‘Why Believe in a God?’ Ad Campaign Launches on D.C. Buses
Found another pic!!
WASHINGTON, D.C. — You better watch out. There is a new combatant in the Christmas wars.
Ads proclaiming, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake,” will appear on Washington, D.C., buses starting next week and running through December. The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday.
In lifting lyrics from “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” the Washington-based group is wading into what has become a perennial debate over commercialism, religion in the public square and the meaning of Christmas.
“We are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you,” said Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group. “Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion.”
To that end, the ads and posters will include a link to a Web site that will seek to connect and organize like-minded thinkers in the D.C. area, Edwords said.
Edwords said the purpose isn’t to argue that God doesn’t exist or change minds about a deity, although “we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people’s minds.”
The group defines humanism as “a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism, affirms our responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity.”
Last month, the British Humanist Association caused a ruckus announcing a similar campaign on London buses with the message: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
In Washington, the humanists’ campaign comes as conservative Christian groups gear up their efforts to keep Christ in Christmas. In the past five years, groups such as the American Family Association and the Catholic League have criticized or threatened boycotts of retailers who use generic “holiday” greetings.
In mid-October, the American Family Association started selling buttons that say “It’s OK to say Merry Christmas.” The humanists’ entry into the marketplace of ideas did not impress AFA president Tim Wildmon.
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I saw a representative on the Humanists Society on Fox News talking about this campaign. There was a religious nut who was there to discuss it as well.
The Humanists Society person was calm, rational and did a nice organized presentation.
The religious nut, who was given at least 3 times as much time to talk, was red faced, loud, and did a typical Christian tangential rant about Hitler the Devil and other nonesense and looked like a fool as he protested “being good for goodness sake.”
@ shorebird
Would you really expect a well-balanced and even-toned rebuttal or comment?
The only “gnashing of teeth” I see is theirs.
Was that religious nut Bill Donahue? He’s all over the place. And he’s a religious nut. Here, he accuses the man from the Humanist Society of passing an agenda. “You notice it’s always around Christmas time?” “Why not go after eh Muslims?” Well, you notice how the religious right always starts this war on Christmas shit around Christmas time?
Christmas time is the perfect time to launch a campaign like this.
It’s the time when the non-religious feel specifically left out.
Secular groups get many new members from these campaigns.
The new members say, “Thank you for doing this. I didn’t know you were here.”
I don’t feel left out at Christmas at all. I like the colors and the sparkle, I like the parties, I like the food. I skip the eggnog, but love fruitcake. Helps that I don’t hang out with people who are big on the religious aspects of it so it’s more like a mid-winter festival than a church holiday.
Which brings me around to what I don’t like about Christmas. I don’t like the people who insist on trying to push its religious aspects on those who are not religious or who are not part of that culture. The December holiday in one form or another is way older than Christmas and just because it’s popularly called Christmas now it encompasses all sorts of older traditions. I say celebrate in whatever way suits you, just as long as you celebrate. More parties!
Forget that religionist Xmas nonsense. Remember that the original reason for the season is the Winter Solstice. This year it’s on 12/21/08 at 11:59 AM.
http://www.moonchildren.com/holidays/wintersolstice/index.html
@ Tyo
I love fruitcake too!
They can celebrate Christmas all they desire. I just have a problem with it being declared as a national holiday.
The idea of these ads are to make people think…something most Americans don’t do anymore.
I think we are probably stuck with the national holiday aspect. The best we can do is make sure that they stop taking that and running with it.
Obama’s election I think is the start of a series of showdowns with the Religious Right and the Dominionists over the next few years. Serious ones. It’ll be interesting to see where this takes us as a country.
I don’t understand people who diss fruitcake. I love it. I’m going on record right now as saying that I will take all unwanted gift fruitcakes off people’s hands.
You guys must know some great fruit cake makers. Anybody got a good fruit cake recipie?