The Daily Show hilariously mocks a noted atheist for threatening to sue Southern diner

(Image credit: The Daily Show)

last updated 8 January 2015

Jordan Klepper is a self-professed atheist, but even he thinks Dan Barker is being a "petty asshole" by threatening legal action against Mary's Gourmet Diner in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Owner Mary Haglund started offering a 15 percent discount to patrons who pray before their meal, and Barker, of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, is threatening to sue on civil rights grounds. "Under the law, Selma and a 15 percent discount are the same thing," he told Klepper on Tuesday night's Daily Show.

Not all is what it seems, though. It turns out customers can get the discount for thanking the chef, or taking moment of quiet introspection. "Yeah, I just think they're being dicks," one atheist Mary's patron says of Freedom From Religion.

"If you want to be a hypocrite atheist to get a discount, that's fine," Barker tells Klepper. "Well, what's gonna happen if you're a hypocrite atheist," Klepper shot back. "You're going to go to not hell?" Their lively discussion gets even better (in entertainment value) from there, with Barker bringing up genocide and an exasperated Klepper asserting: "Genocide is genocide; Mary's Gourmet Diner is brunch." Barker rolls with the punches, but Klepper's last joke shows that you can't always pick your allies. --Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.