Now that just warms my atheist heart

[aprilstarchild]

Story Here!

There was a campaign on buses in England, paid for by a Humanist group, that just says: "There's probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

Christian groups predictably threw a hissy fit.

Comments

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

I don't have to be okay with people who believe unprovable things.

Also: Other than that interview in The Sun, have you read Harris? Did you read The End of Faith or Letter to a Christian Nation? And in terms of Dawkins, have you read The God Delusion? Or are you going with things you've heard them say in the media?

Because the way their words can be twisted (not saying The Sun did that) is not a good representation of them. I can loan you The God Delusion if you want.

But if not, I mean, I didn't post that picture/article to have a discussion about whether you like the way atheists present themselves.

To a certain extent, I don't think Dawkins or Harris care whether they're "reaching across the divide" or not. They're saying, Here are the logical arguments against the existence of god, take it or leave it.

And again, how they present the information, or how you and I feel about it, has *nothing* to do with whether or not god exists or science is the best way to find things out, and I think it's important to separate those two things.

[jenhowell.livejournal.com]

You don't have to be okay with it, but how does not being okay with it help you or them?

I have read parts of each of the books. Admittedly, I should read them in full to fully debate anything about them. But I found their tone off-putting enough that I didn't finish it.

As to The Sun they print interviews in full - as in the full question followed by the full answer. Not little snippet quotes, but the person's full thought. So it was not out of context, it was the transcript.

Of course how they present themselves doesn't have to do with the argument itself, but like I said, I have no problem with the argument. I was an atheist for a long time and I respect the atheist position. I also respect people who feel they have a connection with a god(s) and have no problem with it whatsoever as long as they don't attempt to infringe on my rights to not have a religion or to obtain birth control, etc.

If you'd rather not talk about this, that is okay, but I do wonder why things like this bus give people pleasure. To me it seems more intended to provoke people than to cause happiness or help people. There is a place for provocation, of course, but I'm wondering what end the provocation is meant to achieve here.

With provocation like PETA's I can at least usually see a larger end goal - to make people aware that animals are suffering and hopefully cause them to look into it and perhaps change their opinions and lifestyles. But here I'm not certain that I see an end goal worth the provocation.

It's free speech, for sure. And I'm for free speech. And the atheist viewpoint is certainly underrepresented in our culture, so maybe that's reason enough. But it doesn't delight me and it actually seems about as presumptuous to me as someone telling me that I need to be saved. It's like "thank you, bus, but I can think for myself."

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if I care how it helps me or them.

I didn't find either author's tone off-putting at all. The End of Faith was a hard read because of his writing style (tooooo many footnotes), but honestly, I couldn't put down The God Delusion, I loved it so much. I didn't read the newspaper or any magazines at work (something I usually did) until I finished it. It was just so awesome.

I know The Sun prints things exactly as stated--I was trying to make them the exception and point that out, I'm sorry if that didn't come across.

I think part of the reason for the ad, is not letting the other side have all the say. We get bombarded with religious stuff, so it's a breath of fresh air to have someone reconsider religion. I'm not saying that atheists are necessarily this abused minority, but there's plenty of people who think I'm "un-American" because I'm atheist, and there was that Gallup poll that showed that people were more likely to vote a gay person president than an atheist!

There are lots of ads for all kinds of things on the bus, and you can always think for yourself, you always do!

I think that the bus ad gets people talking (just like it's getting us talking), and that in itself is worth the provocation.