Atheist billboard generates heated reader response

WESTMINSTER – An article about a "Godless billboard" put up Wednesday by the Orange County Coalition for Reason generated a heated debate and so far, 1,231 comments on the Register's website.

The billboard, which was erected at the corner of Beach Boulevard and 19th Street, reads: "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."

Members of the group comprising atheists, agnostics and humanists say the $6,450 billboard is part of a nationwide campaign made possible by an anonymous donor in Philadelphia.

Also, 356 responded to a reader poll which asked the question: What is your reaction to atheists' new "Don't believe in God?" billboard in Westminster?

Forty six percent say: It doesn't bother me; I support tolerance for others' beliefs. Twenty nine percent say: I'm offended by an atheist billboard. And 25 percent say: I support the billboard's message.

Here is a compilation of some of the readers' responses to the article:

Lightitup wrote:

"As a resident of Westminster I couldn't care less about this billboard. And I pray (excuse the pun) that the city doesn't waste and time or money on this issue. That said, I see the sign as something like a store with nothing to sell putting out advertizing asking people to come in and shop for nothing. "We have nothing to sell but come on in anyway!" If you don't believe, fine, don't believe! But when you start organizing it seems like it's becoming a religion in itself. By the way, I don't like American Idol so I want to form a group that gets together to not watch American Idol."

oc4truth wrote:

"That's kind of an oxymoron calling a group of atheists, agnostics & humanists a coalition for reason. Ignoring all the evidence for the existence for God is NOT rational. I would bet that all who are posting here, using a computer, realize that it was designed by someone or more people. We can see that it did not just come into existence out of nowhere. However it is still only a puny imitation of our human brains--even with all the advances in computer technology (which has involved the efforts of many creative people over the last 100 years or so). I have found that while many may claim a rational basis for their disbelief, in reality it is often based on a dislike of the message God has revealed in the Bible. & so of course 1 way to deal with a message you dislike is to deny it or its Authorship."

averagejoe1954 stated:

"No matter what you believe it takes faith. If you are an atheist you believe that through billions of years the plants, animals and entire cosmos evolved from nothing. Now that takes a lot of faith."

mondodog1 stated:

"Truly an athiest needs some spiritual healing and a relationship with God, if they need to resort to a support group for fellow non believers. Let's put a bill board up, we are lonely and need support, please come join our non believer group. As a believer, i do not recall ever outing out an athiest for their non belief... their loss."

Daveyd wrote:

"Nobody, and I repeat, nobody knows for sure whether God exists or not, we may hold strong beliefs and arguments one way or the other, but until we die or the end of the world, we will never know for certain. So picking sides and trying to beat the other into submission is useless and a waste of time."

Gusinca wrote:

"Religion is the root of all evil. Not faith, there's nothing wrong with faith, but religion...And if those morons putting up the "end of the world on May 21st" ads can do so, then so can the atheists."

Revrev stated:

"Atheists are silly. The truth is that God, a magical deity (who himself has no beginning) blinked his eyes and willed everything into existence magically. Then he created his son who is really still God and had himself nailed to a cross because he created us as natural sinners so obviously we need to be saved from the realm of Hell which he himself created. It's all so rational, how can atheists be so blind?"

Ryanreed stated:

"Logic and Religion DO co-exist, they are coexisting as we speak. The idea that they are different creates a "right-wrong" frame of mind, which is pathetic argument made by most uneducated Atheists. Religion is God's voice, Science is God's blue prints for our existence."

Read more at http://www.ocregister.com/news/billboard-299443-atheists-believe.html

Backyard Skeptics News:

Read more news HERE
Backyard Skeptics is a grass-roots organization based in Villa Park, CA which sponsors monthly meetings with interesting secular speakers, dinner-and-a-movie nights, science-oriented field trips and outreach programs at the Huntington Beach Pier. If you are local to Orange County you are welcome to join out meetup group to receive announcements of upcoming events. http://www.backyardskpetics.com


5/17/11 Atheist, Christian students square off in debate

5/15/11 Atheists tackle religion at O.C. 'godless' conference

5/4/11 Atheist billboard goes up in Westminster

5/8/11 Atheist billboard generates heated reader debate - thousands respond

5/13/11 No Official Prayer Allowed At Upstate High School's Graduation Ceremony
5/12/11 Snapshot of a split America
5/10/11 (article) A Former Jerry Falwell Follower Reflects On How The Religious Right Gets It Wrong
5/9/11 A California college is the first to offer a degree in secularism
5/6/11 California atheist billboard vandalized 3 days after going up

Backyard Skeptics Pasadena JPL Field Trip

By Bruce Gleason

Twenty four skeptics joined us to tour the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena the day before our Freethought Conference in Irvine. JPL opens its doors to the public once a year and this year had over 36,000 people in attendance. Lucky for the crowds, JPL is a huge complex covering several square miles. Because we had only about 3 hours time to complete our tour, we had to pick and choose which of the 28 exhibits we would visit. The Vacuum Test Chamber was very impressive, simulating the sun with 37 30,000 watt focused lights (that’s over 1.1 million watts!) and the different temperatures of space to test a spacecraft’s worthiness. . Equally impressive was the machine shop where the make the parts for the spacecraft, where machinists demonstrated on a one-to-one basis how they build parts of spacecraft within almost impossible tolerances. We saw the duplicate spacecraft in a testing area, where, if anything goies wrong on mars, they try and duplicate the conditions here on earth to find a solution to the problem.

The highlight of my day was during an exhibition of the lunar lander in one of the outside areas. A young man was explaining how he is the ‘driver’ of Opportunity on mars, and how he enjoys his job. I asked him what has been the most exciting moment he has experienced. He responded with ”I go to work and get to drive a craft on another planet 100 million miles away. Every day is exciting!” After that he said something that was a bit surprising. Remember – he had a headset on and was talking to several hundred people surrounding his area – he said as he was pointing to me: “I like you pin (referring to my ‘A’ Pin) fellow atheist. Many of us share your opinion here. I was a bit taken aback, not because he was outing me publicly, but because he said the word ‘atheist’ in a public area, government owned, and to hundreds of people!

It was the opposite of what is prevalent in America in church and state separation circles - religion being promoted by government. But in this case it was atheism being promoted, albeit with a personal opinion. I looked around and didn’t see any reaction from the crowd – no Christians taking notice, no ‘evil eyes’ given. But I’m sure that young man might have made an impression on some of the attendees surrounding his booth whom might have been listening. I went away with a huge smile knowing that it was one more piece of evidence that atheism is going mainstream.

Enjoy what you’re reading? Make your painless subscription/donation of only 99 cents an issue delivered bi-weekly.

http://freethoughtalliance.org/seculargazette.html

Evolution Education

Download 1.88 Mb.

Share with your friends: