Written in response to this article:
I dont know if I get this whole thing. I dont believe atheists are devil worshippers, in fact I have never heard that from a Christian. Am I really supposed to believe that atheists are persecuted enough to warrant a campaign like this. Should atheists have as much say as any other group? Sure, but to say what? By nature atheism is the idea that there is no God or Gods and therefore nothing to believe in beyond this existence. In and of itself it cannot be a religion because there is no system of belief. In the marketplace this would never happen. So what then is there to advertise? Hey hey everyone, listen up! We have nothing to sell you! Come to our store and buy nothing! I guess I just dont understand why these groups exist if not to come against people of faith and be the "No there isnt" to the "There is a God." of believers. What do you need to defend? If you want to believe in nothing, believe in nothing. Why do you need to declare, "I BELIEVE IN NOTHING!" Good for you, now what can I learn from that exactly? There is nothing to refute, nothing to ponder, there is nothing in the end. What about life after death? What about the purpose of existence? What answers do you have for existential questions? Nothing.
On its own merits I find it funny that the ad says, "There is probably no God." Probably?!? The core of atheism is that there is no God. All that "probably" does is call that into question. There is also the misunderstanding that God is someone to be afraid of which is an assumption on the part of the group about those who believe in God and yet Christians do not feel they need to be afraid of God beyond a sense of awe and thankfulness. I dont worry about what God thinks of me because I know He loves me. If the group attempted to understand this about Christians and other religions, then they would realize the ad is not an accurate portrayal of most religious beliefs that include God. In addition, if you want to say, "We dont believe in anything" Then say so, but by saying, "There probably is no God." There is by nature an attack on those who believe otherwise. People of faith do not believe that there probably is a God, they believe there is one. So to say there probably isnt is meant to deny that. Saying it isnt that way is just silly. Let it be what it is and dont try to convince me otherwise. If atheists want to have ads... so be it. As any group they always have the right to say what they wish. But accuracy and fortitude would be a good thing if they wish to share their thoughts.
3 comments:
I read an interesting response to this awhile back, but couldn't find it again. It was from a pastor in England who said the ads basically have the opposite affect. He said it there was an ad that said "you probably didn't leave the stove on" all it would do is make you question if you did leave the stove on.
Well, I don't think that they are reacting to nothing. As the article pointed it out, it was started in response to a 'turn or burn' campaign in London - I can imagine that is pretty frightening for someone to look up a web page they saw on a bus and be told that they are going to HELL if they don't adopt a certain philosophy/set of religious beliefs. So I think that you or I can engage in dialog with people, but others like to pull out the HELL hammer and try to scare people into heaven. Evangelism that says accept the God of LOVE or he'll get you really bad after you die.
Hmmm.... what to do with this side of the faith? Should we do away with the theology of Hell? Seems a little to easy...
But... I think that these people are reacting in valid ways to messages of fear and want to offer an alternative. Havn't they basically just responded to the 'turn or burn' slogan by saying "NO, there probably isn't a God." What to do with this awkward eternal punishment....
That's a good point Sean. I guess I need to realize that when there is a reaction to "Christian" in the world view of who we are I am not exactly in the majority.
I think they are bang on from a "you cant scare me" perspective when looking at the original context of the thing. I think I got hung up on the Canadian aspect of it because here it is not a response (at least near as I could gather) to anything, simply an ad campaign. For what exactly I dont know. Turn or burn has never worked and will never work because it is the Law and the Law cannot save, only show sin.
On a lighter note, the probably thing just cracked me up really as it seems so out of place given the very definition of atheist and I think in some ways I find it funny that atheists and agnostics might group together because in many ways they disagree with one another in the truest sense of their existence, but then that's the problem isn't it? How can I point fingers when I dont fit the definition (in popular theological opinion) of what a Christian is in this day and age. Thanks for those thoughts, it made me take a second look at the article and think a bit more about it.
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