I am not an atheist, but even so, I find it remarkable that whenever an atheist group hires out a billboard to advertise a message that basically boils down to “God doesn’t exist,” they are met with howls of hypocritical rage from people who spend lots of money to advertise the message “God exists.” Such atheist groups are often labeled as “militant atheists,” and the billboards/advertisements denounced as insulting or aggressive or “in your face” or just plain mean. And yet I’ve not seen any such messages that are really all that confrontational… do a minimal rewording of them so that instead of saying “God doesn’t exist” they now say “God exists,” and they’d be entirely bland, and would be essentially ignored.
But rather than just shrug and go on about their day (as the vast majority of non-believers in a particular religion do when they see an advertisement for a particular religion), some militant religionists have to go way out of their way to fight that message. Sometimes that’s in the form of public denouncements, sometime sin the form of competing ads (as if there weren’t already a whole bunch of ’em anyway), sometimes that’s in the form of vandalism or theft. And then there’s this:
Short form is, a group of atheists hired out ad space on the side of buses in Forth Worth, Texas, for ads that read “Millions of Americans are good without God.” This is an accurate, flat statement of non-controversial fact, but as pointed out in the vox populi in the video in the link above, some Christians think that it is insulting to point this out. So… they’ve hired panel trucks to follow the buses around like rapid paparazzi, with giant “I still love you – God” signs on them.
I doubt it’s illegal to intentionally tail someone around town all day, but it sure is creepy. Smacks of stalkers, psycho ex girlfriends and pedophiles looking for the next victim.
Ah, well.
A thought occurs:
“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you”
Nah. That’s crazytalk, clearly dreamed up by someone who’s anti-Christian. Everyone knows that you’re supposed to wear your religion like an airplane towing a bannerad.
8 Responses to “Not creepy. Nope. Not at all.”
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You know what it’s time for now:
Atheist ad truck, followed by pro-religion ad truck….followed by Flying Spaghetti Monster ad truck!
Actually, I’m thinking a couple kids on mopeds pulling a Flying Spaghetti Monster parade balloon. Followed by a glitzed-out limo with a flying saucer mounted to the roof advertising for… you know, *those* guys.
And where does Great Lord Cthulhu fit into all of this? We don’t want _him_ to feel left out, or we all might end up turned inside out.
Just like “Newman’s Own” Spaghetti sauce, the Flying Spaghetti Monster needs His own line of pasta products.
As I and quire few others have wondered, how weak is the faith of those who object to these ads. Is their faith so weak that they actually feel threatened by others going public with their beliefs? I think so. Rather than spending money and emotional capital fighting these ads, perhaps they should spend more time exploring their relationship with the divine.
I find it curious that those who profess not to believe in god/religion still find the need to prosleytize their own belief system.
> I find it curious …
Why? If 90% of everyone believed in some meaningless bit of superstitious fluffery, like, say, that harmless invisible pink dragons inhabit everyone’s garages, why would it be curious that those who *don’t* believe that might on occasion say publicly that the belief is goofy and unsupported? If non-believers in the Invisible Pink Dragons were looked down upon by society as a whole as being morally lacking due to their lack of belief, why would it be odd that those disbelievers would want to gather together for fellowship or support?
> Is their faith so weak that they actually feel threatened by others going public with their beliefs?
Yes.
Berni S. wrote
“I find it curious that those who profess not to believe in god/religion still find the need to prosleytize their own belief system.”
Yog-Sothoth, Yog-Sothoth!
If I keep saying that enough, maybe I can feel up Sandra Dee also.
YOG-SOTHOTH! YOG-SOTHOTH! 😀