AmericanPapist Comments
I'd like to hear what they consider good without a God...
Why believe in exclusive empiricism?
I recently watched this pretty decent debate between Richard Dawkins (strident atheist) and John Lennox (Christian mathematician and philosopher of science) and found most especially fascinating the refusal to acknowledge, on the part of Dawkins, that trust in science and scientific method, involves any exercise of faith. He really seems completely blind to his own assumptions and, at the same time, stubbornly opposed to considering the idea of a faith that isn't 'blind faith,' that a proper faith is actually quite well informed.
In any case, his performance in that debate demonstrated that an aptitude for the sciences does not necessarily make someone that smart in the sense of being able to employ logic in philosophical discussion or even substantially engaging in real, honest introspection.
Perhaps the AHA (interesting acronym, dontcha think?) could give us the scientific evidence supporting the theory that a "fetus" is not human . . .?
I wanna know how much good these "humanists" could have done with the $40,000.
I was going to say that, why not take the 40k and do something good with it, like feed the poor, take care of the helpless..
Nah...
Remember O'Sullivan's Law- any organization that does not explicitly begin with conservative principles will become liberal.
Might be a G.E. Corollary- any religious organization that does not explicitly place the Creator at its center will ultimately serve His Enemy. 3-5 years before they hook up with anti-Christian bigots. Most likely of a leftist/socialist bent.
In defense of the humanists spending 40k on the ads, I'm sure they think they're doing a lot of good by trying to persuade people that God doesn't exist (even if their logic is terrible).
We spend much more than that on our Churches (or at least we used to until the past 40 years or so) and other things which non-Catholics think are a waste of money. Of course, we realize that a good Church is one of the best ways we have to communicate the Gospel and using our best skills and materials to build a house for God is worth infinitely more than the financial cost.
Funny how, in an attempt to assert their atheist religiousness, they slipped and not only used the image of Santa Claus (which is a secular caricature of Saint Nicholas, red suit, hat, and all), but the phrase "Be good for Goodness' sake" doesn't really mean what they think it means. As Christians understand it, "Goodness" is a synonym for God, the Blessed Trinity (just like Justice, Mercy, Love). So, the phrase actually reads "Be good for [God's] sake".
I'm sure they don't look at it that way. But it should be clear that their religion is actually an anti-Christian religion. They didn't use imagery that could be linked back to Muslim or Hindu culture. It was no accident that they chose this particular image and that particular phrase.
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Amen Joseph!!
I hope the American Misanthropic Association counters with their own ads soon.
Why be good?
Period.
Who cares about "goodness' sake" anyway?
Only suckers!
Why believe some ad? Just define "good".
Watching the New Skeptics try to put on a "moral" image is like watching a boxing opponent hit himself in the throat until it swells; one wants to tell him what he's doing, but then again it's tempting just to let him. A confusing instinct.
Whoops! Address correction.
Atheist scientists don't believe in anything they can't discover through the scientific method? Ask them about Dark Matter.
"Just be good for goodness' sake."
They accidently swerved into the truth: God IS Goodness.
The joke is on them, really. Because this season wouldn't exist if it weren't for Christ. Christmas. Hello? They wouldn't have a holiday to say "be good for goodness' sake" now, would they?
Speaking of "holiday", while it bothers me that pc people want to make us say it, it delights me that they think that they are getting around "Merry Christmas". Which is a Holy Day. Holiday. hahahaha! Happy HolyDay Ms PC Person!
Well, I'll confess that I visited their website and found this unassailable explanation for why people are "good," even without a god:
Human beings are social primates. So they have basic feelings of empathy and sociality built in, just as do other social primates like chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, baboons, and the like. These animals don’t get their social behavior from Scripture and neither do you. Morality finds its roots in human nature.
So I wonder where human nature comes from? From hydrogen, maybe?
But I'm grateful that they've included a laundry list of our fellow primates that kindles some distant memories of the behavior often exhibited in my all-guys freshman dorm ["chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, baboons, and the like"].
These and other clowns are fixing to paper Colorado Springs (home of evil fundamentalist Christians) with these advertisements.
In addition to the Santa Claus ad above, we will also get John Lennon telling us to "Imagine there's no religion."
I have a feeling that they will be wildly unsuccessful at changing anyone's mind.
"Morality finds its roots in human nature."
Sounds like natural law to me. No matter how hard these guys try to ignore God, they keep stumbling over His truth in everything they do.
Atheists don't oppose religion, they oppose a chariacature of religion. They don't understand it correctly in the first place.
Here is just more evidence. Christianity beat them to the whole "be good for goodness sake" 2000 years ago. That is what all of that saved by faith/grace is all about. Christianity alone of all the religions insists that we can't be saved by our merits. We can't earn our reward by being good because a) we are incapable of being good enough and b) its too late to earn it because it has already been given to us for free by the loving heart of God.
From there, all good works that a Christian does arises from gratitude for a gift already given. All good works for the Christian believer are really for "goodness sake" alone. We get nothin out of it. Never have.
I suggest that some Christian group counter this ad with something like the above. Maybe along the lines of "Too late. That's what the Church has been saying for 2000 years!"
Anonymous,
Oh I think I can assail their logic
;-) How about, human beings aren't just animals in that, unlike our primate brethren, we are capable of acting against our nature, against our best interests, against goodness etc. We are at once more than our animal relatives and less than them for not being constrained to act within proscribed natural limits. Humans can sin against the laws of "nature" while animals can't. We sin in this way all the time in spite of fear hell or without consideration for a reward. Humans are not naturally good either with or without religion. But countless human beings have been better than their natural inclinations because of religion and religion alone.
Atheists don't oppose religion, they oppose a chariacature of religion.
Of course they don't oppose religion. Theirs is a religion. They cannot prove that God does not exist, but they assert this as fact. This is called anti-faith. They have faith that God doesn't exist. Theirs is a religion.
"Atheists don't oppose religion, they oppose a caricature of religion"
This is a really useful point to make when you are in a discussion.
AMEN! I wrote to my local priest in the Brandon, FL, area, where I currently live, and to the Bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg via email about the article! I think that the Vaughn Monroe standard "God is Alive" (sung in the Lawrence Welk show by Tom Netherton) should be covered by a famous Christian artist because the lyrics really counter the ad, thus in the last stanza,
Somehow, some still deny Him,
Saying, ‘God is dead,’
Yet man has come, and man has gone,
And still His world lives on and on,
His love will survive,
Yes, God is alive!
To me, the ads offend me because they are tantamount to saying, "God is dead."
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