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New Billboard in NYC Says ‘Nobody’ Needs ‘Christ During Christmas’
The Blaze ^ | Dec. 6, 2013 | Billy Hallowell

Posted on 12/06/2013 4:50:46 PM PST by xzins

Just as millions of Americans are preparing to commemorate Jesus’ birth, a secular activist group is once again taking aim at the traditional purpose for the holiday season, asking in a new digital billboard: ”Who needs Christ during Christmas?”

American Atheists, an activist group known for posting its controversial messages on billboards across the nation, unveiled its latest anti-Christmas ad this week in New York City’s Times Square — a 40′ by 40′ display that is sure to rile critics concerned over the so-called “War on Christmas.”

After asking “Who needs Christ,” the digital billboard shows a hand crossing out Jesus’ name with a marker and text that answers the curiosity with a one word answer — “Nobody.” The next graphic tells viewers to “Celebrate the true meaning of XMAS.”

This “true meaning,” according to the billboard, includes charity, family, friends and food — all secular elements that are associated with Christmas. It concludes with the more general “Happy Holidays” greeting.

Christmas Is Better Without Christ: Atheists Take Their Anti Christmas Message to NYCs Times Square Credit: American Atheists

A press release announcing the new billboard noted that its purpose is to declare that “Christmas is better without Christ.”

“This season is a great time of year for a hundred reasons — none of them having to do with religion,” American Atheists President David Silverman said in the release. “This year, start a new tradition: Don’t go to church. You hate it, it’s boring; you probably only go because you feel guilty or obligated. Instead, spend more time with your family and friends — or volunteer. There are better uses of your time and money.”

American Atheists’ Public Relations Director Dave Muscato went on to say that he believes most individuals aren’t concerned with religious ties during the holiday season and that fun, family and friends are really what observers care about.

.

The 15-second ad is running three times every hour and will be shown in a separate location near New York City’s Penn Station starting next week.

“We all love this time of year. Christianity has been trying to claim ownership of the season for hundreds of years,” Silverman added. “But the winter solstice came first and so did its traditions. The season belongs to everybody.”


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: americanatheists; antichrist; christmas
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To: xzins

61 posted on 12/06/2013 7:51:43 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: xzins; RichInOC; Prince of Space; JoeFromSidney; TNMountainMan; alphadog; infool7; Heart-Rest; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

62 posted on 12/06/2013 7:53:10 PM PST by narses (... unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.)
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To: xzins

American Atheists President David Silverman said in the release. “This year, start a new tradition: Don’t go to church. You hate it, it’s boring; you probably only go because you feel guilty or obligated. Instead, get boozed,
pick up a floozie, let yourself get mugged and make a poor
crackhead’s christmas instead. Now, don’t you feel better
already?”


63 posted on 12/06/2013 8:06:39 PM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: xzins

Just ignore them


64 posted on 12/06/2013 8:16:14 PM PST by TheThirdRuffian (RINOS like Romney, McCain, Christie are sure losers. No more!)
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To: gitmo

They are at K-Mart as well. People are sick and tired of liberalism.


65 posted on 12/06/2013 8:16:15 PM PST by eyedigress ((zOld storm chaser from the west)/ ?s)
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To: xzins

Atheism is a crutch for those folks who can’t handle faith.


66 posted on 12/06/2013 8:21:49 PM PST by RichInOC (2013-14 Tiber Swim Team)
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To: Kenny
They don't know it but they're looking for God.

Yes, and it is not Christians they are fighting. They are fighting against the very God of Creation. Oh, they believe in God, they do. If they do not believe why do they fight so hard against what they do not believe exists? Hummm?

67 posted on 12/06/2013 8:22:58 PM PST by WVNan
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To: xzins

Commies always go after Christ, the church. It’s just what they do. Russia, China..., Christianity suffers. It’s an alternate allegence, and ‘the (communist) state’ can have no other gods before it.

Stealing is okay. Murder is okay. Adultery is okay. Coveting that which is someone elses is okay.

Just don’t have any other allegiances, in competition with ‘the (communist) state’.


68 posted on 12/06/2013 8:29:11 PM PST by DoughtyOne (May his name be striken from every tablet stone building and never be said again short of treason!)
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To: xzins

“Christianity has been trying to claim ownership of the season for hundreds of years,” Silverman added.

***

Liberals need to “own”.

Conservatives want to observe and celebrate.

The need to own represents inner emptiness which needs to be filled.

The desire to observe and celebrate reveals interior fullness which overflows.


69 posted on 12/06/2013 8:32:19 PM PST by pax_et_bonum (Never Forget the Seals of Extortion 17 - and God Bless America)
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To: xzins

I feel that the more you let these losers rant, the more apparent it becomes that they are meaningless...very few mensa members among them!!!


70 posted on 12/06/2013 8:40:50 PM PST by terycarl (common sense rules overall)
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To: xzins
And Mr. Silverman, although I’ve been a believer for a long time, I'm going to church regularly for the first time in...ever. I love it. I’m not bored. Which, given the specific identity of the church I’m joining (see my tagline) should really bake your noodle. I do feel like it's something I should do and should have been doing for a long time whether it was formally expected or not, and I do regret not having done it that long, but...I think I already said I love it and I’m not bored. And I’m not in the least sorry.
71 posted on 12/06/2013 8:49:21 PM PST by RichInOC (2013-14 Tiber Swim Team)
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To: xzins

There should be a remake of “It’s a Wonderful Life” portraying life without the God, the 10 commandments, without Jesus, without the Holy Spirit, or another words, what life during the tribulation will really be like. The days of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, Rome, Stalin, Hitler, etc, etc. Pure evil. Of course, during the tribulation after the 2 prophets are killed, everyone sends each other gifts. Weird.


72 posted on 12/06/2013 9:33:49 PM PST by huldah1776
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To: eyedigress

Yep.
When I was 10 my mother, younger brother and I were evacuees / refugees from the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Navy just sort of set us off without provision. It was the Salvation Army who came in and gave us some living necessities to help us get started. There was also some help from a small church in Chapel Hill, NC.

I don’t know how my mom managed to get us a place to stay, got a job and took care of two brats on her own.


73 posted on 12/07/2013 1:24:59 AM PST by gitmo (If your theology doesn't become your biography, it's useless. huh?)
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To: stevie_d_64

“Hey Nikky...

Got an excuse/explanation for this???”

Why should I have an explanation for it?

I am 200 miles away from it, you geographically ignorant moron.


74 posted on 12/07/2013 2:11:52 AM PST by Nik Naym (It's not my fault... I have compulsive smartass disorder.)
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To: AppyPappy

For me it is a matter of how Christ would want us to present the gospel, which He commanded us to do before He ascended into heaven. The goal ought to be converting as many people to a belief in Christ as Savior, rather than condemning them to hell for failing to believe. Offering the hope of salvation is much more likely to result in that salvation than is, as too many do, threatening the condemnation of hell. True, they are, in a way, two sides of the same coin, but I see and read about so many people who seem almost to enjoy telling non-believers about hell and leaving the good news of Christ nearly ignored. I think that is pretty close to the crowd who was about to stone the woman caught in adultery before Jesus addressed them.

We should find the most effective means of presenting the gospel with the goal of as many people as possible, never forgetting that faith is not something we can choose, but it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8.


75 posted on 12/07/2013 2:56:05 AM PST by NCLaw441
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To: xzins

Questioning Christ on a personal level is OK and can be forgiven if ones eyes finally open. Taking specific and dynamic steps to turn others from Christ may very well be tied in with the one unforgivable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit.


76 posted on 12/07/2013 3:33:53 AM PST by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: NCLaw441

“The goal ought to be converting as many people to a belief in Christ as Savior, “

We can’t convert anyone. Only God can do that. Hence the problem with changing the Gospel to make it more palatable.

If someone were at risk of dying, would you warn them? If they were at risk of going to Hell, would you warn them?


77 posted on 12/07/2013 4:05:48 AM PST by AppyPappy (Obama: What did I not know and when did I not know it?)
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To: WVNan
Oh, they believe in God, they do. If they do not believe why do they fight so hard against what they do not believe exists? Hummm?

Absolutely true!

78 posted on 12/07/2013 7:07:22 AM PST by Kenny
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To: AppyPappy

Of course only God can do the actual conversion, but we are called to spread the Gospel (i.e., the Good News).

I have used the analogy of a bridge that is out ahead, and that you are the only one who can warn drivers of the risk around the next curve. Would you warn them? Of course you would.

But that isn’t the end of the story, or even the whole story. There is more than one way to convey the same message. And in the case of the Gospel, there is a warning to be made, to be sure, but there is also an alternate route that leads to riches untold. We should share all of the information with those who are “traveling the road” with us, in a way that encourages them to turn from the road they are on and to take the road of eternal life.

Sadly, I see and hear Christians talking about fire and brimstone with near glee, and never mentioning the true Gospel, the Good News.


79 posted on 12/07/2013 7:17:23 AM PST by NCLaw441
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To: Nik Naym

How and why should I know that??? Or do I care???

Nahhhh, life is too short to worry about proximity details from a person who has a low grasp of civility...

You claim to be a “smart-ass”??? Well, you are already the “Dumb-ass” people (on this website) really know you to be...Whether you live 200 miles away, or it being right arounfd the corner from where ever the hell you hang your hat...

You are awfully defensive, for someone who claims to be conservative from NY...You sound more like the goobers that post over at the D.U.

Seek life and entertainment elsewhere, you bore us...


80 posted on 12/07/2013 11:24:15 AM PST by stevie_d_64 (It's not the color of one's skin that offends people...it's how thin it is.)
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