“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple."
In the middle of the night
Two straw men got up to fight
One was blind and the other couldn't see
Back to back, they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot themselves in the foot
So many memes trolling Christianity, I think the creators of these are more obsessed by the Christian religion, particularly in its scriptural literalists and solo scriptural sense, than many proponents of the faith themselves.
This highlights the straight symbiotic relationship which now exists between neo-atheism and evangelical or a peculiarly American variety of protestantism. Both are increasingly appearing incomplete without the other, without an independent existence. Both appear to be the enemy of diversity of opinion or at least dissenting opinions.
It'd be simply to dismiss this thread with the easy truism that "The Devil can quote scripture when he wants to" but that's a little shallow, I'd recommend that you instead think about what is meant.
The radical suggestion that you "love your enemy", that loving your friends or those who do good to you is easy, unchallenging and just what comes naturally to anyone, believers or not, is unheard of and I think attacked because most non-believers dont like any of the difficulty or challenges which come with what religion has to offer.
The commentary about family is one which has many correllories in the old testament and Erich Fromm analysed and meaning that "primary ties" or bonds, incestuous ties, need to be severed in order for mankind to be free, it was a radical, and non-theist interpretation of the old testament in the light of analytical insights from Freud and Marx but no atheist is liable to want to read it because Fromm treats religion, religious tradition and heritage to have intrinsic value and worth, which is something no modern atheist appears willing or able to do.
