Group's new Christmas message: Be good, not godly

Group's new Christmas message: Be good, not godly

www.cnn.com

"Ads proclaiming, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," will appear on Washington buses starting next week and running through December.

The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday."

"Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of nontheists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion."

(visit the link for the full news article)




Headline:



[edit on 12-11-2008 by mmariebored]

I don't know if this has been posted.

It looks like the British Humanist Association has influenced us, yet again.

All is fair, though, it's not like God is hanging around showing him/herself to anyone and complaining about it.

Though, if it were my ad campaign, I'd hit religions, not God, and say God doesn't have a religion and certainly not a "chosen people".



www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit: title to same as source]
Headline: Please use the original story headline from your source.

[edit on 12-11-2008 by 12m8keall2c]

So don't they make an e Atheist holiday . . . since Atheism is a . . . you know . . . religion?

Whatever floats their boat, I guess

reply to post by xxpigxx


How can atheism be a religion if there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere to? It's not a religion, it's an absence of belief in any deities or supernatural beings or religion. They list their arguments based on the lack of evidence of a floating superbeing. Doesn't sound like a religion to me.

Originally posted by xxpigxx
So don't they make an e Atheist holiday . . . since Atheism is a . . . you know . . . religion?

Whatever floats their boat, I guess

I'll agree with the idea of some atheists being 'zealots' and even 'evangelical' about their beliefs (or lack of) but to say atheism is a religion? WTF?

Yep, seen it here in the UK quite a lot...messages about no god...

Here's an example about no god news.bbc.co.uk...

and another about following the Christian faith.....must be to see who catches what bus... alpha.org...

reply to post by booda


Notice these groups almost always focus exclusively on Christians. They wouldn't dare attack Buddhists or Muslims. That would be bigoted!

Starred and flagged.

Sounds really interesting. I'd like to take a look at that web site. Unfortunately this little campaign will only deal with people near D.C. Oh well, still pretty neat though.

"...If we are each ourselves defining what's good, it's going to be a crazy world."

This part made me laugh. Has this guy been living in a cave?

Originally posted by MacDonagh
reply to post by xxpigxx

 

How can atheism be a religion if there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere to? It's not a religion, it's an absence of belief in any deities or supernatural beings or religion. They list their arguments based on the lack of evidence of a floating superbeing. Doesn't sound like a religion to me.

Not all Christians have one set of behaviors or ideologies. Neither do Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, tc.

Religion -

4. a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

Absence of belief in a deity means that you believe that there is no supernatural deity. This is your cause . . . or your principle. You hold this belief with ardor. You have faith in this belief (or cause or principle)

Athesim = Religion

Also . . . I have the SCOTUS on my side


Thanks!

[edit on 12/11/2008 by xxpigxx]

reply to post by Striker122


Perhaps he's speaking to people just coming out of controlled religious groups. You wouldn't believe how many of them are out there. They teach their people not to watch TV and only to read certain news papers etc. You'd be surprised.

These ads could hit the children who were forced into religious groups from birth, who found an escape and now seek reassurance they made the right choice.

Then again, it may make them think, because it's anti-God not anti-religion, that the world is evil and it may have the opposite effect and cause them to go running back into the arms of their old "faith". Which is bad. But every good has its bad and every bad has its good.

reply to post by mmariebored


First of all... this is not an ANTI-GOD Ad campaign.

It doesn't deny God, it simply encourages people to do good things regardless of their relgious affiliation.

This actually allows those agnostics, atheists, and followers of other faiths to be included in the spreading of joy during the holiday season.


Even though I am a Christian, I find this to be a great thing. I get tired of people using religious reasons for being kind to our fellow man. This isn't a religious issue but a basic humanist value.

Humanism > Religion




[edit on 12-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

I think this is so ridiculous. If you don't believe in something then why care if someone else does? IMO it's a case of MYOB.

Re: the Christmas season - I think it's the connotations of quality time with family and friends that exacerbates certain peoples' loneliness rather than its association with any given religion. Even most people who claim to be Christians hardly even follow the teachings themselves. My point is that Christmas is pretty much a secular holiday unless you make it a point to go to services and remember why it started in the first place.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


It clearly states, "Why believe in God", the second part does not take away from the first part, only explains motive.

There were some good points made in this thread about the messages appearing on London buses.

I'm not sure that the UK is as religious a country as the US, but as I pointed out in the other thread, if some busybody can condemn me for not believing in their version of god or jesus, if they can knock on my door and disturb me, or stop me in the street to spread their "message" then atheists have a perfect right to advertise whatever the hell they want on the side of a bus.

It doesn't infringe on my privacy half as much as those who want to "convert" me to their way of thinking - which brings me to another point, which is the self righteous pontificating of those who would force me to believe the same way they do.

Originally posted by mmariebored
reply to post by HunkaHunka

 

It clearly states, "Why believe in God", the second part does not take away from the first part, only explains motive.

Thats a good question... how is that Anti-God? It doesn't say "DON"T BELIEVE IN GOD" It asks people to get a better understanding on why they do.

I guess if you belong to a exclusive relgion, it could be taken as an offense, but to a Buddhist.. this is actually a core question which their adherents are encouraged to ask themselves.

Hinduism actually goes through these questions as well in many of their books.

As a matter of fact, many Christian books start with this question "Why believe in God?"

Once again.. not anti-god unless you belong to a facist religion which doesnt allow this question


[edit on 12-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

Originally posted by HunkaHunka


Thats a good question... how is that Anti-God? It doesn't say "DON"T BELIEVE IN GOD" It asks people to get a better understanding on why they do.

I guess if you belong to a exclusive relgion, it could be taken as an offense, but to a Buddhist.. this is actually a core question which their adherents are encouraged to ask themselves.

Hinduism actually goes through these questions as well in many of their books.

As a matter of fact, many Christian books start with this question "Why believe in God?"

Once again.. not anti-god

Explain it away all you like, FACT is, not everyone, barely anyone, is going to contemplate your reasoning when they read the ad. Most people will look at the ad and see something that applies to their own ideologies, not a Buddist's or Hindu, whathaveyou. Anti-God.







[edit on 12-11-2008 by mmariebored]

Originally posted by mmariebored

Originally posted by HunkaHunka


Thats a good question... how is that Anti-God? It doesn't say "DON"T BELIEVE IN GOD" It asks people to get a better understanding on why they do.

I guess if you belong to a exclusive relgion, it could be taken as an offense, but to a Buddhist.. this is actually a core question which their adherents are encouraged to ask themselves.

Hinduism actually goes through these questions as well in many of their books.

As a matter of fact, many Christian books start with this question "Why believe in God?"

Once again.. not anti-god unless you belong to a facist religion which doesnt allow this question

Explain it away all you like, FACT is, not everyone, barely anyone, is going to contemplate your reasoning when they read the ad. Most people will look at the ad and see something that applies to their own ideologies, not a Buddist's or Hindu, whathaveyou. Anti-God.

[edit on 12-11-2008 by mmariebored]

Well then the problem exists on the receiving end. Not on the transmission.

I didn't take it as anti-God. I'm deeply religious and exhort people not to beleive in a God blindly, nor to exclaim the existence of God, but to answer these questions for themselves internally.

Sorry you took it that way, but as they say, someitmes its just as bad to take offense as to give it.


Oh.. and btw, you said people would look at it through their own ideaologies not from a buddhist or hindu perspective. But what if they *ARE* buddhist or Hindu? I think you are being rather exlcusive in your thoughts


Also as I mentioned.. many Christian Books also ask this question of Why Believe in God.

Here is an example





Once again.. not anti-God

[edit on 12-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

Originally posted by xxpigxx

Originally posted by MacDonagh
reply to post by xxpigxx

 

How can atheism be a religion if there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere to? It's not a religion, it's an absence of belief in any deities or supernatural beings or religion. They list their arguments based on the lack of evidence of a floating superbeing. Doesn't sound like a religion to me.

Not all Christians have one set of behaviors or ideologies. Neither do Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, tc.

Religion -

4. a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

Absence of belief in a deity means that you believe that there is no supernatural deity. This is your cause . . . or your principle.

You hold this belief with ardor. You have faith in this belief (or cause or principle)

Athesim = Religion

Also . . . I have the SCOTUS on my side

Thanks!

[edit on 12/11/2008 by xxpigxx]

Sorry sweetie. If you don't believe in anything, that's not belief. That's a conclusion that the atheist has made for his/herself. An atheist doesn't need a sacred book to get them through (unless you count Richard Dawkins; The God Delusion) nor do they look to an authority to tell them what to do. An atheist is just someone who has came to a conclusion due to his own experiences and evidence which is very persuasive. Far more persuasive then sacred books filled with anecdotes that can't be proven.

The SCOTUS can say what they want but atheism is about as religious as Jediism.

reply to post by MacDonagh


Actually anything that anyone is convinced of, regardless of their reasoning process that led to the conclusion, is a belief.

The conscious mind works on assumptions which to that same conscious mind appear justified given the evidence at hand. However that interpretation of that evidence is highly subjective, as the conscious mind cannot apprehend anything directly, only through mediation.

So, that being the case, yes Atheism is a belief. The issue here is that Atheism is by definition a belief that Theistic ideals are inaccurate. Not the lack of belief.

In order to be against belief in the abstract, you'd have to remove the pattern recognition portion of your mind. Then everytime you ran into yoru wife, you'd have to reintorduce yourself because you wouldn't believe it to be the person who matches the pattern stored in your memory.

[edit on 12-11-2008 by HunkaHunka]

Give me an f*** break. I'm just glad the adds are not on buses in the US yet. I'm sure Obama will work this into the fairness doctrine.

I'm really tired of people saying Happy Holidays or nothing at all. The Holiday in question is Christmas. According to Gumby it's "Merry Christmas Dammit" Say Merry Christmas. In the US it is Merry Christmas. Blame it on commercialism or whatever. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. This is the most prominent day in the Christian calendar. Christianity is the predominant religion in the US. Bottom Line. I certainly do not expect Christmas tidings when I visit Bombay or New Delhi.

If you want to celebrate a neutral holiday type event, may I suggest that you erect an aluminum pole in your home and celebrate Festivus.