Nov 17 2008
Be good, not godly?
[CNN]
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.”
Read more here.
[From me]
I don’t understand why a group would advertise to say they don’t believe. What gives? If you don’t believe in something, just ignore it. Have they ever thought the reason they feel so alone is a vacuum that only God can fill?
What do you think?
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11 responses so far
I think that what we’ve got to realize as “evangelical” Christians is that these guys are “evangelical” anti-Christians. They are opposed to all forms of religion and openly believe that religion should be outlawed, as it is the source of all evil and human suffering. “Non-believers” , as WE call them, are not just passive people who happen to not believe in God. They believe that “belief in God” is an evil thing.
These guys are evangelizing. They are marketing. They are out to convert.
They do not believe that Christians have the right to believe in God.
I know that you know all this, I’m just emphasizing it
Bernard Shuford’s last blog post..Professional Crastination
I think Bernard makes a good point–and accurate point. This is all-out marketing against Christianity. At this point, I don’t think we should be surprised about it. Jesus warned us in Scripture that these days would come. While I’m not a predictor of end times and end time things, Jesus warned as we approached the end of time, people would become more and more opposed to Him and His kingdom…there’s no doubt that we are at that point.
M. Steve Heartsill’s last blog post..They Just Keep Showing Up Out of No Where!
Uh, hellloooooo. “Holiday” comes from “holy day”. It IS a holiday because it IS associated with traditional religion.
Sounds like some unresolved bitterness to me.
Rick Boyne’s last blog post..Lottie Moon and West Africa
I did not detect bitterness.. People always say “happy holidays” to be faith-neutral, and when someone “takes a holiday,” from work, it means they are leaving town, not necessarily doing worship stuff.
it’s sad that people feel the need to advertise against religion, but it’s natural when religion becomes associated with such evil causes, like opposing interracial marriages or things like proposition 8 in California.
Ben…how can using the word “holiday” be faith-neutral? That’s an oxymoron at best. As Rick said, it means “holy day”. So, at the very root of the word, when someone wishes someone “Happy holidays” they are wishing you Happy Holy Days….and the reason it is holy is because we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ–that’s not faith neutral.
As far as proposition 8 in CA, that’s no the topic of this post, but my friend, for those of us with faith, there was nothing evil about the proposition, because according to the Bible, marriage is between a man and a woman only. To live any other way, would be evil.
M. Steve Heartsill’s last blog post..Operation Smile
The 2nd definition of holiday in the dictionary is
2: a day on which one is exempt from work ; specifically : a day marked by a general suspension of work in commemoration of an event
Kwanzaa is an African American Cultural Festival held December 26 through January 1. Kwanzaa is more cultural than spiritual. When someone says “happy holidays” it’s different than holiday, because it is plural, it impliedly incorporates Hanukkah, X-Mas, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or whatever anyone else wants to do with all the time off they get in December.
P.S. It’s not good to refer to those of us with faith as being monolithic, as if we are all joined in the same group and never have any different ideas or interpretations.
Last year at a Starbucks in Dunwoody, GA I overheard a Jewish man say he isn’t offended by Christmas because it is named after Christ. He said it was ridiculous to say Happy Holidays. Why aren’t the atheists going after Halloween? Why not go after the Solstice?
Ben…so, why do atheists care about being off on Christmas? Why should it even matter what Christians do? If they don’t believe in God, why not just ignore it?
M. Steve Heartsill’s last blog post..Operation Smile
You may be cheered to learn that WBC is planning to launch a counter-offensive by taking out its own ads on buses. This should be an interesting Yuletide for Americans! Australia is sooo dull by comparison.:)
Francoise,
If you haven’t already seen this, you might get more of a chuckle out of it than I did. It’s an article in the Sydney Morning Herald from earlier this month. Here’s a little tidbit:
Matt Knight’s last blog post..Throwing Out the Sour Grapes and Embracing the Change