Here is a campaign that I have been hearing about for weeks, but has now finally arrived. Below is part of the story and then a few thoughts. You can read the whole story at FoxNew.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. — 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, D.C., 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 non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion."
To that end, the ads and posters will include a link to a Web site that will seek to connect and organize like-minded thinkers in the D.C. area, Edwords said.
Edwords said the purpose isn't to argue that God doesn't exist or change minds about a deity, although "we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people's minds."
The group defines humanism as "a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism, affirms our responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity."......
Ads proclaiming, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," will appear on Washington, D.C., 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 non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion."
To that end, the ads and posters will include a link to a Web site that will seek to connect and organize like-minded thinkers in the D.C. area, Edwords said.
Edwords said the purpose isn't to argue that God doesn't exist or change minds about a deity, although "we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people's minds."
The group defines humanism as "a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism, affirms our responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity."......
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There are pages to be written on this ad campaign, but I won't do it here. Let me ask an important question at the beginning- Without God to determine good from bad, right from wrong, truth from lie how do you determine good? I do understand their desire to encourage goodness, but why? On what foundation? Who decides? What does "good" mean apart of a good God to tell us what it means?
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The whole campaign is a serious attempt to encourage a goodness apart from God, but what would that look like? It would be like trying to describe color to a blind man. How would you tell him? It's funny, but a very simple thing, like the idea of goodness, has no meaning apart from a good God to define it. There are a few more questions I would like to address, but for today I thought I would just share with you the new holiday campaign in a city nearby. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic as well.
13 comments:
Like you, my first thought was, "So what's the definition of good?" Why defines good and what if my definition of good differs? That's an argument that to me, is full of holes.
Interesting ad.
Ooops - that would be WHAT defines good (not why).
Two somewhat related verses:
Psalm 14:1:
"The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
Proverbs 18:2
"A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions."
Basically boils down to, "What did you expect?" and "What can you do?"
The statement on the ad is so fundamentally foolish, that we can only assume the creator of the ad is impervious to reason. Best to pray for them to be shown their errors by God (Well, that's a given, but pray that they will be shown their errors in a non-final way.) And pray for wisdom for those who have the misfortune of seeing their foolishness on display.
Zach- great observations, thanks. Lori- it's amazing to me that they can't see the foolishness of their campaign.
Here, btw, is their answer:
http://whybelieveingod.com/naturalgoodness.html
Don't expect anything rational, though. It looks like the primary argument is
1. People have an innate sense of what right and wrong is
2. Even athiests understand right and wrong
Therefore: Right and wrong is natural, and has nothing to do with belief.
Wow. The basic assumptions used are so laughable that if I was actually presented with this argument in a conversation I would probably gape like a fish for a minute trying to think of where to start.
1. People do have a sense of right and wrong. So why don't they follow it? Why does right so often go against the self-preservation instinct?
2. The concept of right and wrong does not appear to be tied to belief. Since when does the Bible teach that God only made believers? I suppose God made all the Christians, and all the athiest were made on an assembly line in Detroit?
The most frustrating thing about the evangelical athiest crowd is that they really have absolutely no idea what it is they are protesting. They have no clue what the Bible teaches, and cannot to begin to wrap their head around even the most basic theology. However, we as a society have taught that there is no such thing as a wrong opinion. Pfff. If my opinion is based on lies, poor reasoning, and something I saw on "Family Guy" last night, it's a bad opinion.
This is why Lindsay says I'm not allowed to read the news.
I find the ad campaign insulting to say the least. But part of me almost willingly wants to hand them their holiday season back. Christ seems to have little to do with Christmas these days and December is not likely His birthday anyway. I need to do more research but the explanation as I've come to understand it is that the early church often blended Christian and pagan traditions...Christmas being one of them.
You know, part of me knows that they are lost, and they need our prayers, and part of me wants to grab their ears and scream at them, as evidenced by my two posts above.
I've got a pretty good idea of which is the good response, and which is the bad response.
What do we do about that?
Mike,
I saw this today on Fox news as well. I forwarded the link to many of my friends. From the article:
"Last month, the British Humanist Association caused a ruckus announcing a similar campaign on London buses with the message: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.""
Just like with the protesters in California who immediately took to the streets after CA voters voted down...AGAIN...the right for same sex marriages to happen, this will probably be passed because of a very small minority protesting, in this case, Christmas, and a handful of court justices will declare the worship of Jesus Christ null and void. I hate to sound so pessimistic, because I see this as fulfillment of Bible prophecy, but the human side of me can't help but be totally POed by the way things are shaping up...
If you look at world history in its totality, the tolerance of the truth in this country is something of statistical oddity. If anything we are seeing a change towards normality, unfortunately. Of course, I'm not sure that being accepted and tolerated has been healthy for the church. Persecuted Christians always seem to be much more effective. You know, while they're alive.
It's funny that C.S. Lewis wrote a book about this in Mere Christianity. At least the first half of the book. I guess they have not read it.
It's not surprising, though, that lost people would think they found they way and cry out, "Hey, follow me, I figured it out!"
The argument for the innate goodness of people and their ability to follow that goodness is undermined by our own behavior.
I can tell you from living in another culture that what is right in the US is not always right here. And 'goodness' is often culturally defined unless it is defined in Scripture. But believers around the world ought to act the same - have the same goodness. And they do! It's amazing.
Anyway. It would be a great thing to discuss over a cup of coffee.
our good works are filthy rags before God (Is. 64:6). I'm sure I've taken something out of context,though.
G&P Mike,
This is great; until today I was not aware of Mr. Fred Edwards and the American Humanist Association he represents.
Now that we at least know of Mr. Edwards and the organization he represents; me, you and the other believers who read your blog can pray that God soften the heart of Mr. Edwards and the other individuals affiliated with this organization and by God's grace that someday "soon" we'll see them in Heaven.
In His Grip,
Bob
Bob, great comment. and a great way for us to view them....as dearly loved and lost. thanks for your focus on their need for the savior.
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