This in response to Atheists who in November pumped $40,000 into a campaign to tell everyone they don't think God exists. As if we didn't know that that's what atheists believe.
My question is why is public transportation being used to promote religious and philosophical division? I mean, it's kinda smart that we're making money off both camps, but at the same time I worry this pushes the envelope in church/state separation-- something that is happening WAY TOO MUCH in this country today. Tying public services to religious proselytizing bothers me. Most Christian fundies are nutjobs, so I can kinda forgive them here. But in some ways, Atheism has practically turned into a religion of its own. Personally, I don't want to hear or see any of it, especially when I'm stuck in traffic or smooshed on the Red Line.
Now I was baptized Catholic, went to Catholic school as a kid (if any of you wonder why I'm so twisted, now you know), but I consider myself agnostic. Agnostics are people who think the whole debate is stupid and want to stay out of it altogether. I have my own stupid beliefs about our place in the Universe, and God, or something similar to our concept of God, fits in there somewhere. (M-Theory in da hizz-ouse!)
We can't ignore the horrific possibility that one of these God/Atheist buses plows someone over. What does that mean for the victim? I'm serious... being hit by a bus plasterd with religious messages would bother me. If a God bus cuts me off, can I still curse at it? If an atheist bus cuts me off, can I still yell fuck you you donkey cock sucking piece of maggot infested shit goddamn it? These are the questions that run through my legally retarded mind.
In any event, effective today I will be accepting donations to launch an ad campaign of my own... I wonder if it will change any minds....
As a former Catholic alter boy and practicing atheist, I'm an ardent defender of the separation of church and state.
ReplyDeleteI celebrate Christmas (rather than the "holidays") as a secular Western tradition recognized by 94% of Americans. But there is no issue here. Any group has the right to buy advertising. I'm fine with it.
Just keep that shite out of the public schools! It's not about academic freedom. It is about SCIENCE!
That said, Merry Christmas!
I've got some literature that may change your life: http://www.the-brights.net/
ReplyDeleteTrue. I mean, since this isn't funded using taxpayer dollars, it's not really as horrible as say teaching religioin in schools. But still, what if this debate we're to really heat up and millions of dollars are spent plastering religious beliefs on busses... my paranoia stems from the fear that conceivebly (granted unlikely) Metro could become dependent on a religious/secular group. Put a bumper sticker on your car... its cheaper.
ReplyDeleteNot entirely sure you grasp what being agnostic means...
ReplyDeleteI too am an atheist, but I don't assume Metro supports the message on its buses. Its a moving billboard. The only faith that matters is faith that the check will clear.
ReplyDeleteI think we should goad the Catholics into having their own billboards. We'll all buy a billboard that says "Catholics believe in molesting little boys". They'll retaliate with "WhyIHateDC is going to Hell along with the Mormons", and then the Mormons will get involved and the next thing you know, we've gotten rid of the Metro budget problems.
Anon #2, Anon #2, i was speaking simplistically and facetiously-- something I do here A LOT. Otherwise I would go on and on. If you're interested, wikipedia has a good definition of agnosticism. I think my definition fits within theirs when they describe it as the middle ground between theism and atheism.
ReplyDeleteAnon #3... omg that's genius. I'm sold.
Y'all are way too uptight around here. THAT is why I hate D.C.
ReplyDeleteAtheists are people who think the whole debate is stupid and want to stay out of it altogether.
ReplyDeleteI fixed your typo.
I think you're confusing us (meaning, you and I) with prosletyzing assholes who are also atheists. Seeking to distance yourself from them, you try to find a different word for self-identification. I can understand your sentiment! Though I believe that atheists are discriminated against in many aspects of public and private life, some of the efforts of people to change this perception for the better instead have seemed combative enough to have the opposite effect, raising hackles even in potentially sympathetic folks like yourself. I suppose this kind of backlash has been seen to other kinds of social movements, but I still find it a shame.
Unfortunately, if you think magic men in the sky are an unlikely explanation for the composition of the universe (and odds are good that if String Theory seems promising to you, Magic Man Theory will be unsatisfying) then you do not qualify as an Agnostic/Zetetic, since they're folks who believe it's important to know which magic men in the sky are real and which are not.
I believe the position you express is instead "Apathetic," which is close! They sound a little alike! Also, as a fellow-atheist, I heartily approve of your dismissing religious debate as unimportant and focusing on testable explanations for things.
Welcome to the fold, and have a merry civic holiday worshiping our god of shopping and generosity!
Nick- HA! I'm putting that last line of yours on my xmas cards!!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of typos, Nick, you misspelled proselytizing--but you got "asshole" right, so good job.
ReplyDeleteI do think there's a reason to proselytize about atheism given a couple of good reasons. LOOK. If I were to run for public office, I would have to LIE and say that I believed in Jesus. I would have to say that.
Interestingly, the Wash. Post reports today that the Bush administration just issued a decree allowing any federal worker to refuse to perform services that violate his or her conscience.
ReplyDeleteQuote:
Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a statement.
The regulation, which was issued just in time to take effect in the 30 days before the change of administrations, was sought by conservative groups, abortion opponents and others as necessary to safeguard workers from being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways.
M@, does that pertain to torture?
ReplyDeleteKing,
ReplyDeleteThat's a smartass comment you make BUT... I seem to remember some press a while ago concerning military physicians and their advisory role in interrogation, which would certainly violate their Hippocratic Oaths.
I hope this is something that's only on the books for the 30 days it'll take Obama to reverse it.
"What does that mean for the victim?"
ReplyDeleteJust like every victim of anything bad that ever happens to anybody, it means that God doesn't love you. I, too, am an unrepentant ex-Catholic.
"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself."
ReplyDelete-Sir Richard Francis Burton
"Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience,"
ReplyDeleteI guess this means that health care providers don't have to treat homosexuals if they think homosexuality is a sin. Sounds dangerous to me.
Hey as long as the religious groups are spending money on bus ads, they can not spend it on other things.
ReplyDeleteLike just for example, lobbying for things. Or campaigning against things.
And think about this one. What if a Jesus bus totals a car with a Darwin fish on it??? What about that message???
M@, surprisingly (given, I guess, precedent) I am agreed on all counts. A month ago I was forced to sit through M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" and besides it being an awful movie, I was mostly upset that a science teacher would be so into the "unknowable" and the idea that plants can "communicate".
ReplyDeleteNormally I am a big fan of King Friday, but this just seems silly. The whole thing seems silly. You are hardly going to convert anyone either way through bus ads, and it is ridiculous and frankly abhorrent the way atheism is unacceptable in this country.
Seperation of church and state? I thought Metro was privately owned?
ReplyDeleteI'll kneel in front of HRH as long as I get to start the ass fucking of M@. You two fight it out.
ReplyDelete