The ads, from The Christian Party, the Trinitarian Bible Society and the Russian Orthodox Church, will run across CBS Outdoor bus sides for two weeks.
Ads from the Trinitarian Bible Society will run on 100 bus sides and carry a line from Psalm 53.1: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God".
Last month, a campaign with the headline: "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" broke across London and other UK cities after The British Humanist Association raised £140,000 in donations to fund six weeks of activity.
Comments
That sentiment seems rather hostile. Critical and controlling, i.e. tyranny, is the reason religion must be abandoned; it's the very greatest source of evil in the world today. This insult calling atheists "fools" goes right to the heart of the issue: Obviously my morality is superior to theirs. I don't go around insulting people, let alone anything worse.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The wise man said it out loud.
A K - 05/02/2009
And whoever says 'You fool!' will be in danger of hell fire. --Mathew 5:22
The poster contained a url leading to a webpage telling all non-Christians that they would spend "all eternity in torment in Hell" and would "burn in a lake of fire", quoted from Matthew 25:41.
A lake of fire? How does that work?
The original atheist campaign was funded by donations and had a fun lighthearted response to the Christian and other religious adverts already on our transport. It used the statement 'probably' to provoke thought and discussion on religious and spiritual topics and ended with advice to enjoy life... No one was particularly insulted and some Christian and other religious organisations said it did them as much good as the atheists as it promoted discussion amongst non believers about god.
This advert is quite insulting and rather than promoting thought and discussion it directly attacks all non-Christians by quoting from a specific religious text. That is to say it is a message that anyone not of this specific church is a fool.
I don't see how it is anything but a childish snipe as it clearly wont engage anyone by insulting them and their beliefs or encourage them to join the church... Why would anyone join an organisation that does something like this when faced with a playful advert suggesting people should be happy regardless of the existence of a god? Why they couldn't just respond with a bright poster to cheer people up that said 'there definitely is a god - so be happy'?
A wasted opportunity to improve the general public's perception of the church which may well do more harm than good.
Surely there are more pressing issues to solve in the world that the church could focus its energies on that than this kind of tit-for-tat childish crap?
what happened to turn the other cheek. If Jesus was still in his grave I'm sure he'd be spinning..
If Jesus were still in his grave, Kevin, we wouldn't be having this discussion
Boy, it's pretty amazing what some people will believe, just because someone \(of dubious intelligence, judging by the weirdness of their writings) wrote down a third person description of a supernatural happening thousands of years ago!! Pretty weak evidence, I'd say.
What should be posted is the FULL TEXT of the Ten Commandments, which specify DEATH for breaking most of them!!! That might cause some to re-think whether christianity is really a viable way of life!!
When insulting and rude comments like this are put up by religionists, it merely drives those in the middle, and those who are indifferent, further away from religion even more rapidly than they already are. This type of response is excellent, and really all that atheists could hope for from the religious. Getting all theists to become deists is a great step in harm reduction, and is a necessary one on the move to atheism. Also, the more bug-eyed and shrill Christians are, the more they look and act like Muslims, also accelerating the rate at which educated and reasonable people leave Christianity.
I'm a Christian, and i must say i'm so frustrated with these backlash campaigns by Christian Groups, who have only made the situation worse in my opinion. People won't take this seriously, and as mentioned above, it does all reflect pretty badly on the groups involved.
What i will say though is that i think the whole Atheist campaign itself was founded on a pretty flawed notion of what it means to be a Christian. My faith has led me to live a much fuller, more productive and enjoyable life than i ever had before - in my work, my relationships with others, my finances etc. etc. It's based on a personal revelation of the forces at work in my life \(which i call God) and a personal relationship with Him.
Also, Jerry Newsom's comment above relating to the 10 Commandments is completely wrong. Even a rudimentary understanding of the teaching will reveal that The Law was given not as a rulebook on how Christian's must live, but as an illustration that we absolutely can't expect to live as perfect individuals, and that we should stop worrying about this and turn our eyes away from our shortcomings and on to Him.
Anyway, not really appropriate discussion for a marketing website i know, but i felt compelled to contribute!
Comments
James Polk - 04/02/2009
That sentiment seems rather hostile. Critical and controlling, i.e. tyranny, is the reason religion must be abandoned; it's the very greatest source of evil in the world today. This insult calling atheists "fools" goes right to the heart of the issue: Obviously my morality is superior to theirs. I don't go around insulting people, let alone anything worse.
Chris W - 05/02/2009
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The wise man said it out loud.
A K - 05/02/2009
And whoever says 'You fool!' will be in danger of hell fire. --Mathew 5:22
steve cox - 05/02/2009
The poster contained a url leading to a webpage telling all non-Christians that they would spend "all eternity in torment in Hell" and would "burn in a lake of fire", quoted from Matthew 25:41. A lake of fire? How does that work?
Bex White - 05/02/2009
The original atheist campaign was funded by donations and had a fun lighthearted response to the Christian and other religious adverts already on our transport. It used the statement 'probably' to provoke thought and discussion on religious and spiritual topics and ended with advice to enjoy life... No one was particularly insulted and some Christian and other religious organisations said it did them as much good as the atheists as it promoted discussion amongst non believers about god. This advert is quite insulting and rather than promoting thought and discussion it directly attacks all non-Christians by quoting from a specific religious text. That is to say it is a message that anyone not of this specific church is a fool. I don't see how it is anything but a childish snipe as it clearly wont engage anyone by insulting them and their beliefs or encourage them to join the church... Why would anyone join an organisation that does something like this when faced with a playful advert suggesting people should be happy regardless of the existence of a god? Why they couldn't just respond with a bright poster to cheer people up that said 'there definitely is a god - so be happy'? A wasted opportunity to improve the general public's perception of the church which may well do more harm than good.
Kevin Chesters - 05/02/2009
Surely there are more pressing issues to solve in the world that the church could focus its energies on that than this kind of tit-for-tat childish crap? what happened to turn the other cheek. If Jesus was still in his grave I'm sure he'd be spinning..
Michael Barnett - 06/02/2009
If Jesus were still in his grave, Kevin, we wouldn't be having this discussion
Jerry Newsom - 12/02/2009
Boy, it's pretty amazing what some people will believe, just because someone \(of dubious intelligence, judging by the weirdness of their writings) wrote down a third person description of a supernatural happening thousands of years ago!! Pretty weak evidence, I'd say. What should be posted is the FULL TEXT of the Ten Commandments, which specify DEATH for breaking most of them!!! That might cause some to re-think whether christianity is really a viable way of life!!
Drew Shaw - 12/02/2009
When insulting and rude comments like this are put up by religionists, it merely drives those in the middle, and those who are indifferent, further away from religion even more rapidly than they already are. This type of response is excellent, and really all that atheists could hope for from the religious. Getting all theists to become deists is a great step in harm reduction, and is a necessary one on the move to atheism. Also, the more bug-eyed and shrill Christians are, the more they look and act like Muslims, also accelerating the rate at which educated and reasonable people leave Christianity.
Mike Potter - 18/02/2009
I'm a Christian, and i must say i'm so frustrated with these backlash campaigns by Christian Groups, who have only made the situation worse in my opinion. People won't take this seriously, and as mentioned above, it does all reflect pretty badly on the groups involved. What i will say though is that i think the whole Atheist campaign itself was founded on a pretty flawed notion of what it means to be a Christian. My faith has led me to live a much fuller, more productive and enjoyable life than i ever had before - in my work, my relationships with others, my finances etc. etc. It's based on a personal revelation of the forces at work in my life \(which i call God) and a personal relationship with Him. Also, Jerry Newsom's comment above relating to the 10 Commandments is completely wrong. Even a rudimentary understanding of the teaching will reveal that The Law was given not as a rulebook on how Christian's must live, but as an illustration that we absolutely can't expect to live as perfect individuals, and that we should stop worrying about this and turn our eyes away from our shortcomings and on to Him. Anyway, not really appropriate discussion for a marketing website i know, but i felt compelled to contribute!