More Bus-iness!
Okay, so nearly all the bloggers have ranted about the idiot bus driver, Mr. Heather, who stuck his head up his ass about driving a bus with the atheist ad on it. Nearly all of us agree: he’s a paid employee hired to drive the bus, not make editorial decisions about the ads on the bus. Heather had a funny take-off on it, showing just how ridiculous his position is.
But Stephen Tomkins has a good write-up, from a Christan’s perspective. He thinks (as most rational people do) it is really odd for the Christians to get their panties into such a twist over this. And then, after a reasonable, well-written piece, he sums up with this:
In fact, speaking as one myself, I think it shows quite a cheek for Christians to make a fuss about this. We’ve spent decades covering public places with verses from the Bible, and posters promising that if you let Jesus into your life everything will be all right for ever.
Then as soon as the opposition get the money together to do the same thing we’re outraged, and think that God is as cross as we are.
Personally, I think that if God is anything like as big and clever as we claim he is, he can probably take it.
Indeed! How stupid and arrogant for Christians to get upset over the atheist bus ads, when the rest of society has had to put up with religious stuff plastered all over everywhere. How can Christians say they are being attacked by atheists when their own advertising has directly attacked gays, atheists, and even questioned the patriotism of those who don’t believe their religion? I mean, how can they put up posters saying gays are going to hell and then whine when someone else puts up a poster saying God isn’t real?
The fact that Christians are getting upset, and this one Mr. Heather walked off the job over the ads on his bus, just shows that the world needs this type of advertising. They (the uptight Christians) are so accustomed to their position of privilege they have no concept of what it’s like to be NOT Christian and being marginalized, demonized by the Christians. They’re so used to having their beliefs spread around they can’t deal with the reality that not everyone agrees with them. But instead of doing the right thing (i.e., stepping back and recognizing what they did to bring this onto themselves) they play the victim as if they have suddenly been wronged. WRONG! They’ve been wronging everyone else, and now it’s time for payback!
If people want to be Christian, that’s their business. NOBODY is trying to take that away from them. They just need to recognize that everybody else’s beliefs are just as valid and deserve just as much exposure as the Christian views. And NONE of them deserve to hold a monopoly in society. Christians like to whine that they are being attacked, but really they are just whining because they are losing their long-held monopoly and position of privilege in America and elsewhere in the world.
Bravo to us! Yes, indeed.
1. “what they did to bring this onto themselves” - Absolutely. Atheism is 100% dependent on Christianity. If religion didn’t exist, atheists would have nothing to do.
January 17th, 2009 at 4:22 am2.”If people want to be Christian, that’s their business.” Christianity is NOT a matter of choice. Yes, this is where the supernatural plays in. The Holy Spirit as you know convicts, etc. (Jn 15:16, Eph 1:3-14) They can’t help it.
3.”they are losing their long-held monopoly and position of privilege in America and elsewhere in the world.” History wouldn’t be the same without it, but I don’t think that “the privilege” is or will be any more or any less than it has been throughout time.
@Steve #1
False. Atheism is not dependent on religion. Atheism is the default position of every human at birth. Religion is learned. If we didn’t have to address ignorance and superstition, we’d be able to get on with the business of progress and improvement.
Christianity is definitely a choice. After the sales pitch (sermon, witnessing, etc.) people are stirred up with emotion, same as with any other product being hawked on the streets. It’s an emotional response to the sales pitch. Nothing supernatural there.
Sure, there will always be positions of privilege held by one or another group that is in the majority. The goal is not necessarily to remove that position of privilege, but to make those who are in that position, or enjoy the advantages from it, realize it and take steps to minimize the negative impact on others and stop marginalizing others.
January 17th, 2009 at 6:47 amJust saw Stephen Tomkins’ “Ship of Fools” site. Bwaaaa Ha Ha!! He’s got a place on there that measures “Probability of Rapture”!! Right now, it’s at 70.2%!!! Gotta love it!
January 17th, 2009 at 7:59 am@Ray
Saying Atheism is the default position of every human being is equivalent to saying that Hetrosexuality is the default position of every human being too.
I think it is perfectly natural for people to believe in God - what form that God takes may not be natural, but the reason that there are so many different religions, is that more than one person (in fact many different people) have believed there is some form of a God.
Atheism is no more the default position than Christianity is. I think many/most people believe in some form of Superior bneing - even if they are not religious, or do not affiliate themselves with any particular religion.
You are right that religion is learnt. Atheism IS a religion, rather than a lack of religion, though. It too is learnt.
Assuming there is such a thing as a ‘default position’, I would think it would be closer to Agnostic than Atheist - ie that they accept a [i]possibility[/i] of a superior being without necessarily believing that there is.
Any religion is a choice, however the belief that there is more to life than life itself is not necessarily a choice. To think that Atheism is somehow different from other religions is a little strange. Atheists have chosen to believe there is no God, just as much as Christians have chosen to believe in their God and other religions have chosen to believe in their’s. I think to make a statement like “Atheism is the default position…” is naive, closed minded and (frankly) quite stupid. Why do people always think there must be a default position for things? Or are you just trying to say that Atheism is the Default, therefore Atheism is right?
Having had a quick look on the net, I can find no evidence of your claim that Atheism is the default position of every human being. To me that sounds like ignorance (and/or superstition) on your part.
January 19th, 2009 at 5:26 pm@Fred:
Atheism is nothing more than the absence of a belief in God, therefore cannot be a religion. There’s no creeds or doctrines to be taught or believed, no worship, no group to join as a member, nothing to sign. Atheism is simply the absence of theism.
January 19th, 2009 at 5:48 pm