RESIDENTS in three major US cities are being reminded that it is perfectly possible to live a fulfilling life without God.
The message is hardly new. Rationalists, skeptics and philosophers have been saying this for centuries. But only in the last decade or so has the idea taken hold in a big way, and it is heartening to see the terrific growth that secularism has enjoyed in this period as more and more people recognise the fact that religious belief does not translate into moral, decent behaviour.
Indeed, the opposite is true, with the three main religions being increasingly seen, especially by the young, as the harbingers of mean-spiritedness, vindictiveness, hypocrisy and horrible violence.
Building on this trend, America’s Center for Inquiry (CFI), according to this report, has launched a major multi-media campaign, comprising advertisements and billboards, which proclaim:
You don’t need God—to hope, to care, to love, to live.
Washington, DC is the first of the trio of cities to host the advertisements. As of yesterday, the ads began appearing on 15 buses and in two well-traveled Metro stations. Drivers in Indianapolis and Houston will begin seeing billboards from the week of March 7. A website specific to the campaign has also been created.
Said Ronald A Lindsay, CFI President & CEO:
With this campaign, we are aiming to dispel some myths about the non-religious. One common myth is that the non-religious lead empty, meaningless, selfish, self-centered lives. This is not only false, it’s ridiculous. Unfortunately, all too many people accept this myth because that’s what they hear about non-believers.
By stressing commonalities between the religious and nonreligious, the campaign’s video) aims to help viewers move beyond the labels; myths about the non-religious, such as absence of morality or hope, are addressed.
Hat tip: BarrieJohn
One of the most cogent arguments for atheism is Carl Van Doren’s “Why I am an Unbeliever” reproduced in “The Portable Atheist” edited by Christopher Hitchens. The problem is that you need to be at least semi-literate, and open minded to benefit from this short article and many others like it. About a year ago I tried to encourge a christian to at least read this before spouting about the importance of faith in ensuring good behavour. Her response after two minutes, “This is just boring.”
Perhaps more publicity of the kind described will persuade believers that there are exciting books and fascinating thinkers that they will benefit from reading.
And away we go!
Christian Post
http://www.christianpost.com/news/atheist-ads-you-can-live-moral-meaningful-lives-without-god-49245/
It is odd that in America, which thinks itself the current core of democratic belief, is religious in the extreme.
Yet the very democracy that she fights and dies for is rooted in the ancient Greek and roman traditions that held polytheism as their faith.
American fundamentalism has boiled down the multiple goods of the past to a single one.
We atheists have decided to lop off the remaining single deity in favour of reason and freedom of thought and in the process have done away with superstitious dogma.
It is a very simple truth
“You don’t need god”…….the trouble is many many people cannot ween themselves off the breast faith…..
In fact in America leaving the faith is akin to…….treason.
H.L. Mencken listed scores of gods who were in their day worshipped by millions. Men laboured for generations to build vast temples for them. The business of interpreting their whims occupied thousands of priests. To doubt them was to die. Often at the stake. Armies fought to defend them against infidels, villages and children slaughtered. Yet in the end they all withered and died. Their very tombs are lost.
One of Mencken’s examples, and he lists pages of the names of these now forgotten gods, is Huitzilopochtli for whom, in one year, fifty thousand youths and maidens were slain in sacrifice. This was no more than 500 years ago. He, like so many others, are forgotten. No one cares or trembles before him.
This is in Mencken’s “Memorial Service.”
if find it so hard ot believe that such an advanced country as USA is still hookded and dependent on religion
Thanks for that Christian Post link – I was amused to see that the deluded herd’s chosen respondent runs an ‘MA Program in Christian Apologetics’.
Christians need degree courses in apologising? How about: “We got it wrong. Sorry.”
What next, a Professorship in Piss-Poor Excuses?
@ Stuart H. – well, they do have so very, very much to apologise for, it must be difficult to keep track of it all.
I the Christian Post article interesting; the speaker is trying so hard to skirt around the trap of coming off as a judgmental, vicious zealot, so acknowledges that atheists are not necessarily bad people… but cannot help himself but say they have simply no reason to be and if they are good, it is only because they copy Christianity anyway. Ugh.
I also find it sadly telling that one commenter is annoyed at someone’s anecdote wherein they are said to have ‘mocked’ their Christian friend… by telling them “you’d be a good person without believing in Jesus because that’s the kind of person you are”. That is mocking? I’m sure we’ve all come across this kind of attitude before, but it is a real shame to see people so wrapped up in their faith that any challenge to it must be an insult, even if that challenge is in the form of a compliment. That is the insidious danger of more hardcore faith communities – the individual is not nearly as important as the faith, effectively making people human shields to protect these big, powerful deities who cannot stand the least scrutiny. And if a few witches have to be burned, or children molested and silenced, or LGBT teenagers have to be hounded into suicide, all to preserve the honour of the faith… that is seen as an acceptable price to pay.
I don’t think of it as surprising at all, dogon. America has a two party state, there appears to be no chance of a third party, let alone anything that resembles the European democracies. That, to me, is not democratic in any shape or form so it’s unsurprising to me that those who trumpet the virtues of American democracy so loudly are usually inextricably linked to the same religious lobby that we rail against.
here we go people, its the first step to becoming a well organised group with an effective campaign and lobby system…atheists unite!
As much as I like the sentiment of the poster, unfortunately the picture that goes with it is extremely sappy.
@The Woggler: The picture, bearing in mind this is the USA, might be well chosen. Atheists are not viewed as human beings, with good looking mothers being kissed by a happy child, and a supportive dad.
Atheists are seen by many as unloving and uncaring monsters who could not be other without being watched every second by a tyranical god ready to punish if the do wrong. “Do wrong” being somewhat problematical in what it means, of course. I suspect many fundamentalists would thing atheists were more likely to eat their children than kiss them.
I followed the link provided by Anonymous. The notion that everyone copies off Christianity is a popular one, there are some who think that we owe our very civilisation to Christianity. Of course the truth is that when Christianity ruled Europe civilised is the last word that you would use to describe it. The ancient world and the secular world have taught Christians far more than Christians have taught everyone else. That is in spite of the fact that there are many who only learn with the greatest of reluctance.
Reminds of the BHA bus campaign the other year. Boy, I loved that! (Remember the lunatic xtian driver who refused to take his bus out because of the ad on the side?) We could do with another one of those initiatives soon – it’s been too long since we had something to get behind and show the god botherers that we’re onto them. And while I agree with The Woggler about the crass nature of the image they’ve chosen, I wish the CFI the best of luck. Let ‘em know you’re there, guys!
Cue the screeching lunatics demanding the billboards be taken down because their little religious sensibilities are offended. The First Amendment applies to only one group here.
This is priceless! Sadl to relate, I once believed all this, and, guess what…it all made perfect sense!!
http://www.christianity.co.nz/moralit3.htm
Still can’t edit!
Religious twats have had a couple of thousand years to hone their message and their methods of delivery. Given the message is little more than amusing nonsense without a sliver of evidence, they’ve had to develop other methods. How do you quantify morality? Like the religious nonsense, it’s hard to measure and by what parameters? The various churches have kidnapped morality and have tried to make it their own, they’ve done this successfully. The non believing community have to keep plugging away, as has been happening. Religious belief is in a steady decline in many western countries like the UK, Australia and Canada. Statistics show a more dramatic decline in Europe and this is good because that catholics and anglicans are both headquartered in Europe. Increasingly religious people are being percieved as being a little bit silly and misguided. They’ve noticed this and are working on plans to neuter the argument. Sadly for the religious, their story has no foundation. It’s all smoke and mirrors. The wind is picking up and blowing the smoke away.
Well, the sign was carefully and expertly worded. Mr. Lindsay’s remarks, however, unneccessarily muddied the water:
“myths about the non-religious, such as absence of morality or hope,”
I understand what he was trying to say, but here’s the definition of morality:
“Morality (from the Latin moralitas “manner, character, proper behavior”) is a sense of behavioral conduct that differentiates intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good (or right) and bad (or wrong). A moral code is a system of morality (for example, according to a particular philosophy, religion, culture, etc.) and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code. Immorality is the active opposition to morality, while amorality is variously defined as an unawareness of, indifference toward, or disbelief in any set of moral standards or principles.[1][2][3][4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality
Now, they’re deep into semantics. I use vulgar language, many would consider that to be immoral. I don’t have a sex life these days, but, if an attractive lady, that didn’t scare me, offered me sexual favors, I would accept, and I wouldn’t spend a second deliberating whether sex outside of the sanction of marriage was “moral”. I don’t consider myself a criminal, but if I didn’t have to be ready to pass a piss test to keep my job, I would smoke pot on a regular basis. And many of the discussions we have on this website would be mortally immoral in Pakistan.
He opened the door for Craig Hazen to make a baseless claim that we are copying their morality. (NeoWolfe pukes in disgust) The reality is that freethinkers have examined their belief system and thrown away countless moral standards. We are “immoral”, in fact it nearly defines us. The correct message is that we are good hearted responsible citizens. And we can stack our record beside any religion in history.
But, if you add a drop of “scientists invent nuclear weapon”, even those waters become merky.
NeoWolfe
Dogon: I think you have posted your comment on the wrong thread!
Indianapolis TV news report
http://www.wthr.com/story/14176792/new-billboards-you-dont-need-god
Another, and obvious, angle of the “You don’t need god to be good” are the hordes who apparently do need god and are very definitely bad. What effect has their god had on all these paedophile priests, wife and child beating fundies in the USA and elsewhere, the pastors with their mistresses, the clergy who have robbed the funds contributed to their church or for charity, the grisly effects of the dictat of Papa Ratzi about contraception on poor women.
Broga: Good point, but then maybe they just realize how much forgiveness they need!
@ Broga For evidence to support your argument, look no further than Stephen ‘Birdshit’ Green!
I had a chance this evening to explore the “living without religion” website. I understand so clearly, the point the man is trying to convey, but he said this:
“If you’ve asked tough questions about your faith and aren’t sure where to go next, we invite you to consider how many people have already found that living without religion provides a foundation for a life that is rich, rewarding, and complete.”
To me, this sounds like a promise by a JW at my front door. But, the reality of the world is that people worry about their jobs, get ejected from their homes, bail their problem children out of prison, fight with their spouses, get divorced, have custody battles, get desperately sick, fall through the cracks of aid programs, and that’s just in the western industrialized countries. In third world countries, you are just fucked, and they won’t read your name on the news.
He’s right. Believing that god will make everything right and just in the end may keep your spirits up, but it doesn’t change reality. But to make an implied promise of a rich, rewarding, and complete life is an ideal vision of the “Lucky Man”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=129uSUEN-8w
I appreciate the audience he is speaking to. But accepting one’s mortality as opposed to eternal life is a tough sell. Especially when this life is a concoctian of incongruity and tragedy. Some people just need a mental crutch to deal with tomorrow. Maybe that makes me a hypocrit, because I need my beer after work, and my coffee in the morning.
NeoWolfe
Take a look at this one:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1362814/Pillar-community-pastor-arrested-attempted-murder-leaving-fellow-pastor-pool-blood-stabbing-her.html
And this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1362428/Boy-12-arrested-parents-dead-siblings-critically-injured-Colorado.html
Bjohn,
Despite whatever differences we might have had in the past, when it comes to news stories, you are one hell of a scrounger. Stuff you don’t see on CNN. Good stuff. Newsworthy, yet lost in the fog. Keep up the good work.
NeoWolfe
Euthyphro dilemma. Does good come from God? Then all God does – all things that are – are good, thus evil is good, thus nothing is good. Does God know good as something outside of Himself? Then we, too, can know good outside of God, and God is not all knowing, thus God is not God.
Belief in God is inherently incompatible with morality. Morality requires choice, and omnipotence and omniscience cancel choice.
The two honest answers I’ve heard from theists presented with these simple arguments are ‘that is right’ and ‘I don’t know.’
Religous and non-religous people both can be “good” people… anyone who thinks otherwise, is very short sited and totally missing the purpose of the Christian Bible (I’m not going to get into all the others, this is the one I put my faith in.).
The Bible has very little to do with Morality… in fact, it doesn’t teach us anything we don’t already learn just from life in general, and our conscience… so what is the purpose for the Bible and Christianity?
When you can truely answer THAT question, you will realize how silly the statement “You don’t need God to be etc, etc, etc”… that’s common sense. lol
God Bless,
Benjamight<
Trevor… you do realize that evil is just a word we use to describe the absence of good… just like cold is just the absence of heat… there isn’t an actual “cold” that can be messured… just the temperate of a “lack” of heat.