Interesting point. It would be awesome if the ASA decides that all pro-religious adverts must also contain the word “probably.” As it is, there’s a bit of a double standard here.
Well, I’m sure there are one or two such out there. That’s not the point, though - as Chessic Sense notes, there are lots of people probably hanging onto their faith by a thread, and for most of those people, their religion effectively was selected by tombola; it’s an accident of birth.
There are times when “stop worrying and enjoy life” is a message preferable to the religious alternative.
Recently the chaplains at the hospital where I work have begun reading the Spiritual Message Of The Day over the P.A. system. This morning I’m heading to my office and I hear the chaplain intoning the words “Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death…”.
Uh-huh, that’s absolutely what I’d want to hear as I was being wheeled into Surgery. :eek:
There are more than enough religious billboards out there. Believers can deal with a push back.
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Demons
and Elder Gods
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Only because you seem to be convinced that atheists want to convert people. When atheists do something that isn’t aimed at this, you say it is counterproductive instead of perhaps changing your assumptions.
The sign as used is closer to the actual situation, which counts more than a lying ad which might convert more people.
So are you saying that these signs are not a attempt to convert people, or at least sway them, or concrete their view in atheism?
It seems to me that the signs are an attempt to **reassure **people. That’s not the same thing as converting them.
Eeewww!!! I wonder if they actually thought about that beforehand?!
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil, because I am the meanest son of a bitch in the valley!
I have often wondered the same thing about Christian signs that you see everywhere, especially on American highways:
- Jesus loves you
- Turn to the light
- Jesus cares
- problems in life? turn to Jesus
- etc etc
They are never reasoned out, and are pretty similar to the atheist ads.
Who are these ads targetted at?
pdts
Bingo. This is a precise and highly effective way of putting what I have been trying to say about this ad in other threads, thank you. This is why it is a stupid slogan.
Yes. It reassures them like **Mangetout’s **burger sign.
Great job, guys
The ad appeals to me. It addresses something I struggled with for years, and just reading it brings me comfort even now. I feel that I was brainwashed into believing something damaging as a child and I’m just now at forty learning to NOT think I’m going to hell for not believing Jesus Christ is my Savior. I’m not an insecure atheist anymore, but I know there are people out there struggle with that fear and unnecessary feeling of guilt and they need to hear it.
It’s a great saying. It’s a great suggestion. I wish people would take it for what it actually says instead of trying so damned hard to turn atheists into villains. We are entitled to speak our minds.
This week alone I’ve passed a church with an entire yard of crosses to represent “800 unborn babies murdered in Memphis this year”. I see “No Jesus No Peace” billboards and “Hell is Hot” handpainted signs all over Memphis. You can’t walk a block without smarmy cracks on lighted church signs letting you know if you’re not Christian you’re not shit. I remember a few years back there was an ugly battle over someone wanting to display a statue of Buddha in their yard. It was offensive to the neighbors. Neighbors who probably have crosses up at Easter and the Nativity scenes at Christmas, but GOD FORBID (heh) a Buddhist have a shameful display of Buddha sitting crosslegged on the lawn. It’ll corrupt the children, don’t you know!
It’s frustrating, to say the least. But other than this post at this time, you will probably never hear me complain about being inundated by Christian evangelism every time I leave my house (and sometimes while I’m there!). I won’t put down anyone’s religion but should I just shut up and not offer my own opinion? Should the British Humanists shut up and end their bus campaign because some people find it offensive? I don’t think so, and I appreciate the people who are brave enough to stand up for what they believe in the face of many who see them as the enemy for their beliefs. What they state IS what they believe to be truth. What is wrong with that?
Stronger, yes. But also more preachy, IMO. I don’t care much for absolutist statements. I’ve heard enough of that in religion, thanks very much. I prefer the version that actually made it on the bus.
It doesn’t seem analogous to me. As someone for whom this slogan resonates, I don’t have a problem with the “probably.” It’s comforting enough to know that there’s room for doubt, without having to insist on the absence of a deity. I guess I worry more about the presence or absence of something with an actual, measurable effect (i.e. E. coli) than something for which the evidence is sketchy, to say the least.
Interesting. Do you have a link to a news story about that, by any chance? Might come in handy.
Whether or not a restaurant has E.coli in it’s food is a quantifiable fact that can be measured and definitively answered. I don’t see any similarity.
The ads are supposed to make you think. Seems to work. They caused this thread to exist when someone thought about it.
Wasn’t there a response to the ad that said “There definitely is a God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”? Clever, but surely that would contravene the ASA.
And there was the somewhat less fun, “The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God” (or something very similar- it’s a Bible quote). (I saw way more of those than the original atheist slogan, sadly.)
There isn’t any. The ones making the claim are making a really big stretch with their analogies.
The problem is really simple. People who post religious signs think that they might be keeping you from eternal torment. In their minds, they are being altruistic. But they cannot come up with any reason anywhere near as justifiable for an atheist to try to convert. So they have very little tolerance for it.
Me? If there were anywhere near as many atheist signs as Christian signs, I might be a little annoyed. But it’s just one slogan. Why should I care? There are a lot worse things going on.
It’s not about logic and evidence. Anyone working on that basis is likely already an atheist. It’s about the impression that the sign leaves in the minds of those who are wavering and want re-assurance (who must surely be the target market of the ad).
When you are trying to re-assure someone, telling them that it’s going to be all right - “probably” - will be heard by many not as re-assurance but as an admission that you don’t really have much idea.
To continue the analogy, people who get the wrong impression from the burger sign aren’t going to come in with their testing kit and apply it before taking a bite: it’s not practical. They are just going to figure you are obviously concerned that there might be e.coli in the burgers and never come into your restaurant in the first place.