The problem is, its lack of those negative attributes IS the positive aspect of atheism. Atheism isn’t a belief or belief system; it’s a lack of belief. It’s not good or bad; it isn’t anything. It’s better than religion because religion is bad; not because atheism is good.
Are these very insulting Atheist billboards attacking Christianity & Mormonism really the way to go?
Are these the same douchebags who are trying to get the cross taken out of the 9/11 museum?
It sucks that you don’t get to choose who’s on your team or what message they spread on “your” behalf, but that’s just the way of things.
You have to actually try it.
I’m not sure what your point is. But to take your analogy and run with it, what I’m suggesting is that atheists need to talk to Xtians. Not whisper, not shout.
It’s been tried for centuries and hasn’t worked. No amount of tiptoeing around the sensitivities of believers placates them. Again; sucking up to the believers and making a show of how much they are respected is the practice that resulted in a society that hates and fears unbelievers. They don’t hate atheists because of anything that atheists do or don’t do; they hate atheists because the very existence of people who don’t believe is an affront to them.
Or for the symbols of other religions to be displayed as well. You know, fairness and religious inclusion. As opposed to Christians taking the opportunity to make the 9-11 museum all about their holy war with Islam, while underlining the fact that a great many don’t care at all about the non-Christians who died.
Remember what this group is- it’s not Freedom From Religion Foundation or Americans United For Separation of Church & State. It’s “American Atheists”, founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hair. Snark & anger is in its very DNA. Since the murder of her & her son & granddaughter, it’s mellowed a bit, but not by much.
I meant YOU have to actually try it. Respect is something that individuals do to each other, or not. Individually.
I, for one, have no objection to the billboards or their content. Anything that reminds people that we exist and we aren’t going away is a good thing in the long run.
Nonsense. Atheist are despised by hundreds of millions of Christians who will never meet them or know anything about them personally. What I do is irrelevant; I could save the typical believer’s life and he’d still probably hate me; and all of those millions who’ll never know anything about me will certainly still hate me and every other atheist.
I think the billboards are pointless and dickish, but it’s their money to waste.
And while I think more polite discourse helps get the message across better, even this campaign had Christian groups howling at the grievous insult it delivered; to wit, that they might possibly be mistaken. The horror, the horror…
Religion has traditionally been off-limits to criticism, but I think it’s time the gloves came off. As W.C. Fields once said, “There comes a time in the affairs of man when he must take the bull by the tail and face the situation.”
Hostility and intolerance are not positive attributes, regardless of whether it’s atheists or believers who have them.
I’d say what you do, or more precisely, they way you often do it ain’t helping.
I just think you’re wrong here. that’s a ridiculous thing to say - maybe it’s hyperbole (if so, again, ain’t helping).
Is this very different from the way you (appear to) feel about millions of religious people who you don’t know?
As a Christian, I think those billboards are an excellent argument against atheism.
Imagine a Demotivators-style poster, showing a picture of that billboard, with the following caption:
One thing is true though – there isn’t a mild enough billboard that someone won’t get offended by it. Take the famous “God mostly likely doesn’t exist – now get on with your lives” was still considered offensive despite not directly attacking religion and not declaring the non-existence of God dogmatically.
I don’t think “angry” advertising particularly harms less angry forms of communication. It can be very effective in changing the message. In this case the goal (presumably) is to have a chilling effect on the over-the-top use of religious language at the conventions.
The ads are bad because they are confusing, not because they are insulting. “Mormonism: values invented by a lying cheating fraudster” and “Good people reject most of what the bible teaches, including rape and murder” would be more insulting, but also more effective.
I’m a live and let live hardcore atheist. I don’t think those billboards help at all, and probably harm.
I, for one, welcome our new Christian and Mormon overlords.
O.K. then-as a Christian, what kind of billboard would be an effective argument for atheism?
It’s a piece of the building. It’s a 17 foot chunk of debris that just happens to resemble a cross. I wouldn’t be in favour of the museum showing a cross that was purchased, but it’s just a chunk of wreckage that some people felt comforted by at a really horrible time. Now some people want it removed because it’s special to some other people, no other reason. That’s petty, childish and stupid, and it’s embarrassing to see the word “atheist” attached to these actions because we’re all being tarred with the same brush.