Posted on 12/18/2014 7:35:31 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, one of the largest secular groups in America, announced it is erecting 11 different billboards across Chicago this week with various messages. Some of the ads ask people to "think for (themselves)," while others argue that kindness "comes from altruism" and not from "seeking divine reward."
"Research shows that atheists and other nonbelievers remain at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to social acceptance. One reason for that is that even though at least 20% of the population today is nonreligious in the United States, many Americans have never knowingly met an atheist," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. "We're trying to change that."
The ads feature several atheist writers, bloggers, speakers and activists from FFRF and its chapter, FFRF Metropolitan Chicago.
The billboard presenting "Friendly Atheist" blogger Hemant Mehta says, "I'd rather put my faith in me," while another one with social justice activist Kimberly Veal reads, "We are here to challenge you to think for yourself."
An ad with Tom Cara, an atheist volunteer and FFRF chapter director from Niles, argues: "Kindness comes from altruism, not from seeking divine reward."
The 11 different billboards and their messages are featured on the FFRF website. The organization, which describes itself as a "state-church watchdog," says that it has more than 21,500 members nationwide, including 800 members in Illinois.
There have been a number of secular billboard campaigns that have been launched in December throughout the nation. American Atheists launched its holiday ads this year across several Bible Belt states, with a message to "skip church" this Christmas.
AA President David Silverman told The Christian Post that the group's billboards are aimed at atheists who are under pressure to participate in religious activities.
"We are using these billboards to spur intra-family communication because we believe the communication is desperately needed," Silverman said.
A separate FFRF holiday ad featuring an anti-nativity scene display at a city park in Arlington Heights, Illinois, was vandalized earlier in December.
The group issued a $2,000 reward last week for information on who vandalized the display, which featured a solstice sign and a large "A" for atheism light display. A metal sign depicting a "nativity" Bill of Rights scene in celebration of the freethought point of view was also damaged.
"It seems there is no peace, good will to all in Arlington Heights," said FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. "This is not just a heckler's veto, it's an attack on free speech in a public forum that is supposed to be open to all. This vandalism says the park belongs only to Christians — everyone else is an outsider."
As humans we have a natural born yearning to seek out something greater beyond ourselves, something greater than we are.
We are the only creatures who go out and try to find something greater than ourselves, to try to transcend our existence. No other animal thinks that way. All animals wish to survive, true, but only humans wish to transcend. Only humans try to seek out and find God.
Part of the reason you do not grasp my arguments is because you see these two topics as two separate issues.
They are not separate at all. They are both merely components of the larger attack by the forces of evil against normal society.
We are seeing people push for Drugs, for Homosexuality, for Abortion, for stealing money under the guise of socialism, for numerous and sundry aspects of the war against good by the forces of evil.
There is a larger battle going on here, and if you think all these issues are not part of a united front against God and Society, then you need to open your eyes and take a long look at the bigger picture.
All of this stuff is coordinated to advance evil, including your desire to legalize mind altering drugs which cause brain damage in young people.
You need to figure out which side of this war you are going to be supporting.
Nope. That's just pro-pot propaganda. You may be surprised to discover that the forces of evil will lie to you about such things. Lying is what they do. You need to stop believing and repeating lies from people with an agenda.
One of their best techniques is making people THINK they understand something. We are witnessing these atheists right now who THINK they understand what they are doing too. They can match your pro-drug propaganda with anti-Christian propaganda of their own, and they will also tell you that it's true.
They will point out the Crusades and the Inquisition, and the various wars in Europe. They will point out the Salem Witch Trials. They will put forth all sorts of assertions as to why Christianity is evil and bad, and needs to be eliminated. Never doubt that it all links back to the father of lies.
This is your golden opportunity to point me and other readers toward the truth. The only reason I can think of for you not to seize that opportunity is that you're full of hot air and think everyone should simply accept your say-so.
Since well before any state had legalized pot, teens have reported that they could get it more easily than beer or cigarettes ... which is to be expected since legal sellers card and illegal sellers don't. Thanks for raising this pro-legalization point!
By people like you who falsely or ignorantly make such charges.
Are you saying that no Christian has ever claimed that it's proper to use the force of government to mandate Christian standards of non-rights-violating behavior such as (supposedly) not smoking pot.
“Part of the reason you do not grasp my arguments is because you see these two topics as two separate issues.”
It doesn’t matter that you think the issues are connected. You are violating the forum rules, and if you insist on continuing to do it, I’ll have to inform the mods:
“Don’t jump threads - If you get involved in an argument in one thread, it’s considered poor manners to restart the previous argument in the middle of an unrelated thread.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/help.htm#guidelines
No. Unless one religion wants to wipe all other religions off the face of the earth. Like Islam.
Okay. I’ll play, Mr. Cara.
Tell me this: Where does altruism come from?
RE: Tell me this: Where does altruism come from?
I’ve asked a few atheists this question. One very common answer is this -— EVOLUTION VIA NATURAL SELECTION.
Homo sapiens naturally “evolved” the ability to be altruistic because natural selection subtly directs this impulse towards altruism in order for the human specie to survive.
And if there's no God, that's absolutely right. We merely have a more developed system of conditioned responses based on purely physicalogical processes in the chemical reeations of our brains. This is absolutely what the behaviorists believe. This is what B.F. Skinner taught and he has a wide school of academics who follow this. They don't believe in a soul, just predetermined chemical reactions that always work the same way. The same thing we call instinct in an animal. Yet, I know there is a difference - a soul and spirit created in the image of God. That is what makes us human and God is who creates objective ethical norms which are as "real" or "true" as gravity itself.
Except that flies in the face of the rest of their Darwinist dogma, namely “survival of the fittest”
The two issues are related. In both cases groups want to tear down the existing social structure and replace it with another one without proper consideration of what will happen if they are successful.
I think some people use the term "wreckers." Both topics are about "Wreckers."
Most pot advocates are not real big on following the rules, or the laws for that matter.
Apart from that, I don't think i'm breaking the rules. I see these two issues as intimately related. They are both examples of people trying to wreck existing society and replace it with something worse.
Also in both cases, people are oblivious to the long term consequences of what they are attempting.
Yes, among members of the same species\race\family. Evolution does *NOT* teach us tolerance for members of different races or families, it teaches us to wipe them out or enslave them lest they become a threat to us.
Nature is very tribalistic. It is Christianity which has taught us to love our unrelated Brethren as though they were a member of our own family. It was Christianity which drove out slavery, whereas evolutionary theory would have found it perfectly acceptable.
So without God, who’s to say that kindness is good?
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