The Hypocrisy of Joe Cienkowski

I have been tweeting with Joe over twitter for a little while now using @pinkheretic and a previous alias. Joe’s dogmatic creationist and heavily right wing views can be hard to take and I need regular breaks from him. Yesterday I yet again came to such a time where the frustration of dealing with him brought me to the point I needed a break for my own sanity. Joe is a young earth creationist. They a rare breed. Oh wait, no it appears they are not as rare as I once thought in my sheltered upbringing without religion. My parents were atheist and the only contact I had with religious views was though religious friends and occasional Sunday school or ‘religion class’ at primary school run by volunteers here in Australia.  (I know, a whole other topic I need to do)

My thoughts on religion were that it was fiction, such as the stories of Noah’s ark and Baby Jesus. That is all they were, just stories that for some reason, some people believed. I had no idea that people were so dogmatically religious that they would absurdly deny known science. After all, science has been well known as the method for discovering technology and the understanding of things as well known as the theory of gravity. Funnily enough creationists tend to accept the theory of gravity, but not the theory of evolution, which has as much if not more evidence. Science methods are rigorous and structured to ensure accuracy and truth, however many creationists still find reason to ignore the science that applies to evolution.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator) gives a wonderful explanation of scientific process for those who want to know more about it.

Hanging out on twitter and following atheists has given me a whole new perspective on religion. Joe has been a large part of that because he is so vocal and so many atheists seem to know of him due to his long, repetitive and stubborn participation as a creationist. He is somewhat of a pariah with his very extreme religious views and the arrogant and condescending way he portrays them.

One of the first times I came in contact with Joe on twitter he assured me he knew and loved science. It didn’t take me long to discover the extent of his delusion. Joe portrays himself (or attempts to) as a steadfast and loyal christian. Someone who lives by the word of God. He claims to have found God after listening to Ken Ham in prison. At first being Australian I had not heard of Ken Ham, or Joe’s other favourite, Kent Hovind.

I have since come to get to know Joe somewhat due to some rather colourful interactions. One thing that is obvious, is that Joe is incapable of learning new things. He has been told for YEARS that atheism isn’t a religion and that it’s definition is lack of belief in a god or gods.

This is his first tweet on twitter, advertising his book. Yes, he is trying to follow in the footsteps of Ken Ham and Kent Hovind to make money from creationism and selling books. Hilarious if only for his deplorable grammar. (more on that later)

His book description is an absolute hoot if you care to look it up on amazon along with his other books, all with equally amusing comments. It is even made obvious when Joe has written his own comment by his child like grammar something which is often also evident on twitter. I recommend listening to movingtomontana YouTube videos for some book reviews on his book Atheism is a Religion. They are absolutely hilarious. His books are self published by the way and if the book Atheism is a Religion is anything to go by (also self published), has not been proof read AT ALL.

Now as you see in the above tweet, in February of 2010, Joe starts out on twitter, to advertise his book. Not so long after, another tweet advertising his latest book. Atheism is a Religion.

Notice a whole bunch of false claims in this tweet alone, let alone whatever must be in his book. He has made many tweets about atheism over the years since then. here are just a few examples.

He never did lose that repetition by the way!

Yes, he was claiming he loved science in 2010, just as he is now. Just as he claims evolution isn’t science still, and that atheism is a religious belief.

A wonderful example of his A+ grammar skills.

Grand claim here and it is now 2015 and he still hasn’t ‘turned scientific community upside’. (despite his books!)

Do you think he might be a bit confused?

‘a book’? Try hundreds of thousands, if not more. It isn’t like the bible Joe.

Except for the fact evolution isn’t religion, it is scientific fact.

As you see he hasn’t learnt anything yet. Big words though, he must have gotten out his dictionary.

Atheism is lack of belief in God/Gods Joe, by definition, not a religion.

Yes, he really said ‘fig newton’.

Oooh, a small triumph. I have never seen him admit ANY evolution in my more recent conversations with Joe!

How exactly do you ‘force’ atheism? You can’t make someone think something they don’t want to, as Joe is a perfect testament to. Ha!

He seems to think only atheists believe science about evolution. The strange is strong in this one!

Did that word salad make sense? No? Didn’t think so!

He may have 6 Bibles and a dictionary, but he is clearly incapable of using them as he still has no idea what the definition of atheism is. That post is now 2013. He has learn’t nothing in 3yrs.

He still hasn’t won…

Nice one Dean, that was pretty clear right?

Hmm, I don’t think that sentence meant what he thought it meant. Grammar OUCH too!

Apparently not!

Ahh, evolution isn’t religion, or origin of life, or atheism!

Irony alert! Note it is now 2014. Nope, still hasn’t learnt definition of evolution, atheism or religion despite many people providing same.

Evolution has nothing to do with atheism Joe. Atheism is JUST a lack of belief in a God. I have lost count of how many times he has been told this. He is incapable of learning it seems!

Paul says it nicely!

Just show things in a museum? What things? Any things? Scientific things? Or maybe fossils, evidence type things, kind of like they already do.

Oh now if I Hadn’t been researching Joe I would never have come across this gem! He can occasionally be amusing.

Yes, we all know Joe loves science, he just doesn’t believe that filthy evolution stuff, or astrophysics, or geology, or paleontology or…

Oh biology! I knew I had forgotten one!

Word Captain Caveman! Who said cavemen were primitive?

Except for the fact that Darwin was a Christian. His discoveries leading to the Theory of Evolution convinced him there was no need for a God. Darwin was the author of the book On the Origin of the Species in 1859.

2015 and he still doesn’t understand definitions of evolution, atheism or religion. Nor does he understand just how much evidence there is for evolution.

He still doesn’t understand that evolution has nothing to do with origins of life. He still doesn’t realise that atheists are atheists in spite of evolution. Atheism is the default position Joe. Babies are born atheists.

He is referring to listening to Ken Ham when he was in prison here. Notice he says the light went off? I agree with Ego here, I don’t think the light was ever on in the first place.

Yes, yes it is Superbink, over and over again!

Given all that history, this one was pretty darn easy! I have many more, some of which I will share as well.

I am pretty willing to bet that these are lies too. I think science is the bane of his existence.

His belief that he knows my beliefs better than I know them myself is typical also. No Joe, I have been atheist all my life. Atheism is NOT a religion. I don’t attend church, worship or follow doctrine. I follow evidence, like most rational people.

He really didn’t like me pointing out he didn’t understand the definition of average.

This argument went on for some time. He was convinced he was correct, despite the fact I gave him the definition several times.

He insisted my pride was the issue, not that he was wrong. Eventually I think it may have sunk in a little because he changed his terminology, but still refused to admit he was wrong. He insisted I had been wrong all along.

At this point he started getting nasty. He started getting insulting and making crude statements about me so I muted him. I reported the following post (not safe for work), but I did save the worst one for evidence of his lack of respect.

While I made it clear to him that I had muted him, he kept on making responses trying to get a rise out of me. On occasion I would see his posts through other people responding.

Now I am trying really hard to ignore his posts, but it is not easy! He likes to say he is capable of admitting when he is wrong, as he mentions in this tweet. I will give him props for admitting he is both a drug dealer and an adulterer, which he is quite open about.

On matters related to faith however he refuses to admit ever being wrong. If you follow the thread of the last tweet, you will find some rather amusing wrongs of his. (just click on the date at the bottom of the post)

Joe is steadfast in his beliefs and will not sway no matter how strong an argument. I guess when you can deny evidence you can’t persuade someone. He has also written a book reasons to not vote for Obama which he wholeheartedly believes as true. I have heard he went on quite a rant when he got voted in for a second term. His timeline is full of conspiracy theories about Obama. I swears Obama is muslim and believes the faked birth certificate that has circulated all over the web. To his ridiculous claim about Obama being muslim I point out this favourite meme of mine.

Oops forgot about the swearage. My bad! Probably the most hateful tweet I have ever seen by Joe is this one.

It makes me sad that a supposed Christian think this type of comment is acceptable. What’s worse is that he actually believes it. He has not even removed the post from twitter. How is it that me and many other ‘evil’ atheists can find such a comment abhorrent, and Joe be apparently proud of it? He has made similar comments to this one, so it isn’t the only time he has made a comment such as this about Palestine.

When I started this post, I had not intended to make it quite this long. So if you have made it this far, please do go have a coffee!

If however you want to hear more of Joe’s interesting past. There is a podcast interview of his ex wife Brandy Cienkowski that provides a rather interesting insight into Joe. I am glad that she has managed to move on and start a happier life without Joe. If you google search him, that also brings up a large amount of interesting information about him. I don’t believe he works, and from the amount of stuff you can find when you google him, he hasn’t a hope of getting a job ever again. His drug crimes certainly wouldn’t help!

As hateful as he can be, there are times I do feel sorry for him, as I feel as if he does have some serious problems. Sadly those times never last long because it doesn’t take long for Joe to switch from being reasonably polite, to outright hateful and then you remember why he gets on your nerves so much once again.

Sometimes you just HAVE to mute him for your own sanity!