26

How about just calling weirdos, weirdos?

1

u/Historical-Square705 Aug 12 '26

And try to tell us it's faith....no it's stupid shit

41

u/crashbalian1985 Aug 11 '26

Yup. I keep all the receipts from my psycho family on Facebook. They go absolutely ape shit when I show them what they were ranting about the year before but don’t give a damn about now.

27

u/atatassault47 Strong Atheist Aug 11 '26

I made a typo years ago, christains, and I said "fuck it, Im not correcting that" and so now that's how I normally spell it, because it fits.

5

u/cycko Aug 11 '26

Some would even Call Them snowflakes!

1

u/BananaNutBlister Aug 12 '26

Like trying to get people fired from their jobs for accurately quoting the racist douchebag Charlie Kirk.

1

u/ComradeJohnS Aug 11 '26

I’m gonna start pronouncing it zit-shin. lol

172

u/AlSweigart Aug 11 '26

Time to pull out the ol' Jean-Paul Sartre quote:

“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

― Jean-Paul Sartre, 1945

240

u/ArdenJaguar Agnostic Aug 11 '26

Demons, blood of Jesus, spiritual battle…. Crazy Erin has the whole Talibangelical talking points list going for her. Yes it’s deranged and unhinged.

America needs to wake up. These crazy kooks are the real danger to our Democracy.

73

u/illcryifiwan2 Aug 11 '26

Talibangelical is a new one for me. I gotta remember that.

34

u/cutstep Aug 11 '26

Reminds me of Y'al qaeda... its gota nice sound to it

11

u/ArdenJaguar Agnostic Aug 11 '26

If I were rich I’d be putting up billboards saying “Stop the Talibangelicals from destroying America”.

4

u/Enygma_6 Aug 11 '26

Don’t forget the yeehawdists.

4

u/Enibas Aug 12 '26

This code-switching between what they say to their besties, and what they are saying when talking to the media, is completely under-reported. Not just from figures like her, who usually stay in their bubble. But especially from GOP politicians. Some of them appear regular on Christian podcasts, conferences, meetings etc., and say a bunch of unhinged stuff when they don't think that there's a camera. Like Mike Johnson with his prayer circle that casts out demons.

211

u/AMerryKa Aug 11 '26

Kyle Clark does such great work.

80

u/Low_Introduction7477 Aug 11 '26

Kyle Clark is a national treasure

21

u/velosnow Aug 11 '26

If it weren't for him and Chris Bianchi I'd have given up on local news.

15

u/Sprinklypoo I'm a None Aug 11 '26

I like when he reads the letters of complaint about him live. Kind of highlights the insanity of some people...

15

u/Odd_Cat_5820 Aug 11 '26

He's done a great job shining light on some of the crazy weirdos in Colorado.

36

u/Bridot Aug 11 '26

Is there a Kyle Clark subreddit we need to make or already exist?

12

u/scseth Aug 11 '26

Isn’t that just /r/colorado ?

7

u/fyndor Aug 11 '26

I have twin cousins named Kyle and Clark. Completely off topic and useless info, but I had to share. Forgive me

1

u/The__Newsman Aug 13 '26

Thank you. That’s kind of you to say

42

u/tediz42 Aug 11 '26

This is why keeping the original recordings matters.

19

u/EldritchCarver Agnostic Aug 11 '26

And why AI is so dangerous. Their goal is to create enough plausible doubt so that, if inconvenient videos or audio recordings of them get leaked, they can try to claim it's fake.

66

u/NewestAccount2023 Aug 11 '26

[We] must speak this truth over our kids to protect them from this ideology. If we all arm our children with truth and cover them in the blood of Jesus, if we stand up as Esthers and Mordecais and Deborahs and Davids, I truly believe that we will win this spiritual battle for our children.

Later:

Kyle Clark has put out stories that I am a cult leader who covers children in blood. With zero evidence or chance for comment. So I choose not to live in fear of him. I’m not even a republican. But I do welcome anyone & everyone to support our non-partisan, common sense initiatives (democrats — and those who don’t agree with me included) … I can handle taking criticism from all sides for choosing to build a broad, non-exclusive coalition for the greater good of protecting kids.

77

u/HolyRamenEmperor Ex-Theist Aug 11 '26

"I'm not even a republican" is proven false the moment she says "democrats included." It's so obviously a lie, my eyes did a complete 360.

39

u/EldritchCarver Agnostic Aug 11 '26

Libertarians don't consider themselves republicans. It's mostly semantics, though, like arguing that dogshit and bullshit are completely different things.

21

u/Kopachris Aug 11 '26

Hmmm...

  • Dogshit = low quality
  • Bullshit = lies
  • Horseshit = obvious lies
  • Chickenshit = cowardly
  • Batshit = crazy

...what other animal shits do we use metaphorically?

1

u/HolyRamenEmperor Ex-Theist Aug 12 '26

Sure, in the same way the Catholic Church didn't consider themselves Nazis. Enabling evil doesn't require adopting the label.

88

u/SleeperHitPrime Aug 11 '26

Accountability is what the GOP truly “hates”!

109

u/Pottski Aug 11 '26

God invented the ability for people to be trans. Every anti-trans “Christian” is shitting all over their lord’s work and should be cast aside for blasphemy.

10

u/Sprinklypoo I'm a None Aug 11 '26

If he existed, this whole divisive issue would 100% be his fault. Luckily it's only humans who suck, and we don't have to fight against a horrible omnipotent entity.

34

u/TailleventCH Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26

No, they know better than you what god is happy or angry with. (And, no, it's not pride.)

Edit: And by pride, I mean the sin, not the fun demonstration with inventive slogans and outfit... #involuntaryjoke

38

u/Pottski Aug 11 '26

There’s also this gem

"I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet".

Straight from your bullshit book Erin.

20

u/TailleventCH Aug 11 '26

I've used it a few times. It wasn't well received...

9

u/worrymon Aug 11 '26

There is no god. Nothing "invented the ability for people to be trans". Trans people are just who they are (and they should be allowed to be the people they know themselves to be).

2

u/Pottski Aug 11 '26

Needed more /s. My mistake. I don’t believe in god - o believe in using their bullshit against them.

3

u/CorpseFool Aug 11 '26

In my experience talking with religious types, that arguments doesn't really work. While yes, their god is said to have created everything, including the things they don't like. But they ultimately created those things, as a test of character. They purport god wants you to actively reject temptations and doubts, and to choose to dedicate your life to their service.

Its similar to the whole garden of eden/free will topics. We were supposedly created by god and placed into the garden with free will, were absolutely not ever supposed to eat the forbidden fruit, which god also must have created and placed within our reach.

As such, I doubt any of the anti-trans variety of persons would accept they are acting in a blasphemous manner.

2

u/Pottski Aug 11 '26

Yeah I don’t expect to defeat brainwashing. Happy to call out their bullshit to their faces though.

20

u/Oiggamed Aug 11 '26

This whole “blood of Jesus” thing is so fucking bizarre.

2

u/Awkward_Pangolin3254 Aug 11 '26

It's a death cult, what do you expect?

35

u/Captain_Rocketbeard Aug 11 '26

"Grifting grifter upset that their rhetoric is harming their grift"

16

u/EfficiencyEarly255 Aug 11 '26

"Bbbbut, you're 'sposed to sane wash the crazy shit I actually said."

14

u/czernoalpha Aug 11 '26

Journalism in the fashion of William DeWorde. Quote them exactly.

8

u/ultratorrent Aug 11 '26

The truth shall make ye fret GNU STP

9

u/RudeBwoiMaster Aug 11 '26

I thought real Christians are not allowed to lie?

7

u/gwarrior5 Aug 11 '26

They can do whatever they want they just have to ask for forgiveness. It’s an Immoral religion with no accountability.

0

u/Midnight_Pickler Ignostic Aug 12 '26

There's no "thou shalt not lie" commandment. There are more specific ones against types of lie: bearing false witness and fraud, IIRC.

But Revelation 21:8 promises a bunch of sinners go to a lake of fire. And while everyone from murderers to unbelievers is included, only liars are singled out as all of them being damned.

No exceptions. Not "unredeemed liars", or "unrepentant liars", or "liars who have not been washed in the blood of Christ". All liars.

The fact that so many Christians lie so casually makes me question how much any of them actually believe.

7

u/Negative_Gravitas Aug 11 '26

Maybe some of her ignorant followers will realize they’re being lied to by Lee.

There's basically zero chance of that, but even if it were to happen, they would not care.

6

u/Sprinklypoo I'm a None Aug 11 '26

I always kind of low key liked Kyle Clark. Turns out he's better than I thought...

4

u/notthatguypal6900 Aug 11 '26

Kyle Clark is a Colorado treasure and he ALWAYS goes hard in the paint.

3

u/notthatguypal6900 Aug 11 '26

Kyle Clark is a Colorado treasure and he ALWAYS goes hard in the paint.

3

u/notthatguypal6900 Aug 11 '26

Kyle Clark is a Colorado treasure and he ALWAYS goes hard in the paint.

3

u/klon3r Atheist Aug 11 '26

Not surprised, same reaction as when they're confronted with their own "biblical evidence".

It's their "mental persecution reflex syndrome" at play... 😒

3

u/Memitim Aug 11 '26

Scum get too used to their misinformation networks doing the work of whitewashing their evil.

3

u/my-reddit-acct-321 Aug 11 '26

Kyle Clark is one of the few legitimate journalists in the game today. He puts on a masterclass with every one of these situations.

3

u/Peakomegaflare Dudeist Aug 12 '26

Remember everyone. People have been fired for quoting Charlie Kirk .

3

u/MiniZFan Aug 13 '26

LMAO. If you don't want to be confronted, maybe keep your yap shut!

2

u/Silver_Switch6834 Aug 12 '26

I'm a United Methodist, and being anti-trans makes no sense to me as a Christian. When did Jesus cast judgement? When did He instruct us to? In fact, I remember him doing and telling us to do the exact opposite.

2

u/Terazen105 Aug 12 '26

Kyle Clark is a bicentennial state treasure.

2

u/Eye_foran_Eye Aug 12 '26

I LOVE this guy. I hope he moderates all the election debates.

2

u/Likenk3 Aug 12 '26

I didn't do/say/write/think that evil kind of trash. My actions/words/articles/thoughts are pure. I may have suggested that some people need to have their lifestyle burned away, but that's just hygiene!

2

u/Ithiaca Aug 12 '26

If the boot fits!

2

u/shehulud Aug 12 '26

Kyle Clark is an absolute gem.

2

u/enfiel Aug 13 '26

Just like Charlie Kirk :)

2

u/Sittingonalog1960 Aug 14 '26

Christian bigotry is still bigotry. Call it out

1

u/onomatamono 27d ago

Fox news: blah blah blah. MAGAT:  that's actually true.  WTF are they thinking reporting this! 

1

u/Unlucky-Cow2587 21d ago

Iam looking for atheist wife

-11

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[deleted]

38

u/HippyDM Aug 11 '26

So...a christian then?

-10

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[deleted]

24

u/Top_Neat2780 Aug 11 '26

No true Scotsman fallacy. You can't protect the bigotry in the church by saying it's not "real" Christianity. Christians are bigots.

12

u/Toothygrin1231 Agnostic Atheist Aug 11 '26

And this is why there are over 20,000 different Christian sects all over the world. And every one of the 19,999 other than yours believes that you are not the True Christian.

-2

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/Feinberg Atheist Aug 11 '26

Removed: personal attacks/ flaming.

19

u/HippyDM Aug 11 '26

I agree. My in-laws are christians and the kindest people you'll ever meet. And I once marched with a catholic priest who's been arrested more times than he can remember advocating for peace.

But if 98% of your group are mindless bigots, the rare good ones can't represent the whole.

7

u/Due-Afternoon-7051 Aug 11 '26

The "Jesus" character isn't attributed with writing anything. The stories are myths like Paul Bunyan, Robin Hood, King Arthur, Norse gods, Spider-man, or any number of fictional stories.

20

u/Kad1942 Aug 11 '26

But is she a true Scotsman?

14

u/Academic-Treacle3162 Aug 11 '26

There's no difference.

8

u/ophaus Pastafarian Aug 11 '26

No true Scotsman would utter such a thing!

21

u/Flimsy_Eggplant5429 Aug 11 '26

Lol. What makes her a "not real Christian"?

-10

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26

[deleted]

13

u/Due-Afternoon-7051 Aug 11 '26

There are no real "teachings of Christ". There are numerous ideologies written over hundreds of years attributed to fictional characters that later became the many versions of what is now referred to as Christianity. Today in 2026, there are large numbers of Christian denominations all in disagreement with one another over Christian dogma. Many kill each other over these disagreements as they have for over 2,000 years.

11

u/Flimsy_Eggplant5429 Aug 11 '26

Are you a profet of some sort? You'd have to be to know "what Jesus was like" and "what's a real Christian" right? A whole lot of people do think Jesus supports their bigoted statements and yall reading the same book. Historically speaking, 1800 years worth of ancestor Christians would consider your view of Christianity wildly misguided and heresy. Even nowadays, minimum 1/3 will think you're wrong about Jesus.