By Katherine T. Phan
Christian Post Reporter
Sat, Dec. 06 2008 08:56 AM EST
Two Christian-based groups have purchased advertisements with Washington D.C. Metro buses to counter the atheist "Why Believe in a God?" bus campaign with their own pro-God Christmas ads.
The Center for Family Development, a Catholic-based non-profit in Bethesda, Md., plans to raise $14,000 to run a campaign called "I Believe Too," which consists for 10 buses with side posters, 10 buses with tail posters and 200 interior bus posters.
The pro-God ads will read: "Why Believe? Because I created you and I love you, for goodness' sake - GOD."
"Our goal is to counteract the AHA with a positive, upbeat ad of our own that identifies God as our true and loving creator," said JoEllen Murphey, a mother of four from McLean, Va., who was among those outraged over an atheist bus campaign run by the American Humanist Association.
Murphey is partnering with the Center for Family Development in the grassroots effort.
The American Humanist Association began running a $40,000 holiday ad campaign last month in an attempt to reach out to those who might be interested in humanism, which rejects a belief in God and an afterlife. The ads declaring, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake," are currently displayed on the outside and inside of 200 Metro DC buses and will run throughout the Christmas season.
The ads by the atheist group have sparked a public outcry, resulting in hundreds of complaints sent to the transit agency over the ads.
"After a friend forwarded me an article about the AHA ad campaign, I thought, 'Enough!' I am so tired of God and religion being attacked that I decided to start a counter ad campaign," said Murphey.
The "I Believe Too" campaign will begin running next week. As of Dec. 5, over 165 donors have contributed $6,700 toward the campaign, which is enough to cover the 200 interior bus posters and 10 tail bus posters. On Facebook, the campaign has the support of 740 friends.
Donations, which are tax deductible, can be made online via PayPal or sent by check to The Center for Family Development.
Another Christian group, called Pennsylvania Friends of Christ, has also planned a bus ad campaign to counter the atheist bus ads. The group will run ads reading "Believe in God. Christ is Christmas for goodness' sake" on 10 Metro buses for four weeks.
Meanwhile, AHA Executive Director Roy Speckhardt said the "godless holiday campaign" has been an overwhelming success, according to ABC 7 News.
Many Christian groups nationwide said they found the ads offensive, saying it was another attempt by those waging a war on Christmas to ban God from the public square.
The U.S. atheist bus campaign came one month after the British Humanist Association said it will run ads stating “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" on London buses in January.
Unlike Britain, where six in ten people admit they have no religious affiliation, according to a report by the United Nations, the United States is a nation that still overwhelmingly professes a belief in God. Earlier this year, a poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 92 percent of Americans believe in God.
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Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Christians Counter 'Why Believe in God?' Ad Campaign
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15 comments:
"Unlike Britain, where six in ten people admit they have no religious affiliation, according to a report by the United Nations, the United States is a nation that still overwhelmingly professes a belief in God. Earlier this year, a poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 92 percent of Americans believe in God."
Having a little problem finding apples to compare your apples to, Bob? Or just trying to distort the truth? Or just a mistake?
More than one quarter of Americans b/t 18 and 29 are not affiliated with a particular religion. Over 15% overall. Not 8. Neither of those figures includes American Atheists, which are 5-8% of the population, depending on which figures you look at.
We are thus over 1/5 of the population and growing each year.
I'm afraid I had a hard time following you, Colin. Do you dispute that there was a Pew poll which found 92% of Americans believing in God? Are you disputing the accuracy of the Pew poll?
You should understand that affiliation with a particular religion isn't required to believe in God. You may be trying to mix and match different poll results here, which has the potential to obscure the meaning of either finding.
Humanist atheist Communists have murdered 150 million people worldwide. One million of those were Buddhist monks in Tibet murdered by the atheist Communist Chinese. All atheists are not Communists but all Communists are definitely humanist atheists recognizing no power higher than their own leaders. This is where atheism leads ultimately.
Ok then Anonymous, how many people has religion killed?
Knave,
Less than 100,000 died in ancient “religious” wars which were mutually escalated and both sides faired equally badly.
Evan the most liberal estimates of the deaths in during the Inquisition are less than 8,000 over four hundred years.
Atheistic communists have killed about 140,000,000 in less than the last hundred years. Quite a record and the killings still go on.
Today the atheist, Islamists, and Hindus in India are the ones calling for the deaths of other believers. Christians and Jews are not.
Aslan, keeping score of who has killed more people does not erase or justify the atrocities committed by any group, whether theistic or atheistic. So what's your point?
Basically it was to point out that arguing that religion kills is a red herring posited by people with a weak position. I do not justify the atrocities, but too many people use the past as justification for their current evil.
I agree, but let's not pin it all on religion vs. atheism. I think any mindset that favors blind acceptance to faith (or any kind of emotional appeal - be it out of fear, desperation, hatred, etc.) over logical acceptance of fact inevitably leads to very bad things.
That is why I ask for a reasoned debate in considering religious discussions. Once either side loses control of their emotions and starts spitting epithets, friendly exchange is over.
It takes amazing faith to believe that there is no God. One has to ignore the reality of our existance. You have to ignore the complexity of your own body. Is it not amazing that our eyes can detect photons and our ears can detect vibrations in the air? How could those amazing systems have developed without an intellegent designer God? If you think that there is no God, you are an interlectual fool.
I've learned that if you want to debate religion, you must check reason at the door.
I have learned that Athiests like to rant at the lack of evidence involved in Christian belief that God designed the world, while calling any person who believes in God stupid. They dont relise that evolution and creationism both have reasonible evidence and logical points. I have also learned that these same atheists have never actually looked into creationism. The only thing these athiests know about creationism or evolution is what they have seen on the Discovery channel!!! No wonder!! Anonymous :"I've learned that if you want to debate religion, you must check reason at the door." Sure Anonymous... how have you learned this? Since it is abvious that you dont know anything about "religion" other than it involves God, and that it is not what you want to believe.
I have learned that Athiests like to rant at the lack of evidence involved in Christian belief that God designed the world, while calling any person who believes in God stupid. They dont relise that evolution and creationism both have reasonible evidence and logical points. I have also learned that these same atheists have never actually looked into creationism. The only thing these athiests know about creationism or evolution is what they have seen on the Discovery channel!!! No wonder!! Anonymous :"I've learned that if you want to debate religion, you must check reason at the door." Sure Anonymous... how have you learned this? Since it is abvious that you dont know anything about "religion" other than it involves God, and that it is not what you want to believe.
The people attacking religion, and especially Christianity, really should know their subject before making their attacks. I've considered all the arguments, pro and con, regarding Christianity and I find that the evidence for Christianity is overwhelming. There seem to be no arguments against Christianity that hold water. What Christians really need to do is learn some apologetics and confront the atheists on those deeper levels. Many would be converted to Christianity, I am sure.
Nick Light,
Anonymous 2:38 here, the one who you think "obviously" knows nothing about religion. If you had bothered to ask, you'd have learned that I was a very devout Evangelical Christian for the first twenty years of my life, until education and exposure to different religions caused me to re-think everything I thought I was once so sure of. And if you hadn't been so quick to assume I was just another ignorant atheist, you'd have learned that I don't think any of us can honestly know either way if there's a god. I consider myself a pretty arrogant person sometimes, but not so arrogant as to think I have personal knowledge of the unknowable ;-)
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