Okay, I admit, I ate a lot of cookies over the holidays, but really… obese? I guess the baggy shirts aren’t hiding anything.

Yes, it turns out atheists are obese. That’s the conclusion of an essay featured on Conservapedia today. (You can find the link on your own. But I don’t recommend it.) As evidence they point out that gluttony is a sin and therefore, the godfearing live healthy lives while all us idle, gluttonous, godless folk sit around on our asses swilling beer and hating on Jesus. They go on to contrast a picture of famous Christian, Chuck Norris, with several pics of prominent atheists — among them, PZ Myers, Madalyn Murray O’Hair and Christopher Hitchens. (Oooh. Classy. Making fat jokes about the guy with terminal cancer.)

But my personal favourite piece of tortured Conservapedia logic is this:

The Bible declares lesbianism to be a sin (Romans 1:27) and lesbians have significantly higher rates of obesity. Since the Bible declares gluttony and lesbianism to be sins, no doubt there are obese people and/or lesbians who reject Christianity and decide to become atheists rather than repent and become Christians.

So, let me see if I’ve got that straight…. Lesbians are fat, argues Conservapedia. And lesbians, being homosexual, are atheists. So therefore, atheists are fat. I don’t think it would take an Aristotle to see the flaws here. (But, counters Conservapedia, Aristotle, being from ancient Greece, was gay, and therefore he would say that.)

Anyway, the original Skepchick, Rebecca Watson, has posted a response to all this nonsense and its worth a view….

Hat tip to Conservapedia’s favourite fat atheist, PZ Myers at Pharyngula.