I’ve been tipped off that a nasty atheist has been making trouble locally. My source informs me,

A self-confessed atheist took issue with a Christian neighbour who had placed a metal fish on the rear of her car. He went on to subject her to months of harassment and intimidating behaviour.

The anti-social atheist was in court today.

In anticipation of any “There, you see! Atheists are all nasty people!” stories in the local media, with indignant Christians queueing up to say they told us so, here are a few points you might raise, if necessary:

• An atheist (from the Greek “a” without – “theos” god) is someone who doesn’t believe in a god or gods. That’s it. It doesn’t mean “bad person” or “good person”. Atheists are no more or less likely to be anti-social than anyone else in the UK, though research done in the US shows that 8–16% of the population there is atheist but only 0.21% of the prison population is atheist.
• There are crazy Christians, mad Muslims, wicked Wiccans, horrible Jews (couldn’t think of a “j” to go with Jew, apart from jealous) – you get my drift. It would be crazy to lump everyone together in one category, and say they’re all equally good or bad.
• The local atheist clearly has a bee in his bonnet. So do lots of people.

If you’d like to drive any obsessive religious neighbours mad with an atheist fish symbol in the back of your car, you can buy one here.

My sympathies to the Christian with the fish on the back of her car. I’ve had nasty neighbours too (they were Christians, incidentally).

Postscript: See the story in the East Anglian Daily Times.

Tags: Anti-social+behaviour, Atheism, Fish, Court+case