AHA Launches Godless Holiday Campaign
Today the American Humanist Association was at the National Press Club in Washington DC to launch our latest campaign: godless advertisements on local Metro buses that state, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.”
The advertisement directs people to the website www.whybelieveinagod.com. Our press release was issued this morning:
Already appearing today in the New York Times and Washington Post, the message will soon be blazoned on the sides, taillights, and interiors of over 200 Washington DC Metro buses.
It’s the first ad campaign of its kind in the United States, and the American Humanist Association predicts it will raise public awareness of humanism as well as controversy over humanist ideas.
“Humanists have always understood that you don’t need a god to be good,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. “So that’s the point we’re making with this advertising campaign. Morality doesn’t come from religion. It’s a set of values embraced by individuals and society based on empathy, fairness, and experience.”
At a press conference today launching the campaign, large displays were featured showing the ads in today’s New York Times and Washington Post, the bus posters, and how the posters will look mounted on the side of a bus and inside, behind the driver’s seat. The exterior posters will appear on buses in Northwest Washington starting Tuesday, November 18. The interior posters will begin December 1 in Northwest and Southeast.
“We expect these bus signs to generate a lot of public interest,” said Fred Edwords, director of communications for the American Humanist Association. “Some folks may be offended but that isn’t our purpose. We just want to reach those open to this message but unaware how widespread their views are.
The “goodness’ sake” ads and posters direct people to a special Web site at www.whybelieveinagod.org that helps people find others of like mind in the Washington, D.C., metro area and nationally. The site also informs the public about humanism and answers common objections to the slogan as well as to the appropriateness of running the campaign during the holidays.
Such high-profile promotion isn’t new to the American Humanist Association. Throughout 2008, humanist advertising has become more visible across the nation. In particular, highway billboards have been erected just outside of New York City, Philadelphia, and other major cities. They read: “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.”
“Those billboards,” Fred Edwords added, “started raising the profile of our movement and generated an avalanche of responses, both from people who realized that they, too, were humanists as well as from those who disagreed with us. But everyone heard our message loud and clear. And this is what it takes for us to reach our audience.”
What do you think of the ad? Let us know in the comments section!
Very true:
Humanism has an uphill ride ahead:
“There were twelve candidates for eight openings on the board. A total of 1,939 ballots were received.”
How many people in America believe in God?
Looks like more unbelieving members are needed. But then again, it might be hard to convince people to believe they need to spend money to
“tell people they don
Humanism has always had an uphill ride. The masses of humanity want easy answers and are seldom comfortable without them. Humanists live in difficult questions, not just in easy answers. It is a demanding path with no fancied reward promised like the city ahead of the pilgrim in Bunyan’s “Progress.”
The freethinker is the leaven that leavens the whole loaf, the grain of sand in the oyster that makes the pearl, the minority whose presence irritates society yet moves it forward. The society without a Humanism stagnates and falls.
Mention Athens, and we may think first of Socrates and Plato and Aristotle, the birth of democracy, the invention of drama and of logic, the creation of architecture which is still our criterion. It is easy to forget that ninety per cent of the population were illiterate slaves, that Anaxagoras infuriated the fundies by asserting that the Sun is not divine but a natural object. Socrates was put on trial, convicted and executed. Yet that tiny minority gave us the root of Western civilization.
There was once a monolithically Christian society: Constantinople. Humanism was non-existent. The world’s oldest and greatest university was closed by order of the emperor. The culture went nowhere, and the concept of individuality and of personal freedom was unknown. Without a Humanist influence they stagnated.
Humanism today is well represented on the roster of Nobel Prize winners, of achievement in all the arts and sciences. Since the Renaissance, it is largely Humanism that has built our culture, mostly for the better. All too often the faith community has been an obstacle, not a contributor to progress. A woman delivering a baby today is seldom told that her labor pains are God’s plan. Next time you get any kind of surgery, remember that clergy opposed the use of anesthetics. Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod and was condemned in churches for daring to deprive God of a weapon.
When history is written, I want my name listed with the creative minority that did good for the world, not the men of faith who got in the way. It has nothing to do with whether or not people are “believers” in something external.
What matters is that Humanists have faith in human ability, and recognize that humanity can grow towards perfection without the necessary intervention of the church or the gift of bestowed grace – a heresy for which orthodox Christianity expelled Pelagius and burned all his books.
No deity will save us; we must save ourselves. We humans are responsible for what we are and shall be.
The American Humanist Association is the flagship among America’s eight or ten organized nationwide Humanist groups. If we were nose-counting we would see weakness – pathetic growth rate only from 6,000 in the ‘fifties to 10,000 today. But numbers is not the point. Influence is. Humanism is the future of our civilization. Humanism is America at its best, and the AHA, born at Chicago, is as American as you can get. The tired religions of the Middle East will be superseded by Humanism, and this century will be the century of Humanism.
Well said Francis.
“And religion does NOT imply anything about any
Religion is about binding, from *religare*, or *ligare* as in “ligament.” Some people feel bound to a god, others are bound to each other.
When an undergraduate at Berkeley I sometimes met with the Quakers. I never encountered God-belief or even a Bible.
Confucianism is about how you live, not what you believe.
Theravada Buddhism makes a VIRTUE of repudiating all gods. Each has many millions of adherents. It is parochialism for Americans to presume that the world cares about the “God” of a few Kansas Protestants.
A. J. Ayer shows that theism, atheism and agnosticism are all equally meaningless. We look foolish today if we even consent to talk about a “God” whether to assert or deny.
Catholics and Mormons adhere to the church, fundies worship a book. God is history. Irrelevant. Dead. Theologians know it. Read the foremost Christian thinker of recent decades, Paul Tillich. Dumb fundies do NOT define either “God” or Christianity. And Humanists and atheists who still discuss the Victorian-era “God” today make themselves look uninformed and a bit ridiculous.
The compilers of the US Constitution, as well as the compilers of all three Humanist Manifestos, wisely left “God” right out. Why deny “God?” Just ignore him.
“Why deny
Wow, the fact that people would create an actual association committed to advocating that there is “no god”, and that we can be “good people” by our own will is nothing but MORE proof to me that God MUST really exist…because why else would you put so much effort, money, and time in trying to convince people that He doesn’t? You only put energy into something you feel is a threat…and if God weren’t real, you wouldn’t feel the need to advocate so ferociously against Him.
I believe in God, I believe Jesus died on behalf of our sins (and yes, we ALL have sinned), and I believe in the Word of God. And I wasn’t “trained” by society to believe, I’m not ignorantly following a God I “cannot see”…I believe in Him because He’s real, and I see evidences of His love, faithfulness, and existence EVERY DAY. The world didn’t come to be on it’s own, the genius of the human brain didn’t “magically” come about…NO, a God greater than us all did these things…and the Word of God tells us this. So what’s crazier, believing the Bible which clearly explains how life and the world came to be, or believing things just spontaneously came about?
Let me be the first to say THANK YOU for the publicity you are giving religion…perhaps your ads will inspire people to truly search their hearts on what they truly believe about God…and in that search, I guarantee (even if just only one person) someone will be converted to Christ and another’s faith will be all the more confirmed. You’re actually doing God a favor (because like HIS WORD says, “what they meant for evil, God meant for good”.)
And what’s wonderful is that no matter how many signs you put on the sides of buses, no matter how hard you fight for “godless holidays”, and no matter how many people you (unfortunately) convince to not believe in God…you will NEVER be able to stop Him from being the all-knowing, all-powerful God that He is, has always been, and will always be. God is love…and love NEVER fails. His spirit will reign FOREVER. And as long as His spirit reigns people will ALWAYS love and worship Him. Why does that make you so mad?
Anyways, GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
(And I would love to see my comment posted…hiding it would only mean you’re afraid someone might actually agree with me or get them to think twice about accepting your humanistic beliefs.)
Christian,
As one that believes in Jesus Christ. Let me clear up some things for you about why their as mad as you say. First as a black man I can say that the misuse of religion has morally a physically destroyed the dark people of the world, and this is why Black Theology or Black Nationalism had to come about because of the abuse of religion. Minister Farrakhan would not exist if it were not for people around the world abuse the WORD of GOD and using Jesus Christ to suppress a human
Why do you have to say you are BLACK and a MAN???
That’s so rude.
My history is your history and your history is mine.
My life has been very hard because my life has been hard. I refuse to blame it on the color of my skin or my gender.
This smells like DISCRIMINATION!
A better ad would read:
“Just be good for goodness’ sake.
Find your own reasons for doing good.
Paid for by American Humanist Association”
I don’t like it when ANYONE disgraces someones harmless culture.
This ad makes me feel ill.
Well it’s because people like yourself forget that this country has and is currently racist driven. WHAT ELECTION HAVE YOU BEEN FOLLOWING????
It is a FACT that Christianity was use to promote slavery. Your freaking history (if you’re white) is not the historical experience of Black or Dark people around the world, accept it and deal with it.
I’M BLACK and I’M PROUD!
People also use their “blackness” to justify hate crimes against others.
Also, just wondering… where you a slave? Did you experience all that?
I am proud of WHO I AM and WHAT I HAVE DONE.
I refuse to be proud of my genetic heritage. It’s ridiculous. Nor am I proud of any ancestor that did particularly well or bad.
I happen to be proud of the things I do.
It is my wish to live in world where people are not judged by their ethnicity. A world where all cultures can be integrated by a persons choice into their life.
I ALWAYS check the “other” or “decline to answer” box on the “what ethnicity are you?” box. I find it highly immoral to answer such a question.
“People also use their
“I ALWAYS check the
Francis- You are absolutely correct that the government does not need ethnic information about its citizens but that fact is moot concerning what the poster wrote. He wrote that it was immoral TO ANSWER the question. How is it immoral for someone to answer “I’m white” or “I’m black” or “I’m Vietnamese”?
The rest of what you wrote is right on.
I don’t check to the box because I am so mixed that I don’t really have one or even two that suit me. Mostly I decline to answer. I don’t want to belong to an ethnic group. And saying you are black or white sounds so stupid to me. Black and white break up into so many different little groups.
Besides, I thought that if you live in the USA, that you are a United States Citizen, not Japanese or Swedish or Mexican or whatever.
I feel discriminated against the world. i hate it when people say they are something with “pride”. Why can’t we just be proud of being human.
I think the only time that ethnicity can help is if you are predisposed to a certain disease. But, I think that is a lazy method, because even though it might be more common in some elasticities, this doesn’t mean that others are immune. More and more people are mixed. Someday we will probably try to break ourselves up into more little groups again though.
I’m checking DECLINE from now until I die.
Besides, it used to be a box that said “check your RACE”. Race applied to humans does not exist.
I think Stating your “RACE (Ethnicity)” is racists. You are judging and separating people based on their race. It’s not even a helpful identification tool. Hair, skin tone, eye color, height, weight are more useful, since within an ethnic group the way a person looks is so different.
Arg, I am just so annoyed. Sorry for the long and poorly structured rant, but I want to post it.
Oh hell… I wrote “elasticities” instead of ethnicities.
This is what happens when I get all worked up. Firefox thought ethnicities was spelled wrong and I hastily clicked on a correction.
But really…
Don’t judge people based on there ELASTICITIES either!!!
The striking thing to me about the advertisement and the position of the humanistic position is: how can something that does not exist, God or god, be a threat to anyone. If there is not a being in the first place how on earth, or within a right mind can you tell others not to seek such a being or force? And for an organization to push their view that one should not believe in a God or god is a very oppressive and intolerant view point. There must be some threat at the core of ones being, soul or spirit that fights against this unknown God or god otherwise why acknowledge “it” at all. Interesting. The other thing that captivates me is why do we demand justice within ourselves as humans. When we are wronged by someone, society or a group do we feel this inner sense of retaliation for the offense to be made right? And when a mother sees her precious child being stuck by a car or we hear the audio and video of peoples reaction to the world trade towers coming down the cry that comes out of them all is the same., “Oh My God”. Always, always, always the same phrase “Oh My God”.
Strange, don’t you think?
That’s because the human spririt the soul that which we can’t touch or control cries out for its Creator. God.
There is no logical answer, no equation you can give for this mystery.
Good luck with your campaign. Hope you find nothing.
By the way, could you explain Hitler for me. What a great guy.
The campaign DOES NOT force its view on anyone. I wold suggest that you both read and understand what the tagline is.
“Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness sake.”
This simply promotes the Humanist view that one does not need to believe in a god to be good. You cannot provide any logical upport to the claim that this idea is forced on you or anyone else. No one is making you or anyone else log onto the website, join the AHA, or renounce any of your beliefs. What the ad accomplishes is question a fundemental view held my many theists, that a belief in god is necessary. This is what upsets you. The mere questioning of that belief.
“By the way, could you explain Hitler for me. What a great guy.”
Hitler was a Christian you know, which means he believed in god. Here are some quotes from some of his speeches that would indicate this:
“To do justice to God and our own conscience, we have turned once more to the German Volk[people].” from 1933
“My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was his fight against the Jewish poison. Today, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed his blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice. …And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly, it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people. And when I look on my people I see them work and work and toil and labor, and at the end of the week they have only for their wages wretchedness and misery. When I go out in the morning and see these men standing in their queues and look into their pinched faces, then I believe I would be no Christian, but a very devil, if I felt no pity for them, if I did not, as did our Lord two thousand years ago, turn against those by whom today this poor people are plundered and exploited.” from April 12, 1922
From Hitler’s book Mein Kampf:
I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 2
What we have to fight for is the necessary security for the existence and increase of our race and people, the subsistence of its children and the maintenance of our racial stock unmixed, the freedom and independence of the Fatherland; so that our people may be enabled to fulfill the mission assigned to it by the Creator.
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 8
Other quotations:
I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so.
- Adolf Hitler, to General Gerhard Engel, 1941
Today Christians … stand at the head of [this country]… I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity .. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit … We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press – in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past … (few) years.
- Adolf Hitler, quoted in: The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, 1922-1939, Vol. 1 (London, Oxford University Press, 1942), pg. 871-872
And now some quotes by Hitler against Atheism and secularism:
We were convinced that the people need and require this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.
- Adolf Hitler, Speech in Berlin, October 24, 1933
Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith …we need believing people.
- Adolf Hitler, April 26, 1933, speech made during negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordant
Here are my sources:
http://atheism.about.com/od/adolfhitlernazigermany/tp/HitlerNazisAtheismSecularism.htm
http://atheism.about.com/od/adolfhitlernazigermany/tp/AdolfHitlerChristian.htm
http://atheism.about.com/od/adolfhitlernazigermany/tp/AdolfHitlerFaithGod.htm
I hope this answers your question.
“By the way, could you explain Hitler for me. What a great guy.”
Hitler was a Christian, you know, who abhorred atheism and secularism.
Here are some quotes from his speeches that indicate this:
“To do justice to God and our own conscience, we have turned once more to the German Volk [people].”
-1933
“My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was his fight against the Jewish poison. Today, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed his blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice. …And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly, it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people. And when I look on my people I see them work and work and toil and labor, and at the end of the week they have only for their wages wretchedness and misery. When I go out in the morning and see these men standing in their queues and look into their pinched faces, then I believe I would be no Christian, but a very devil, if I felt no pity for them, if I did not, as did our Lord two thousand years ago, turn against those by whom today this poor people are plundered and exploited.”
-April 12, 1922
From his book Mein Kampf and other sources:
I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 2
What we have to fight for is the necessary security for the existence and increase of our race and people, the subsistence of its children and the maintenance of our racial stock unmixed, the freedom and independence of the Fatherland; so that our people may be enabled to fulfill the mission assigned to it by the Creator.
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 8
Anyone who dares to lay hands on the highest image of the Lord commits sacrilege against the benevolent creator of this miracle and contributes to the expulsion from paradise.
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf Vol. 2 Chapter 1
This human world of ours would be inconceivable without the practical existence of a religious belief. The great masses of a nation are not composed of philosophers. For the masses of the people, especially faith is absolutely the only basis of a moral outlook on life. The various substitutes that have been offered have not shown any results that might warrant us in thinking that they might usefully replace the existing denominations. …There may be a few hundreds of thousands of superior men who can live wisely and intelligently without depending on the general standards that prevail in everyday life, but the millions of others cannot do so.
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 10
By helping to lift the human being above the level of mere animal existence, Faith really contributes to consolidate and safeguard its own existence. Taking humanity as it exists to-day and taking into consideration the fact that the religious beliefs which it generally holds and which have been consolidated through our education, so that they serve as moral standards in practical life, if we should now abolish religious teaching and not replace it by anything of equal value the result would be that the foundations of human existence would be seriously shaken.
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 2 Chapter 1
I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so.
- Adolf Hitler, to General Gerhard Engel, 1941
I had excellent opportunity to intoxicate myself with the solemn splendor of the brilliant church festivals. As was only natural, the abbot seemed to me, as the village priest had once seemed to my father, the highest and most desirable ideal.
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 1
By its decision to carry out the political and moral cleansing of our public life, the Government is creating and securing the conditions for a really deep and inner religious life. The advantages for the individual which may be derived from compromises with atheistic organizations do not compare in any way with the consequences which are visible in the destruction of our common religious and ethical values. The national Government sees in both Christian denominations the most important factor for the maintenance of our society. …
- Adolf Hitler, speech before the Reichstag, March 23, 1933, just before the Enabling Act is passed.
Today Christians … stand at the head of [this country]… I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity .. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit … We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press – in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past … (few) years.
- Adolf Hitler, quoted in: The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, 1922-1939, Vol. 1 (London, Oxford University Press, 1942), pg. 871-872
And now some quotes by Hitler and other citations demonstrating is disdain for Atheism and Secularism:
For this, to be sure, from the child’s primer down to the last newspaper, every theater and every movie house, every advertising pillar and every billboard, must be pressed into the service of this one great mission, until the timorous prayer of our present parlor patriots: ‘Lord, make us free!’ is transformed in the brain of the smallest boy into the burning plea: ‘Almighty God, bless our arms when the time comes; be just as thou hast always been; judge now whether we be deserving of freedom; Lord, bless our battle!”
- Adolf Hitler’s prayer, Mein Kampf, Vol. 2 Chapter 13
Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith …we need believing people.
- Adolf Hitler, April 26, 1933, speech made during negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordant
We were convinced that the people need and require this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.
- Adolf Hitler, Speech in Berlin, October 24, 1933
“In Freethinkers Hall, which before the Nazi resurgence was the national headquarters of the German Freethinkers League, the Berlin Protestant church authorities have opened a bureau for advice to the public in church matters. Its chief object is to win back former churchgoers and assist those who have not previously belonged to any religious congregation in obtaining church membership. The German Freethinkers League, which was swept away by the national revolution, was the largest of such organizations in Germany. It had about 500,000 members…”
- The New York Times, May 14, 1933, page 2, on Hitler’s outlawing atheistic and freethinking groups in the Spring of 1933, after the Enabling Act authorizing Hitler to rule by decree
“A campaign against the ‘godless movement’ and an appeal for Catholic support were launched by Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s forces.”
- Associated Press story, February 23, 1933
I hope this answers your question.
Will,
That was good! As the rap group Public Ememy would say: “Punks jump up to get beatdown”!
Can’t wait to hear from you Mark Charles.
BFBF
BFBF-
Thanks.
I am sure you would agree with me that while Hitler and his followers used Christianity to justify Hitler’s and the Nazi party’s actions it was not Christianity that was responsible. It was Hitler and his followers.
Stalin was an atheist but atheism did not make him kill millions. Stalin did that on his own for his own reasons.
Hitler was not a follower of Christ.
He was pretending to be.
He was simply manipulating the people.
People misuse Christ’s teachings for personal gain.
There are humanists who do the same thing.
I also recall many Christians (including Catholics) that were against Hitler’s movement.
There are… many very bad people of all beliefs.
Humanists and Christians included.
Yeah that’s what william said!
Mark Charles posts:
“And for an organization to push their view that one should not believe in a God or god is a very oppressive and intolerant view point.”
If he is referring to the American Humanist Association, he us mistaken. I have been associated with AHA for forty years and can assure you that when true to itself it does NOT push any view at all about the existence or nonexistence of any God. Humanism is about what us human.
Regrettably, some incursions gave been made into Humanism by atheists who use the AHA to promote their atheism. This damages Humanism,and I hope it will soon be corrected.
The AHA advertising campaign is a good project, since God has nothing necessarily to do with your moral behavior. I really don’t see why they bother to mention God at all. He does not make you moral; you do.
It is troubling, however, to see that this poster Mr. Charles is so eager to point out the mote in the Humanists’ eye while he ignores the beam in his own eye.
Humanists seldom veer into metaphysics by making unverifiable allegations about the existence of God. The Christians, on the other hand, proselytize endlessly. Indeed they must do so if they abide by the Lord’s command – the “great commission.” They are under orders to go out and convert the world. Humanists are not.
So fundies “push their view that one should believe in a God or god” and the fundies’ attitude, not the Humanists, is indeed “a very oppressive and intolerant view point.”
No Humanist has ever yet buttonholed me on the street to ask if I gave taken the Jesus Christ out of my heart or rejected him as my Lord and Savior.
No Humanist, Jew or Catholic has ever yet knocked on my door to ask if I know Jesus or whatever. That seems to be a Mormon and fundie thing.
Last time I looked at a dollar bill it did NOT say “In God we DON’T trust.” It seems the Christians are all too eager to mooch a free ride on the rest of us, and push their religious point of view – at taxpayer’s expense!
Hey, you guys, the Humanists PAY FOR their ads. Why don’t you put up your own message, at your own expense?
Has any Humanist ever yet demanded that the Humanist Manifesto be posted on a monument in front of your city Hall? I didn’t think so.
In 1954, the Knights of Columbus – pushy Roman Catholic proselytizers – conned Congress into injecting “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance.
Funny thing but I have not yet heard the Humanists or the atheists trying to put “OVER God” in there instead.
If Satanists want to put “One nation under Satan” in the Pledge, how will you feel about it? Far better to leave ALL religion out of ALL public expression and keep faith a PRIVATE matter as the founders intended.
.
Responding to:
“By the way, could you explain Hitler for me. What a great guy.”
Yes, I can. No problem.
Adolf Hitler was a baptized Christian in a culture highly influenced by the founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther.
Luther’s ideals were so favorable to the Nazi Party that when the Nazis held their rallies at Nuremberg, they displayed in glass showcases some first edition volumes of Luther’s writings.
When Hitler attained the chancellorship in 1933, his accession was hailed by the leader of the Protestants in Germany, Pastor Martin Niemoller, who later became head of the World Council of Churches, spokesman for most of Protestantism.
On the First Sunday in Lent, 1933, Pastor Niemoller’s Pastoral Letter was read from the pulpits of all churches:
“When our German nation became a nation, God gave it for a soul the Christian faith, and from this Christianity of the German national soul have come all the forces which make our nation develop and grow.” This was his welcoming greeting for the new Fuhrer.
No surprise, then, that when the Jews were suffering violent persecution in 1938, and Hitler went before the Reichstag to explain in a speech, he made it clear:
“I am acting in accordance with the mind of the Almighty Creator. In dealing with the Jews I am doing the Lord’s work.”
So yes, to “explain Hitler” you just face the reality that Hitler and the Nazi movement were products of Protestantism. The most virulent support for the Nazis came not from mainstream Christians but from the evangelicals.
If you have accepted Christ as your savior and you would like to discuss this further, wait until you get to Heaven then you can meet Adolf Hitler in person. He will be there.
I won’t. I prefer to spend eternity with Albert Einstein, Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Marie Curie, Kurt Vonnegut, Peter Ustinov, Stephen Jay Gould, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Abraham Lincoln, Bertrand Russell, and so many others who have not groveled, begged to be saved or bowed to the Lord and never will.
Those are my kind of people. Hitler is yours. Sorry, Christians, Adolf Hitler is your man, not mine.
Excellent post Francis!
Francis,
Adolf Hitler will not be with Christ.
There are requirements:
1- Excepting Christ as your Lord and Savior
(This means, trying to follow his teachings. Which Hitler failed to do and didn’t even seem to try to do.)
2- Having a repentant heart over the sins you have committed.
Unless you think Adolf Hitler felt truly sorry for the MANY sins he committed.
Personally, I don’t think he had a problem with breaking Christ’s laws.
-Hmmm
“Adolf Hitler will not be with Christ.
There are requirements:
1- Excepting Christ as your Lord and Savior
(This means, trying to follow his teachings. Which Hitler failed to do and didn
Francis,
The New Testament does say those are the two requirements.If Hitler met those requirements. I do not know.
But, assuming that the requirements are real and true, you have no way of knowing if Hitler would be with Jesus either.
So saying that “Sorry, Christians, Adolf Hitler is your man, not mine.” isn’t necessarily true.
I don’t think it IS certain that Hitler was not an atheist. Perhaps he did what he did with all his interactions with the people. He persuaded and used what ever method possible to get people to listen to him and follow him. Perhaps he didn’t believe in God and perhaps that is why he didn’t fear punishment for the horrible things he let happen. Or perhaps he he really thought God wanted him to do all that… It seems more likely to me that he just didn’t believe there was a higher power that would punish him.
I think there are many higher up religious leaders who do not actually believe in what they preach. There are only there for the position of power.
- Hmmm
Hitler studied to be a priest before he became a political leader. Surely you would agree that faith in god is a pre-requisite for the priesthood.
Also, in Mein Kampf Hitler outlined his attitudes towards the Jews and his belief in god. The passages about the Jews were true so why would one question his statements about god.
Lastly please provide statements made by Hitler where he stated his atheism. Arguments made without back-up fall flat. Hitler blieved in god that’s a fact.
Hitler’s believe in God is less a fact and more of a speculation.
I would even believe it possible that the Pope does not believe in God.
I’m saying it is possible that Hitler did not believe in a God. In my experience people are not always truthful.
I think that if he really studied the New Testament, he would not have done everything that he did if he truly believed in God.
Anyways. I’m stepping out of this argument because it’s is impossible to prove if he did indeed believe in a God or not. We can only speculate. And it really doesn’t matter much. I just like to argue.
Which if he did feel truly sorry and repented, then I guess he’s going to be with God. Then perhaps God will heal the insane, mess of man that he was.
You still provided no evidence to suppprt your thesis that Hitler was an atheist. Furthermore you introduced a new thesis that it was possible that the Pope didn’t believe in god.
ok I’ll bite: Which pope didn’t believe in god?
Your logic reminds me of that of conspiracy theorists. So convinced of their premise that when conspiracy theorists are presented with evidence refuting their claim they immediately state that the evidence is false and part of a cover-up. A cover-up which they say further proves their original premise.
You failed to present any reason to doubt Hitler’s faith in god. It is a fact that he wrote that he did and since there is no reason to doubt him on this issue one can assume Hitler was a theist.
It is an important point for the following reason: Those who would say that a belief in god is necessary to be moral are quick to point out atheist political leaders such as Stalin as examples of the premise. Often Hitler has been included in this example. But no more! Hitler believed in god.
Francis,
“The Christians, on the other hand, proselytize endlessly. Indeed they must do so if they abide by the Lord
BFBF-
I’m not sure I follow your logic concerning Mark but it looks like you agree with Francis that Christians should not try to convert the world to their religion. That’s something I can agree with.
Yeah that’s correct almost.
Christians should not try to “FORCE” convert; but asking if a person wants to know about Christianity should not be a problem. The AHA does the same thing, members don’t just manifest out of the air. The problem for Christianity comes when a person says “no” they don’t want to know, then the Christian should accept that answer and go about his or her business, most of the time it does not happen that way.
BFBF
Or better yet, stop ringing my doorbell. I had three Jehovah’s Witnesses and their kids interrupt my Saturday morning a few weeks ago. There are ways to raise awareness without bothering people.
Post a “NO SOLICITORS” sign on your door.
It really does help.
Not disturbing people in the first place works even better.
I don’t want those annoying kids trying to sell me magazines, but they are going to try… because some people want to buy their magazines.
And I don’t like people coming by trying to sell me religion. But, some people want it sold to them, right at their doorstep.
Don’t expect everyone to be mind readers. Just stick a no solicitors sign on the door and don’t answer the door unless you are expecting someone. If it’s a friend have them call ahead. It’s rude to drop by uninvited anyways and often inconvenient.
Never had the magazine sellers only religious people and politicians. My alderman lives up the street from me and he was in a tight race and went door to door bothering people.
Why don’t the Christians adopt the Islamist view of spreading the faith? The Islamists believe that the truth of the faith will by its very nature make its way into the hearts of others. That no coercion is needed to spread the word because of its rightousness because god will do it in his own time.
I think the Adv. program is a great idea and the best way to further the awareness of Humanism. Let’ do it all across the nation and earth.
Why the god user believes is due to one thing. Power!
The power one thinks they get from passing on the god idea, and the power one thinks they receive from their imagining their god of power. The gorilla in the corner.
On a side note the season of the godless holiday has been what we have called “Giftmass” for many years.
Our period of “Giftmass” begins on the solstice and ends on NewYears, 12 days of giving and fun, and none of it has anything to do with a virgin birth back in the summer of 0.
Andre`
“I think the Adv. program is a great idea and the best way to further the awareness of Humanism. Let
“America is the only country that
I stand corrected WIll! My wife would kill me for not metioning him, she’s Indian.
BFBF
I don’t like the ad. I follow Christ and so I am against the ad. I wish everyone would follow Christ. His rules are so good and useful.
I want to see everyone end up with God. That is my greatest wish.
I am good because I get positive reinforcements from my environment when I am good. Although, even when I am not rewarded, I still do good. Jesus taught that no matter how much good you do, it is never enough for you to good in the eyes of God. So, I am good simply for goodness sake. Although, like everyone in this world I fall short of others expectations of good.
Christmas holds no interest for me. It just seems like yet another over inflated holiday revolving around over indulgence.
I guess I don’t really have much to say. I just wanted to put a few of my thoughts up.
I’m not angry at the ad. But I don’t like it. Because, from my view, people who are making these ads are not helping themselves or others to grow closer to God.
But, we all have our free will. We can all choose God or no God. And in the end, at death, there will be nothing or something.
KLR,
You should post here more often. GREAT RESPONSE!
I am so proud of and impressed with your much needed campaign message, which gently reminds people that morality exists outside of a god. (many people don’t realize that.) I’m now going to look into joining your organization.
PS. I especially appreciate the positive, non-insulting tone of the message.
I’d like to add- I believe the reason the ad campaign is asking people to reconsider believing in god is because for many people who have grown up steeped in faith, the possibility that a god might not exist hasn’t really a real option for them. Many aspects of our culture is so thoroughly religious that to simply not believe often seems downright evil.
Why, you might ask, is this differing perspective(that god might not exist) even needed?
In my opinion, that is because while religion can, in the short term, ease the pain of life, it can often serve to prolong and extend suffering as well. This can happen when the prayer and the relationship to God becomes a substitute for a)other, more active and effective ways of handling problems and b)a substitute for genuine love and empathy, especially towards those different from us.
In particular, a religious belief in the soul can lead us to beliefs and choices which otherwise would be considered quite inhumane and even cruel. In my opinion, this is the case with many essential life and death questions, particularly having to do with euthanasia and abortion. In these cases, often the focus on preserving every “soul” ends up being on maintaining quantity, rather than quality of life.) The Catholic church’s ban on contraception, to give one example, has brought inestimable misery, because children who can’t be cherished and nutured (or sometimes simply fed) have nevertheless been forced to exist or, in developing nations, they have been forced to exist before dying a slow painful death of disease or starvation a few months later anyway.
If each child has a soul, these are all souls to be saved. But if one isn’t distracted by the notion of a soul, one can often more actively and directly address and perhaps even relieve human suffering.
Another source of cruelty that often comes from our belief in god and souls has to do with our belief that humans posssess souls, but that animals don’t. Setting ourselves apart from and above other animals often justifies our completely ignoring their suffering and their basic biological needs as we raise them for our own purposes. Most people have not even taken time to even consider the suffering of animals we raise for food, a fact which in and of itself indicates how a belief in god doesn’t suffice in making us even rudimentarily empathetic.
The fact that people are not aware of the problems with believing in god is exactly the reason ad campaigns such as this one should continue.
[...] last fall, I didn’t think about it very much: “Huh, that’s nice.” Then, the American Humanist Association followed suit with this ad, in Washington, [...]