Plan B Forum

Advertisements paid for by the American Humanist Association -- an organization of non-believers -- have been popping up on television, radio and on billboards in cities across the country.



This holiday season, after the marathon of shopping and stressful travel comes to a close, the masses will finally gather to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. But one group says it is using the most religious time of the year to call attention to the plight of an often forgotten group: non-believers and atheists.

There was also a campaign by atheists in California to bump a Church's nativity scenes out of the spot they'd held in a park for thirty years ...by simply getting to it first, I'll grant you, but why now? I assume there are no 'sacred' days in the non-believers calender, so any time of the year would do for their advertising?
In the manner that Westboro stages their protests disruptively, on the days of meaningful ceremonies to other people; is this not also inappropriately disrespectful? Their reason why?

I am not making this up, it's in the same link as above;

The Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason paid more than $2,400 for the ads, which they are hoping reach those who feel left out during the holiday season.

Hmmm, Christmas makes atheists feel lonely, so since even the secular
'Seasons Greetings' isn't good enough anymore. They instead prefer to act like this gentleman;

"I must find some way to keep Christmas from coming!



How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot.
But the Grinch who lived just north of Whoville did not!
The Grinch hated Christmas, the whole Christmas season.
Please don't ask why, no one quite knows the reason.

It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

What ever happened to celebrating the winter soltice?

That's for pagans and wiccans, not atheists.

Objecting to the celebration of reason? I guess it's impossible to celebrate what one has never had.

I left to get to get coffee, and thought some more, about this...

Are the atheists really being left out of the 'holiday' season'? <sluuuurp>

I don't think so, no. In fact, they get the Grand Finale and the Encore, if you count the Super Bowl as a Winter Festival
... the Biggest Bash has got to be New Year's Eve, which last I checked, in the Western World was a non-denominational celebration.

So, what's wrong with somebody having their own excuse to party?

There's one thing atheists can celebrate, they know more about religion than those who believe in god(s). Even on questions solely about the Bible and Christianity, atheists/agnostics scored slightly higher than Protestants, 20% higher than Catholics as a whole and (whoops!) 55% higher than Hispanic Catholics.

Yep, atheists certainly have cause to "Celebrate Reason".

Cool, in my country, we do that on New Year's Eve, and we "Celebrate Love" on Christmas.

I don't see anything wrong with that.

Scooter wrote:That's [the winter solstice] for pagans and wiccans, not atheists.

Objecting to the celebration of reason? I guess it's impossible to celebrate what one has never had.

I was viewing the solstice through the lens of scientific fact.

Well, there you go. Christmas was already subverted to the solstice, in order to be more 'reasonable'. Now, they're trying to take the love out of it, in order to make it more 'reasonable'[?]

Claiming there to be a conflict between love and reason is so 17th century.

Yup, too bad the American Humanist Association, and other atheists are doing that.

The inclusion of Muslims, Jews and African-religions into the holiday season, has been growing in the inter-faith movement. Don't know why some non-believers want to isolate themselves.

I knew there was a reason I didn't add a reasonable response to this thread

You're a loving Christian? ThX CP

loCAtek wrote:Yup, too bad the American Humanist Association, and other atheists are doing that.

No, you are the one doing that by claiming that atheists are incapable of love.

Of course, if one's idea of love comes from a relationship in which she is subservient to her "alpha dog"...

Such a healthy relationship THAT one.

LMAO Alpha Dog ain't my BF ...confused you are. about much.

This is where paying attention is a good thing:

Alpha Dog is a juero in Iraq,

My BF is a Latino state-side.

Any more things I can clear up?

I love the Solstice. My swede has had a winter solstice celebration for decades -- and he's a catholic. I just started a summer solstice celebration at my house -- and I'm an episcopalian/hippie chick. And we both celebrate Christmas.

loCAtek wrote:LMAO Alpha Dog ain't my BF

Oh, he's some other man you let kick you around then.

Welcome to Fantasy Island!

Whatever you need to tell yourself to get by, sweetie.

Christmas is, very fundamentally, an advertisement for Christianity. There is absolutely nothing wrong with atheists running their own ad campaign, and there is nothing wrong with running their ads at times and in locations where they will be noticed most. Simliarly, there is nothing wrong with "comparison advertising."

ETA:

The comparison to Westboro Baptist Church is inapt. No atheist is barging into a church service -- or even standing outside one -- screaming "Reason Hates Christians" or "Thank Secularism For Dead Christians."

As far as taking public space that previously "belonged" to explicitly religious messages, the fact is that a public space that opens itself for free expression cannot discriminate based on the content of the message. The state simply cannot reserve spaces for religious displays to the exclusion of others, no matter what season it is. If atheists successfully compete to use those spaces at those times, it is no different than any other decision about how, when and where to express their message.

loCAtek wrote:I left to get to get coffee, and thought some more, about this...

Are the atheists really being left out of the 'holiday' season'? <sluuuurp>

I don't think so, no. In fact, they get the Grand Finale and the Encore, if you count the Super Bowl as a Winter Festival
... the Biggest Bash has got to be New Year's Eve, which last I checked, in the Western World was a non-denominational celebration.

So, what's wrong with somebody having their own excuse to party?

New Year's is also known as the Feast of the Circumcision, and has had an explicitly religious connotation for well over a thousand years, even before its formal adoption by the Church in the 11th Century. Saying that New Year's Eve is somehow "non-denominational" is like saying Mardi Gras is "non-denominational."