Zealots
I don’t know about you, but I find the Atheist ad campaign amusing on many levels:
There is the almost evangelist zeal shown by the rapidity with which the money for the ads has been raised. Now if only us religious zealots could be that zealoty…
Then there is the whole delicious irony of displaying a philosophical musing in the same place as we see the religious advertising that atheists like to complain about.
There is the amusing air of uncertainly to the ad. There is “probably” no God. But what if you are wrong? It’s a bit late to find out when you are dead, isn’t it? It is all so angst.
Then there is the bizarre byline. Surely the authors know that it is religious people who tend to be less stressed and concerned by adversity in their lives? There are plenty of good quality psychological studies that back this. And do they have any evidence that there are more grumpy religious bastards than grumpy atheist ones? No, they don’t. The entire byline is constructed out of atheist religious prejudices. Now that is the funniest thing of all. Atheists constantly ridicule religious beliefs as absurd and having no basis in reality and then have bus adverts running around displaying their own absurd beliefs that have no basis in reality.
At least religious belief does not claim to be based on facts alone.
And to my religious colleague – don’t play into the hands of these folk. Ignore them. Chances are they might stimulate some good faith conversations with your unbelieving friends. And God can take care of himself. If he really finds the adverts offensive (and I suspect he doesn’t give a rip) , expect to see a flurry of broken down buses with atheist adverts (P.S. Atheists: That was a religious joke, not a challenge)
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Dec 12 09 2:28 pm
I am an athiest. This is the most ridiculous thing I have seen in a long time. What the hell are they trying to prove. Live and let live, believe in what ever you choose to believe in, and dont push your beliefs what ever they are, down others throats.
Dec 12 09 3:59 pm
As already blogged, it’s quite funny to turn it around on the issue of the day:
“There probably is no AGW
Now stop worrying…”
ZenTiger´s last blog ..And Thomas eats coal and emits CO2 – get over it
Dec 12 09 5:40 pm
Nothing to get excited about, their money after all.
“There is “probably” no God. But what if you are wrong?”
What if there is a God, but you’re worshiping the wrong one, do you get points for trying?
Dec 12 09 5:43 pm
The \probably\ says it all, doesn’t it? God’s existense does not stop one enjoying their life, as this ad implies. It’s a hilarious ad, but also a sad one. Of course there’s a God, how else did we all come into being? Went to my local Christian bookshop last weekend, and it was thronging with people. A good sign, I reckon! If there was no God, the world would feel hopeless. Honestly, just look at the design in nature, just for a start!
Dec 14 09 9:49 am
Tanya, there is no need to invoke “God” to explain perfectly satisfactorily the design we see in nature, it is the result of evolution through the sieve of “survival of the fittest”. Nothing more is needed. How did we come into being, who knows for sure, but if you are certain there is a God, how did he/she/it come into existence ? Who “designed” “God”. I’m perfectly happy to be an aetheist and honestly, who feels hopeless ?
Dec 14 09 12:51 pm
A very good deconstruction MacDoc – as usual.
Ed, you miss the point that Tanya makes. She never mentioned design, she mentioned existence itself, the whole shebang. Yes, organisms can adapt within their environment, but first you’ve got to have the organism, and the environment (the physical universe so to speak).
The question “Who made God” isn’t actually a valid question. “Made” implies a beginning, and a beginning implies time. Time only exists withing the physical universe.
So the question doesn’t even make sense, any more than a Sim (in a game such as “The Sims”) asking “who programmed the programmer” makes sense – it’s a separate plane of existence with completely different rules.
scrubone´s last blog ..Stop Worrying!
Dec 15 09 12:07 pm
I noticed you said it is too late to find out if their is a god until you are dead. WIth no evidence on earth this is all you can do.
If you are choosing to follow a god incase is this really honest? Whould a god not be able to realise this?
How do you know you ave picked the right god? If you have gone with Jesus instead of Mythra, Zeus or even local favourite Tane Mahuta and got it wrong surely you are just making them mad every Sunday.
Dec 15 09 2:07 pm
Michael and Andrew W:
Your “argument” (assuming you are actually serious about it) makes no sense at all from a faith perspective (although I’m sure it does from a mechanistic one). You just “know” which God is the real one.
I can apply a rational series of arguments as to why the Christian God is the real God, but all of these arguments are meaningless if you do not accept the presence of a spiritual world. By definition, I can supply no rational non-faith-based argument that will make you accept that premise.