Those of us who are fond of reality make the mistake of using logic and reason to deal with religious nutters in an attempt to show them their conclusions are flawed.  (We use the term “flawed” because it’s impolite to use the more accurate term: “fucking stupid.”)  We can be persuaded by logic and reason, so we make the mistaken assumption it can work on them.  Unfortunately, their mighty shields of impenetrable ignorance can deflect even the most obvious facts.

Anger and outrage are even less effective.  They are black holes of anger and outrage, and so any more directed at them just gets sucked into their own dark core – it feeds them.

There is a weapon, though, that they simply can’t handle – ridicule.  The most obvious example was the Dutch cartoons that resulted in thousands of Muslims going on murderous riots and rampages – and they’re still trying to kill the cartoonists.   Fortunately for us, most fundy Christians aren’t as violent as fundy Muslims, so we can have some serious fun at their expense without the serious consequences of being attacked by seriously pissed-off followers the eternally angry Allah.

Alleged homosexual Fred Phelps provides us with a perfect test bed for nutter containment.  Normal citizens have reacted to his insanity by blocking his protests with fire trucks, motorcycle brigades, their own signs, and passing laws restricting protests at military funerals.  (I think it says a lot about us that he hasn’t been beaten to a bloody pulp.  Not even once.)  But when he showed up outside Twitter’s offices in San Francisco to protest, well, everything in the city, he was met by a counter protest of signs even more bizarre and ridiculous than his.

My personal favorite was “I Have a Sign,” although “Bitch Burger” runs a close second for its pure meaningless surrealism.  I appreciate people who go out of their way to add a little surrealism to our lives.

I’ll sometimes debate with religious nutters for my own amusement, getting them to contradict themselves or backing them into corners, but these signs have inspired me to try a different approach.  The next time I have a chance I’ll just ask them, as seriously as I can, “Do you think Martians like pancakes?”  It makes just as much sense as what they’re saying.