No, I'm just kidding — atheists merely put out the mild idea of imagining the absence of religion and Christians are howling with outrage. One company refused to rent them billboard space and, after finding a place for their sign, the atheists are receiving lots of complaints. This is pretty much how it always goes: atheists express something fairly mild and innocuous and Christians throw a fit.
Freethought association member Pat Cleveland of Talladega said she’s gotten about 50 irate calls about the billboard, but that the group’s intentions aren’t hostile. The Talladega Daily Home reported that a petition drive has been started to take it down.
Cleveland, 63, said the calls she’s received are “ugly” and “hateful.”
“They said I ought to be where John Lennon is, burning in hell. I’m sorry if anybody is offended, but I’ve seen billboards that offend me, like ones that say ‘Jesus is Lord’ over Talladega.”
“I’m proud to be an American,” Cleveland said. “I refrain from any religion. I’m a good person. I pay taxes, abide by the law and I’m good to my family. I help people. I believe hands that help are better than hands that pray.”
Source: Tuscaloosa News (via: Friendly Atheist)
So it's disrespectful and intolerant for atheists to suggest that people imagine the absence of religion, but it's perfectly respectable and respectful for Christians to tell atheists that they belong in hell — that they deserve to suffer infinite torment for an infinite length of time simply for daring to believe differently. This is hardly a surprising double-standard since hell is an orthodox Christian doctrine which Christians seem unable to recognize as evil.
The attitude seems to be that since God is responsible for it existing, then it can't be regarded as problematic. If anyone ends up there, it's entirely their own fault and there's nothing morally problematic about telling people that they belong there. Since religion generally and Christianity in particular are the source for all that's good in the world, however, even suggesting that one should imagine their absence might be regarded as an unmitigated evil itself.
The original billboard was supposed to be put up by Lamar Advertising, but they refused:
“It was offensive to me,” said Tom Traylor, general manager of Lamar Advertising in Birmingham. “We have the autonomy to decide what’s in the best interests of our company and what’s offensive. I don’t think it was the kind of message we wanted to stand behind.
“You have to know what area of the country you’re in,” he said. “A heavy percent of our population is Christian. That’s who we cater to.”
Gee, I didn't realize that advertising companies "stand behind" every ad that they place on a billboard. If that's the case, then Lamar Advertising can and must be held legally and morally responsible for ever advertisement they place on every one of their billboards. Tom Traylor has, it seems to me, made his company beholden to whatever ads they run. If some ad turns out to be false, then, doesn't that mean that Lamar Advertising can be held just as legally at fault as the company paying for it?
Tom Traylor's reference to how many Christians are in the local population is interesting. Since the ad says nothing more than "imagine no religion," Traylor is effectively saying that a heavy percentage of the people who would see the sign — and hold his company responsible for renting it — are irrational, unreasonable, and bigoted. What's more, he's identifying those irrational, unreasonable, and bigoted people as being Christian. What does that say about the nature of Christianity in Alabama?
What it says about the Christians in Alabama Austin, is what most of us know about “most” Christians in this country.
And in all honesty I do not suffer bigots or idiots very well at all. But I will happily share my cookings with any of them that wish to sit down and have a reasonable conversation about their beliefs and or delusions.
Peace
TK
“Cookies” that should say Cookies.
Sometimes I hate autoo corerct!
Peace
TK
This is the easiest moral victory ever, we just make our “just enjoy your life and stop worrying” statements…and THEY put out spiteful, malicious, vindictive hateful bile.
First let me say that I am an atheist. Now let me say that I agree with the guy that doesn’t want to use his company billboard to broadcast something that he knows will anger his primary customer base from whom he earns his living. As for the type of people who live in Alabama and who are Christian, I imagine that many of them have not been exposed to “other ideas” and probably don’t even know the arguments against their belief, and don’t want to know, either. They are acting in a manner exactly consistent with their upbringing and what they must after week after week at their church. I feel bad for them. They are trapped in their own minds. In any event, right now in time, this is the kind of world we live in. It’s good to try to break down the walls and perhaps this is a time of growing pains for atheism. Fact is, many people were raised to believe in some type of organized religion and don’t have the wherewithal or interest to truly consider their beliefs and reject them if necessary. Many people must be scared, because there is always that “what if it is true” factor. In the case of Christians there is the fear of hell. Religion is the greatest lie and scam of all time, and there is a somewhat evil aspect for the way it takes a hold the person infected. Of course, not everyone religious is an over the top evangelical type. But these are the ones who atheists are generally up against.
correction: what they must after week after week at their church.
Damn, in making my previous correction, all I did was repeat the original error!
Here is the correction:
what they must hear week after week after week at their church.
TKnight: Uh, what makes you think that getting Christians to sit down or take any physical position will initiate or facilite their ability to reason in any way whatsoever? Peoples of that form of advanced delusionary complex are incapable of reasoning.
Just try to tell them about the the conclusion of global warming: the failure of civilization’s components like water and electricity rationing and their final failure.
Correct me if I’m wrong but “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” is taught in the christian doctrine.
Personal experience has taught me that christians are so very very judgmental, so it’s okay for them to judge others but not anybody else can judge them.
Yes PManitok, and they ALWAYS forget the second part of that verse:
“For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” (emphasis added)
What this clearly means is all that those who condemn others to hell are destined to be there too.
I live in Virginia, and Lamar Advertising is big here. They erect MANY signs about how Jesus loves you, and how prayer works, and that we live in a Xian nation. I think I’ll be sending them some calls and letters.
I wonder how Alabamans (or Virginians) would react to a sign reading, “There is no God but God, and Muhammad is His Prophet.” (Islam)
Or, “Sin is committed only against oneself. The penalty of Sin is the repeated cycle of rebirths, until you can escape to Nirvana.” (Hinduism)
(7) FresnoMikey: “Uh, what makes you think that getting Christians to sit down or take any physical position will initiate or facilite their ability to reason in any way whatsoever? Peoples of that form of advanced delusionary complex are incapable of reasoning.”
I understand how this idea is created, since I now many times feel this way. However, you may not be considering the multitudes that have been indoctrinated from birth. I was one of these. This does not mean I am incapable of reason. It means that I had to undergo a process of deprogramming. The indoctrination is fear based, and fear is a very complex and strong master. Even today after decades of deprogramming I sometimes have flashbacks of fear when I commit what I was indoctrinated to believe as blasphemy, in ohter words “look for the lightning to strike”. The my reason takes control again.
We need to have more patience with those indoctrinated and not belittle them. Granted, many will never become enlightened, or free of their bonds of fear, but some will.
If the population of Talladega is 15,000 and this person got 50 hate calls, and there are 95 churches…and let’s just say 58% of the people in town attend church (I Googled it), that means that the number of people who might have called her = 8700. 50 out of 8700 = 174. Punching it out, that means that .006% of the self-identified church going population responded to the billboard. Yet the article and the responses all refer to “Christians” as if all people of that persuasion responded as a monlithic block and deserved the ire and rancor of all atheists everywhere.
*sigh*
How is it that this kind of response makes “us” better than “them”?
I guess (Guy) because the point is that us atheist should not get those calls in the first place. Even one is too many. Do atheist run around calling and protesting everytime ‘another’ Jesus loves you billboard goes up? Of course not, but just look around they’er everywhere!
So, the fundies are offended. Let them be offended! There’s no constitutional precedent they can fall back on for protection against being offended. Their only logical remedy, if they possess the intelligence to try it (which I doubt), is to lay aside their prejudices, hatred and fear toward atheists.
I tried to post on the original newspaper article, but the spambot preventer they have at registration didn’t allow me to register. Anyone else have this problem?
Lamar does the exact same thing here in Oklahoma City. I’ve been told that the company is largely owned by religious fanatics.
“Imagine no religion” is a nonsense statement. Every person has a particular belief system, even those that claim to have no belief or religion, which is why the US Supreme court decreed atheism to be a religion – as it certainly is by any measure. Atheism affirms a dogmatic belief in philosophical naturalism and materialism, neither of which can be ultimately philosophically or scientifically verified. And are thus ultimately based on unverifiable assertions and unsubstantiated beliefs. They claim that God or gods are irrelevant, without ever establishing that God or gods do not, and cannot, exist. The bottom line is that atheism, however defined, is an unverifiable belief/religion that has its feet planted firmly in mid air. And I see nothing on this site to the contrary.
Can’t you imagine no religion?
Those very words demonstrate that you agree that not every belief system is a religin.
No, they didn’t. Courts have only agreed to treat atheism as if it were a religion for certain, narrow legal tests.
Prove it.
No, it doesn’t.
Even if that were true, that isn’t a defining characteristic of religion.
That, too, isn’t a defining characteristic of religion.
No, they don’t.
That’s only because you haven’t spent even a tiny amount of time trying. I could have linked throughout my reply to more detailed rebuttals to your many falsehoods, but instead I’m going to have to insist that you put a little of your own effort into your education. For starters, try clicking on the “Basics” tab above, or maybe the “Atheism 101: Common Questions Answered” and “Common Myths About Atheism & Atheists” links under Must Reads above.
I’m going to delete the second place where you post essentially the same comment, by the way. I know for a fact that you won’t be able to support any of your claims and I honestly doubt that you’re going to invest any time educating yourself about the truth, so I’m not going to let a copy&paste job of the same set of falsehoods remain in two different places.