Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Sunset Shimmer rose from the ashes of her former depravity to embrace a new hope.

Christ’s sake, this comment section shitstorm.

@TheAbridgenator  
I wouldn’t exactly call the Princesses goddesses.

@Background Pony #0388  
Like Sci-Twi and Sunset Shimmer

@TheAbridgenator  
I said humane (as in Equestria girls), not mane

@Background Pony #0388  
The Mane Seven are all intimately acquainted with a literal sun goddess, six of them planned a party for a love goddess, two of them helped a moon goddess merge into society, and five of them helped the sixth apotheosize into a magic goddess.
 
So yeah.

My headcanon is that all of the Humane 7 are Christians. Discuss

Come to think of it, Sunset Shimmer is kinda like Saul/Paul.

@Somber Star  
Why are you coming back here?  
We’ve sent dozen of messages to each other on this topic in private, and we resolved that we were just not going to change so we started talking about Sunset Shimmer and what we thought on the comics (which, I still patiently await your reply too)  
Are you trying to restart the argument I thought we had mutually agreed to put to bed?

@Somber Star  
Straight-up religiophobia.

@DAPLR  
Oh, I thought I’d posted this earlier, but…
 

 
Yes. That was exactly my point. While as far as we know, all of these attacks are wholly ineffective due to the nature of their sources, they have nevertheless occurred in the canons used as frames of reference to instigate wars.
 
(Also, for those following this conversation, the link in question was provided in the portion continued in private messages.)

This is an interesting one. Both the image itself and the discussion attached. One of the few religious images on the site that has been, for the most part, well-received. Understandable- it’s a good metaphor. On top of that, the debate in the comments seems as much about parallels between Sunset and Christianity as it is about Christianity itself.
 
Reading through this comments section was a worthwhile experience, even if it wasn’t always a nice one, and I appreciate the thought put into the image and the conversation that sprung from it. Background Pony 7E79, you have earned my respect, though that may not count for much since we’re both anonymous here.

@Background Pony #260B  
Most mature statement I’ve heard from an anonymous user on this site.
 
Thumbs up for you good sir or mama.

People seem to interpret situations like this as an invitation to be insulting toward people of faith, all the while pompously declaring themselves the victims. Never fails.

@Somber Star  
Okay, first, I suppose I should apologize for saying your previous comment is, ‘screwed up’. I have no excuse to pass judgement on another persons belief, so I hope you can forgive that faux pas on my part. Second, I’m sorry if you thought this was a ‘retaliation’, of some kind, I was simply giving my opinion on what you said. Other than the first line(which I apologize for), the rest isn’t malignant, or at least, wasn’t my intention.
 
Okay, with that out of the way….
 
I’m not sure I fully understand your position here. I sorta do, but…you do realize that if you say that having people with a concept of God and judgement is an attack on you(you clearly said ‘attack’), the same can be said of any religion against any other? If you’re being that broad about it. According to Muslims, I’m going to hell never participating in Ramadan, in Hindu…well, I am honestly ignorant of Hindi rituals and judgement, so I won’t pretend to know, but I believe there is an after-death event of some kind.  
Them believing that attacks my religion(by your description) because I don’t follow them, in nearly the same as you, because I don’t believe in it. Your lack of belief in religion whatsoever(I may be mistaken on that, but I’m making a point), doesn’t exclude everyone from feeling attacked by everyone else just because they have a different belief by your definition.  
Also, not every religious person is what their religion preaches. I prefer a good person before a good Christian because it’s about what you do, not what you believe. Your belief on my religion attacking you doesn’t apply to me personally, since ‘My God’, doesn’t care if you’re atheist.
 
When you were talking about your belief and America, the core of those sentences were clearly that you felt you were in a place you didn’t have to worry about prosecution or significant fallout for your religious beliefs. America isn’t the only country that still gives popular sway to more, ‘traditional’, values. What countries are you referring to that are more likely to elect non-religious people than the US? Cos I know you aren’t talking about Ireland, the UK, mainland Europe or Australia…  
And hey, you’re making a leap of judgment with that, ‘people then must think atheists are more amoral than Rapists’, thing. First, I would like to read this study so…link? You have no data to support that argument, you just made it up with hyper-linear logic. ‘Apparently’, doesn’t get very far in analyzing the mindset of a huge part of an entire country.

@SkycatcherEQ  
Oh yes, because your contribution to this conversation has also been especially noteworthy and even insightful.

@Millennial Dan
 
My goodness. I admire you Dan, for at least trying to hold a conversation with this guy. I had a feeling it’d be a doomed effort, hence refrained from the headache. But yeah - agree with your assessment here.

@Millennial Dan  
You say that, despite being the one continually instigating. I had already agreed with DAPLR on at least one point and even thanked him for a comic reference, but you insist on turning this conversation into a shit-throwing contest and have the audacity to accuse me of such just because I have better aim.

@DAPLR  
Probably best to ignore him. From his very first comment, you can see he was hoping for a chance to troll the place up like this. The more you argue with him, the more the thread turns into a regular /r/atheism slimefest.

@DAPLR  
Haha. Oh this is good! Look, please start actually reading what I say before you respond, ok? It kind of hurts my feelings that you retaliate like this without actually understanding what I’ve put so much effort into informing you. Well, not really. But saying that your failure to do so makes you look like an ass is abrasive, so I’m trying to find another way to put it.
 

 
I did not say that a person’s belief is an attack on me! Let me re-iterate:
 

 
That is undeniable. Theistic religions would not be capable of functioning if it weren’t for the threat posed against non-believers by the deity of choice. That’s the entire reason concepts like Hell even exist.
 

 
No, what I meant to say is America. In other Western countries, you can run for public office without significant worry about what your religion is going to do to your chances. Please don’t try to put words in my mouth. I bite.
 

 
In a democratic and/or republican country, the ones in power have been put there by the majority. America’s population is 70+% Christian. So are its prisons’. According to Pew Research polls (apparently one of the few reliable variants of their ilk), outed atheists are less likely to be voted for office than convicted rapists. The justification apparently being that people believe that atheists are more likely to be amoral than literally anybody. But no, my beliefs aren’t under attack. This isn’t even about that.
 

 
I imagine the list of theocratic nations with populations multiple times that of the U.S. is rather short. Theocracies tend to be bad for population counts.
 

 
One crime that is fatally punishable in both the Middle East and Russia is homosexuality. Apostasy -leaving the religion, is a crime punishable by death in all countries dominated by Sharia Law. This used to be a thing Christians did up until a century or so ago.

@Somber Star  
Mhm. Just as I thought.

@Somber Star  
Okay, so that’s kinda screwed up.  
First, believing in a God(s) doesn’t ‘attack’ you in any form. Now if someone was to insult you, then perhaps, but your definition implies that unless everyone is like you, then you will always be attacked in some manner. Don’t be childish.
 
Second, you say America, but what you mean is Western Society and western influenced countries. You’re attributing the actions of a few in power to the nature of an entire nation of people? With many of these nations having multiple times the population your’s does? Yeah, extremes exist, check out the Middle East for a crash course in that, but other than that, it is more frowned upon to go against the flow in Eastern countries rather than illegal/punishable. There are exceptions, but the majority isn’t that bad, relative to even just a few years ago.
 
Third, Russia isn’t like that, not really. Maybe if that is what your media is telling you it is, then ya sure it is….but it’s not.
 
You’re making assumptions based on what you’ve heard and experienced personally and not what you have researched.

@Millennial Dan  
You’re half right. No one is launching any kinds of attacks on my belief. Unless of course you believe in any gods, in which case whatever god you believe in is launching a significant attack on me and anyone who believes similarly to me and anyone else who believes differently from you. Also, I’m in America, so I get to be an atheist so long as I don’t intend to run for office. Other countries (those dominated entirely by one religion or another) are not so kind to the minority who do not believe the same as the regime does. Those people are usually tortured to death, an entirely unnecessary excess I think, as it is performed by people who think the “guilty”, “infidels”, or “sinners” are going to be tortured for eternity anyway. It is fortunate for myself and I imagine thousands if not millions more that Christianity-dominated nations are no longer among those that kill people for being different. Except Russia, and possibly others I might not have heard about.

@Somber Star  
Sheesh, so bitter. Have some ice cream or something. No one’s launching petty attacks on your belief; you could stand to extend the same courtesy.