Where have the laughs gone?

*sigh* It seems that you can't make a little joke of a religious nature any more without people immediately having an argument about it.

I posted up a photo of Brad Stine half an hour agoish on FB, with his quote: "Who's more irrational; the guy who believes in a God he doesn't see, or the guy who gets offended by the God he doesn't believe in? What else is freaking you guys out, unicorns?" I found it amusing, so I had reposted it.

It didn't take too long before I had a defensive statement from an atheist, with two further clarifications added. I was attempting to redirect the attention and be nice, when another friend of mine jumped in and said, "Atheists trying to force themselves on christians. Hypocrisy at its finest." Needless to say, the other guy wasn't too happy about that. I grabbed out the hose and tried to get them calmed down, thankfully, it didn't escalate.

But to me, it's a bit sad that people weren't just able to have a laugh at that, and move on. OK, perhaps, in hindsight, it wasn't the best one to post. It could pretty much be taken as saying that atheists beliefs are ridiculous and childish. But it certainly wasn't meant that way, and the guys that know me well enough know I would never say that.

Perhaps I should follow up with a comic from TB having fun at Soapbox Evangelist Guy to even it out a little...

Edit: I did indeed do that, and it got a positive response. :)

Further Edit: Though that didn't stop others from chipping in their 5c on the first...