Atheist Ads on New York Subway

[Amill]

I saw one of those that had been cut up and rearranged to spell, "toxic". Smart-aleck atheists!

lol that's pretty clever

 

[Man of Faith]

God, are you good without a million New Yorkers?

That's a good one.

 

[Man of Faith]

Is that the tragedy that befell you? I recommend a thorough baptizing as soon as possible.

I've been throughly dunked.

 

[Ardeaa]

A local atheist millionaire in Boise paid for a couple of billboards here that got the fundies all bent out of shape. As I recall, they said "Beware of Dogma" and gave a website link to a local atheists' meetup group. I thought it was great to shake up the status quo in this ultra-conservative town. After all, there is a giant lit-up cross that you have to see if you head downtown, and two big religious billboards along the freeway. It's about time the "other side" had its say.

 

[Alceste]

I've been throughly dunked.

Then why are you living a life devoid of reason?

 

[richardlowellt]

One way or the other you need to worry, not being baptized, might not make it to heaven

I'm certainly not worried as there is no Heaven. If you have some examinable evidence of this magical place please feel free to share!!

 

[richardlowellt]

What I would do is drag my kids right past the sign and say "kids, those signs are from people that don't believe in God."

"They don't believe in an invisible man that watches your every move, this man that can peer into your mind and see your most private thoughts, and then convict you of thought crimes. Joey, your almost 13 now, I hope your not having any of those "impure" thought going on in your head, he can see them, morning noon and night, now aren't you glad you believe in this celestial dictator?"

"They think we got here by chance and we are just glorified animals". "Kids does that make sense, are you an animal.

"Well actually Mom, when we went to the science museum last week this is exactly what we saw, did they lie to us Mom?



Of course kids know they aren't an animal so they will say no and possible laugh. Then I would ask them if apes wear clothes. Case closed.

Yes, your case is pretty much closed, much like your mind.

 

[Man of Faith]

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as a good moral person. Everybody lies, steals and lusts.

 

[gnomon]

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as a good moral person. Everybody lies, steals and lusts.

I actually agree with that.

I've never met a single person who will not resort to some minor immoral imperfection for their own selfish needs. Part of being human. I freely admit my own indiscretions.

Of course, I assume you meant there is no such thing as a perfect, moral individual.

 

[Man of Faith]

I actually agree with that.

I've never met a single person who will not resort to some minor immoral imperfection for their own selfish needs. Part of being human. I freely admit my own indiscretions.

Of course, I assume you meant there is no such thing as a perfect, moral individual.

Then you have just agreed that there is some truth to the Christian religion. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God".

 

[Alceste]

Then you have just agreed that there is some truth to the Christian religion. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God".

There's "some truth" to the Hobbit. So what?

 

[Man of Faith]

There's "some truth" to the Hobbit. So what?

Sorry that's off topic.

 

[gnomon]

Then you have just agreed that there is some truth to the Christian religion. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God".

No.

I've just provided proof to the Sumerian religion worshiping Marduk that we are nothing but animals and doomed to a mortal existence.

That the Christians have attempted to capitalize on the known fact that human beings are inherently selfish human beings is proof of nothing.

By the way.....The Hobbit is awesome. Let's hope del Torro does it justice.

 

[richardlowellt]

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as a good moral person.

Sure there is, just not by the definition of your religion, your religious rules are as rigid as your dogmatic thinking.

Everybody lies, steals and lusts.

Now there's an all encompassing statement, and you know this how? I have never stolen even the smallest of items, never in my life have I taken what does not belong to me. There are many kinds of lies and not all bad. Is telling my children about the existence of Santa Clause even though I know he is not real a sinful lie? I have information that I know will hurt someone very deeply if I divulge it, no possible good can come from them knowing this information, if I am asked what i know and lie and say "I don't know" is that also a sinful lie? Lust is a perfectly normal response to something sexually exciting, it's part of our human emotional makeup, it's only a problem if it is acted upon with someone unwilling. So you see, only your rigid religious doctrine considers these things as sinful, glad I'm not bound by such rigid guidelines.

 

[gnomon]

Sorry that's off topic.

Tolkien's works are always on topic.








I'm really bored.

 

[Cobblestones]

Now there's an all encompassing statement, and you know this how?

I think that he was speaking not about those specific three but that each of us has done things that other individuals or a group of people would define as being immoral. Basically, all he is saying is that human beings behave like human beings. Christianity is very much offended by the fact that we are human beings and makes every effort to convince human beings that being human is bad and that they have the magical cure vis a vis atonement through human sacrifice which, as we all know, is as ridiculous as requiring your child to sacrifice Fluffy as an atonement for stealing a cookie from the pantry.

 

[Magic Man]

Then you have just agreed that there is some truth to the Christian religion. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God".

I don't think he'd agree to that, as I wouldn't either. However, I think we'd both agree that everyone does things that Christians consider "sins".

I'm not sure what your point is, though. Sure, the Bible has some good insights, and there is some truth to some of the things it says. And?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Yeah that is why I hated the Christian religion when I was younger. I felt like it was a religion based on money and bigotry. All the churches I attended cared about was money and the appearance of the church and it's people. It would make me sad to see athiesm become a form of religion.

Then you went to some crappy churches. They're not all like that.

I am personally disappointed with all atheists who have no problem with this ad. All it does is prove that you believe in atheism as a religion.

Which ad are you referring to by "this ad"?

It seems that CNN switched the picture that went with the story. At first it was some poster about debaptism that wasn't the real ad, but it's since been corrected to the real ad: the cloudy-poster about how there are a million non-believers in New York that's been posted a couple of times in the thread.

I've got no problem with the real ad.

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as a good moral person. Everybody lies, steals and lusts.

"Good" is not the same thing as "perfect", despite what the Bible says on the subject.

 

[Cobblestones]

Originally Posted by Cobblestones
I am personally disappointed with all atheists who have no problem with this ad. All it does is prove that you believe in atheism as a religion.

Which ad are you referring to by "this ad"? I've got no problem with the real ad.

Either one! Since when do Atheists need to proselytize? That's a MM O'hare tactic and never works.

The act of advertizing in order to convert people to your way of thinking or preaching to the masses so as to sway them is typical of religion.

True atheism is simply the absence of belief, not the presence of an opposing belief. How does one go about gaining converts to the absence of belief without turning it into a belief system? It's illogical.

I mean, seriously, what does this organization hope to gain except new members which translates into more money which is precisely what churches do?

It's rather silly to think that a national forum of debate is going to sway anyone toward atheism. Just like homosexuality, the best way to get over one's prejudices is to actually get to know homosexuals and discover that they are people not completely unlike anyone else. So with atheism, it is only by personal dialog that people will be open to the concept and willing to even consider the possibility that their belief system may not be as truthful as they think it is. Even then it's iffy. Turn it into a mob discussion and you can have nothing but congealed dogmas on either side trying to fight it out.

The fact that the number of atheists has risen dramatically in the past twenty years without a national platform speaks volumes.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Either one! Since when do Atheists need to proselytize? That's a MM O'hare tactic and never works.

The act of advertizing in order to convert people to your way of thinking or preaching to the masses so as to sway them is typical of religion.

True atheism is simply the absence of belief, not the presence of an opposing belief. How does one go about gaining converts to the absence of belief without turning it into a belief system? It's illogical.

I don't see it as proselytizing or conversion. I see it as doing two main things:

- reaching out to people who are already non-believers

- reminding theists that non-theists are a significant portion of society

I mean, seriously, what does this organization hope to gain except new members which translates into more money which is precisely what churches do?

Here's what they're aiming for, apparently:

The mission of the United Coalition of Reason is to raise the visibility and sense of unity among local groups in the community of reason, to create a national dialogue on the role of nontheists in American society, and to improve the way that nontheists are perceived by average Americans.

United CoR

I don't see anything in that mission statement about conversion at all.

It's rather silly to think that a national forum of debate is going to sway anyone toward atheism. Just like homosexuality, the best way to get over one's prejudices is to actually get to know homosexuals and discover that they are people not completely unlike anyone else.

I agree. And I think it's a useful first step in that process to inform these people of the fact that the number of non-theists is so large that they probably know several already.

The fact that the number of atheists has risen dramatically in the past twenty years without a national platform speaks volumes.

As does the fact that unfounded negative attitudes toward atheists continue to exist. I think a lot of these attitudes are grounded in this idea that atheists are some evil "other": when they think of atheists, they think of O'Hare and Christopher Hitchens, not the neighbour who retrieves their trash cans after they blow down the street or the nice teller at the bank.

If for no other reason than to get rid of groundless stereotypes, I think some education of the public is a good idea.

And in the meantime, letting lonely people who feel like they're islands in a sea of theists that they aren't as alone as they thought they were isn't a bad thing either.