From CNN.com, comes news about the newest attack on Christmas. Good Lord people. Oops. I said Lord. Sorry to impose my faith on you. But on the other hand, if you're this put off by Christmas, I don't need to buy you a gift, right?
Thanks for planting that "seed of rational thought". Wow, you're right, it's already working!
Group's new Christmas message: Be good, not godly
WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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 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 nontheists 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.
"It's a stupid ad," he said. "How do we define 'good' if we don't believe in God? God in his word, the Bible, tells us what's good and bad and right and wrong. If we are each ourselves defining what's good, it's going to be a crazy world."
Also on Tuesday, the Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal group based in Orlando, Florida, launched its sixth annual "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign." Liberty Counsel has intervened in disputes over nativity scenes and government bans on Christmas decorations, among other things.
"It's the ultimate grinch to say there is no God at a time when millions of people around the world celebrate the birth of Christ," said Mathew Staver, the group's chairman and dean of the Liberty University School of Law. "Certainly, they have the right to believe what they want, but this is insulting."
Best-selling books by authors such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have fueled interest in "the new atheism" -- a more in-your-face argument against God's existence.
Yet few Americans describe themselves as atheist or agnostic; a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life poll from earlier this year found 92 percent of Americans believe in God.
There was no debate at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority over whether to take the ad. Spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the agency accepts ads that aren't obscene or pornographic.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
4 comments:
Okay, that is just nuts. I agree, they don't need presents! I was hoping it wasn't true and you were joking, but I found it on the WTOP site too. Not that you would joke about something like that.The worst part is that you and I will have to see this ad all too frequently with all the buses and metro stuff around here. Ugh! I'm even more determined to say the actual words, "Merry Christmas" to everyone I see :)
I'm not a big religious person at all, but I do take offense to people wanting to remove 'Merry Christmas' and replace it with 'Season's Greetings.' I don't attend church but I like the Christian aspects of the celebrations -- even if I don't take part. I do make a point of finding Christmas cards that say 'Merry Christmas'. If you don't like it, don't take part -- just don't try to ruin it, or change it to your liking. Hate stories such as this one.
Thanks for your comments - it's interesting to get different perspectives.
LTG, I appreciate yours particularly since you don't go to church. That's pretty much all I do - I work at a church so I'm there 6 days a week. : ) At the risk of sounding like one of the irrational "burn the witch" Christians, this is a particular pet peeve. If you don't want to celebrate, stay out. I don't celebrate Hannukah or Kwanza, but I don't mind if you do. It's the aggressive anti-Christmas stancec that I object to.
EXACTLY, Tracey! I'll never understand why people want to rain on the parades of others. Just stay away if you don't like it. For the record, you don't sound like a 'burn the witch' Christian..but it's really unfortunate when you're put in a position where you have to forcefully defend where you are coming from. I don't celebrate any religious festivals but I don't want to ban them, or keep others from enjoying what is a normal experience for them. Thanks for posting the article - people should be aware.
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