♪'Tis the season to be hatin'♪: Atheists Wage War On Christmas In Times Square. - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Corey_Faure;38808620] What happened to buying some cloth and sewing a nice pillow for someone on Christmas?[/QUOTE] the 21st century

I am 100% okay with this billboard.

[QUOTE=Corey_Faure;38808620] What happened to buying some cloth and sewing a nice pillow for someone on Christmas?[/QUOTE] I did that for my mother once, I was 9. I never saw the pillow again. Then I tried buying things, no one ever used what I bought. I'm done giving gifts, I've fucking had it and I'll never give anything to anyone forever.

[QUOTE=Primigenes;38806874]What do Atheist need to stand up against?[/QUOTE] Like, are you for real? Firstly we don't need to stand up for shit, it's our choice to and 2nd of all we choose to stand up against the religion-centric culture in the US. Not only does it generate ignorance but it can prevent people from receiving the treatment they need in hospitals and it can prevent children from being taught about true sciences. Trying to keep religion out of government/public services is taking a stand.

[QUOTE=Winters;38809144]Like, are you for real? Firstly we don't need to stand up for shit, it's our choice to and 2nd of all we choose to stand up against the religion-centric culture in the US. Not only does it generate ignorance but it can prevent people from receiving the treatment they need in hospitals and it can prevent children from being taught about true sciences. Trying to keep religion out of government/public services is taking a stand.[/QUOTE] I completely agree with this, but can someone enlighten me on what this has to do with putting up signs during the holidays?

I hope they see the irony in this. You should only accept the imaginary figure we like!

[QUOTE=Nutt007;38809326]I completely agree with this, but can someone enlighten me on what this has to do with putting up signs during the holidays?[/QUOTE] If more people are aware of atheism or at least give it a thought we as a people and a country can progress past religions influence on society and politics.

[QUOTE=MadPro119;38810298]If more people are aware of atheism or at least give it a though we as a people and a country can progress past religions influence on society and politics.[/QUOTE] You have a very good point there. I just hope they make the signs sound less arrogant. Right now it comes off as "JESUS IS A MYTH. WAKE UP RELIGIOUS FOOLS." I'm all for being blunt, but you shouldn't talk down to someone if you wan't to get a point across. I'm probably over thinking this but this is how the sign comes off to me.

[quote]The group has made a tradition of erecting similar billboards every December, as part of a campaign critics have labeled "entirely unreasonable, inflammatory," and a "below the belt crusade." In 2011, the American Atheists billboard read, "37 Million Americans know MYTHS when they see them... What myths do you see?” The phrase ran with four pictures: one of Jesus, Santa, Poseidon and the devil.[/quote] Stop it atheists (in this group) , you're being worse than the Christians shoving god down people's throats. This is literally their version of complaining that airports have christmas trees/menorahs but not their religious symbol. It seriously bothers me that people are seriously bothered that other people have different beliefs.

[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;38803909]How many people still believe in Zeus? You don't need to kill the Greeks to get rid of that.[/QUOTE]...I do. Granted, I know it's crazy bullshit but...yeah.

[QUOTE=Zephyrs;38808691]You're such a shitty consumer. Jeez man, get with the times.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Dori;38808756]the 21st century[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=POLOPOZOZO;38809112]I did that for my mother once, I was 9. I never saw the pillow again. Then I tried buying things, no one ever used what I bought. I'm done giving gifts, I've fucking had it and I'll never give anything to anyone forever.[/QUOTE] Now I feel like a shitty gift giver.

Forgive me, but I don't see how this is comparable to a church pulling together money to post a billboard saying for example "Who is this man? He died for your sins, visit wifklsdhflskdfh.com for more" That's just throwing it out there, this is attacking people. Not cool :( There's this park near me where a bunch of businesses post handmade holiday themed signs. Last year there was a HUGE debacle with a nativity scene being there so they coped by saying if atheists wanted, they could all pull together and make their own sign and get it put up. So they did and made a flying spaghetti monster. This year, both the nativity scene and the jewish candles are hidden behind all the signs so it's "Non-intrusive" and only the animals are left in the nativity scene. Hey, I'm all for religious people going out and hanging up signs saying "Jesus loves you!" and all that, and maybe atheists putting up signs saying "Free lecture on the big bang theory and evolution next Thursday at the city auditorium" or something like that, but when they go too far and are like the WBC saying "GOD HATES YOU FAGS!" or "GOD ISNT REAL AND YOU ARE STUPID IF YOU THINK HE IS" then that's not okay. That's attacking people. Attacking isn't cool. And this is exactly what is going on here, and what went on last year in the park. Instead of just dealing with the fact that a nativity scene was put up in a park by a local business like all the other businesses had a chance to do. It's insane. People just need to learn to accept differences in this world and live with them! [editline]12th December 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=POLOPOZOZO;38805572]I guess I'll just take your word for it [sp]LOOOOOOOL[/sp] [editline]12th December 2012[/editline] ok done not a chance Oh you mean a belief like "your religion blows and you should feel bad for associating yourself with know-it-all pedophiles and reactionary mystics"?[/QUOTE] To be fair, there are plenty of secular documents pretty much proving that Jesus back then was a person. The question is, was he a liar, a lunatic, or lord?

The only present Jesus ever gave me was a religion that tells me I'm going to go to hell. I like Santa more. He gave me a hotwheels racetrack once.

[QUOTE=Mrs. Moon;38811019]Forgive me, but I don't see how this is comparable to a church pulling together money to post a billboard saying for example "Who is this man? He died for your sins, visit wifklsdhflskdfh.com for more" That's just throwing it out there, this is attacking people. Not cool :( There's this park near me where a bunch of businesses post handmade holiday themed signs. Last year there was a HUGE debacle with a nativity scene being there so they coped by saying if atheists wanted, they could all pull together and make their own sign and get it put up. So they did and made a flying spaghetti monster. This year, both the nativity scene and the jewish candles are hidden behind all the signs so it's "Non-intrusive" and only the animals are left in the nativity scene. Hey, I'm all for religious people going out and hanging up signs saying "Jesus loves you!" and all that, and maybe atheists putting up signs saying "Free lecture on the big bang theory and evolution next Thursday at the city auditorium" or something like that, but when they go too far and are like the WBC saying "GOD HATES YOU FAGS!" or "GOD ISNT REAL AND YOU ARE STUPID IF YOU THINK HE IS" then that's not okay. That's attacking people. Attacking isn't cool. And this is exactly what is going on here, and what went on last year in the park. Instead of just dealing with the fact that a nativity scene was put up in a park by a local business like all the other businesses had a chance to do. It's insane. People just need to learn to accept differences in this world and live with them![/QUOTE] How is stating "The story of Jesus is a myth" even remotely similar to "God hates fags"? One is a personal attack on a minority while the other is stating their own opinion (be it backed up by evidence and probability)

That has to be one of the most counter-intuitive billboards I have ever seen.

Besides its obviously not fucking saying their wasn't a person named Jesus at that time. It is saying that he probably was not god sent to earth as his own son to die and go to heaven and then come back to save us all from the sins he gave us.

[QUOTE=Boxbot219;38811098]The only present Jesus ever gave me was a religion that tells me I'm going to go to hell. I like Santa more. He gave me a hotwheels racetrack once.[/QUOTE] that fucker ate the cookies i was saving for later on the mantle one time who the fuck drops into your house and just chows down on your shit? what a dick

i'm agnostic and i'm fine with christmas. i actually love christmas and i celebrate it as if i was religious not like i get pissed when people say "merry christmas!" and start screaming at them because god isn't real some shit should just be left alone

This is why I'm an agnostician, you won't have to be assosiated with these nutters.

[QUOTE=Radley;38812393]This is why I'm an agnostician, you won't have to be assosiated with these nutters.[/QUOTE] there's no real difference between agnostic and atheist as far as common usage goes. do you worship a deity? no? you're an atheist congratulations.

[QUOTE=yawmwen;38812424]there's no real difference between agnostic and atheist as far as common usage goes. do you worship a deity? no? you're an atheist congratulations.[/QUOTE] I don't think you have enough knowledge to argue with me here. Agnosticism is when you believe in a deity, you just think no one can prove or disprove its existance. futhermore Agno's don't have a christian image of "god", but a broad sortiment of diffrent deitys. Wheres atheists just plain don't belive.

[QUOTE=Radley;38812482]I don't think you have enough knowledge to argue with me here. Agnosticism is when you believe in a deity, you just think no one can prove or disprove its existance. futhermore Agno's don't have a christian image of "god", but a broad sortiment of diffrent deitys. Wheres atheists just plain don't belive.[/QUOTE] then you're an agnostic deist versus being an agnostic atheist(which is what i and most other atheists are).

[QUOTE=yawmwen;38812496]then you're an agnostic deist versus being an agnostic atheist(which is what i and most other atheists are).[/QUOTE] Then I guess I am at fault too for not specifying which agnostic group I belonged to. Another hateful debate avoided in the name of christmas.

[QUOTE=Radley;38812482]I don't think you have enough knowledge to argue with me here. Agnosticism is when you believe in a deity, you just think no one can prove or disprove its existance. futhermore Agno's don't have a christian image of "god", but a broad sortiment of diffrent deitys. Wheres atheists just plain don't belive.[/QUOTE] What, if anything, supports this definition? Wikipedia's page on Agnosticism defines it as: "Agnosticism is the view that the truth values of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, as well as other religious and metaphysical claims—are unknown and (so far as can be judged) unknowable." Dictionary.com has its definition as: "An intellectual doctrine or attitude affirming the uncertainty of all claims to ultimate knowledge." As for Thomas Huxley, the first to coin the term 'Agnostic' for popular usage, he described it like this: "When I reached intellectual maturity and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; Christian or a freethinker; I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less ready was the answer; until, at last, I came to the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of these denominations, except the last. The one thing in which most of these good people were agreed was the one thing in which I differed from them. They were quite sure they had attained a certain 'gnosis,'–had, more or less successfully, solved the problem of existence; while I was quite sure I had not, and had a pretty strong conviction that the problem was insoluble. And, with Hume and Kant on my side, I could not think myself presumptuous in holding fast by that opinion. [...]. So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of 'agnostic.' It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the 'gnostic' of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant. […] To my great satisfaction the term took." Now tell me, which of these says anything about belief in a deity? If anything they state that you cannot know of the existence of such a deity, whether one (or multiple) exists or not. [editline]12th December 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=yawmwen;38812496]then you're an agnostic deist versus being an agnostic atheist(which is what i and most other atheists are).[/QUOTE] Or that, yeah. [editline]12th December 2012[/editline] Well you can also find the concept of god logically contradictory. Problem of evil, that sort of thing.

[QUOTE=Megafan;38812568]*atheist/agnoctisim explanaition.[/QUOTE] As these state, the uncertainty of the existance leaves room to speculate what this deity would be, if it existed or not.

[QUOTE=Radley;38812588]As these state, the uncertainty of the existance leaves room to speculate what this deity would be, if it existed or not.[/QUOTE] Yes, but nothing in it inherently requires or even suggests belief in a deity. Uncertainty about something doesn't just let you fill in the gaps with whatever you believe is true, and if you don't know (especially if the premise of the idea itself may be suspect), then [I]you don't know.[/I]

[QUOTE=Megafan;38812724]Yes, but nothing in it inherently requires or even suggests belief in a deity. Uncertainty about something doesn't just let you fill in the gaps with whatever you believe is true, and if you don't know (especially if the premise of the idea itself may be suspect), then [I]you don't know.[/I][/QUOTE] Prime reason I call myself an atheist. I reject the belief of deities based on the fact that the burden of proof falls on them as they're asserting a claim, and there's no real show of evidence. Agnostic seems too "Yeah, well, it's a 50/50 chance or we have [I]no idea[/I] and simply can't speculate." Saying I'm an atheist for me means that I'm taking a stand and refusing to be cool with people inserting their religious beliefs in public institutions and against other people.

[video=youtube;lnSByCb8lqY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnSByCb8lqY[/video] "THIS IS OFFENSIVE!!" okay..? get over it. it's just a goddamn billboard decrying a myth for being a myth. some of you have some serious knicker untwisting to do.

[QUOTE=Radley;38812588]As these state, the uncertainty of the existance leaves room to speculate what this deity would be, if it existed or not.[/QUOTE] You don't seem to be able to grasp the concept itself. Agnosticism is neither a belief or disbelief.

I disagree with the bill board, but it is pretty fucked up that Christians have stolen the winter solstice as a holiday. Even Christian scholars will admit that Christmas is nowhere near Jesus' birthday and that they damn well knew it at the time of the rise of Christmas. It was an attempt to squash pagan religious celebrations at the time, which were a simple celebration of the point in time in which the days begin to get longer. Much like Halloween, which can be celebrated regardless of religion and has close ties to historical harvest festivals marking the end of the growing season. The solstice really should be the same as Halloween, ultimately. Religion shouldn't play a part and we should all be able to celebrate it simply by way of being alive and in the Northern hemisphere. A billboard isn't going to accomplish this, however. Confrontation isn't really the intelligent path.