Atheist group posts “there is no God” display next to nativity scene
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Atheist group posts
An atheist group has unveiled an anti-religion placard in the Washington state Capitol, joining a Christian Nativity scene and
KING
Published: December 2, 2008
Published: December 2, 2008
An atheist group has unveiled an anti-religion placard in the Washington state Capitol, joining a Christian Nativity scene and “holiday tree” on display during December.
The placard reads: “At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.“
The foundation’s co-president, Dan Barker, said it was important for atheists to offer their viewpoint alongside the overtly religious Nativity scene and Christmas-style holiday tree.
“Our members want equal time,“ Barker said. “Not to muscle, not to coerce, but just to have a place at the table.“
The three displays, all privately sponsored, were granted permits from state groundskeepers to be placed in the Capitol’s grand marble hallways.
On Monday, the Nativity scene and atheist sign were installed alongside each other in a hallway between the state Senate and House chambers, separated by a large bust of the state’s namesake, George Washington.
For now, the atheist sign is a stand-in.
A metal plaque meant for display was delayed by a shipping error, Barker said.
It will be two-sided, with a lengthy message on the main side, and “Keep State/Church Separate” on the back.
The state says the display is free speech and passed certain criteria, and can’t be seen as state endorsement.
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In this great country, the Freedom of Speech as well as the right to control one's own body is protected. I believe the Atheist group has a right to display their beliefs. I do not believe they have the right to disturb or inhibit the rights of others to do the same. As far as whether there is a god or not, I cannot give you evidence that one exists. Believers have faith. Faith is the belief in the unbelievable or improvable. This may be the one thing atheists use against believers. They use logic and require yes or no answers. They point out all the failures of man and religion. Why do men have nipples? Because they do. Is there a god, yes there is.
Hello People.
To start of i would like to state that i was born catholic in a very religious community. However my views have often changed.I must say that i agree with both science and religion. i believe that both beliefs can work simultaneously. It is obvious that every action has a reaction and this means that every reaction has an initiating action. There can't have been a big bang (or whatever your belief is) without something starting it and something has to have initiated that catalyst. This chain would go back infinitely therefore Something needed to intervene before anything can have occurred. It is obvious that what is in the Bible can't be 100 percent correct because it is human documentation and interpretation. I believe that God does exist but that religion has and continues to be manipulated causing division and conflict. In my opinion people need to be more open to different ideas because all beliefs have positive and negative aspects and NONE are 100% correct. As for the nipple questions, because your skin is weakened during cold times and more vulnerable to cellular breakup, the nipples are a defense mechanism to protect from injury and possible cellular decomposition over the frontal parts of your heart and lungs. Whether this always existed or we adapted to form them i do not know, after all im just a genius.
For those commenting that you CAN'T know if there is a god or not, this is true. However, If you want to pray to things that MIGHT BE, you might think about spending equal time worshiping Satan, maybe HE (or she) is the creator of everything and controls your post-mortem destiny. Or teach your "kids/grandkids" that Zeus was the god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian gods and that Prometheus was the creator of man. These are equally un-provable.
Regarding Christmas, Yule celebrations at the winter solstice pre-date Christianity. In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. This is an attempt to overshadow the original pagan celebration. Holidays existed well before Christianity. If you need a book of stories and the fear of eternal damnation to help you practice right and wrong then by all means YOU should pray. But for me, I make my own decisions for a happy, rewarding life and don't need fairytales and superstitions to control my actions. Happy Holidays and be generous and kind to everyone you meet! Not because it's written somewhere and you might be punished if you don't, but because it is the best way to happiness.
There is one point I would like to make into your discussion on the evolution, before saying a word on the x-mas.
Acwilliams asked us to 'imagine, how much ‘luck’ did it take for a bunch of atoms to decide to put together the workings of the human eye.' And stated its 'Not possible.' This is a fairly frequent missunderstanding from people who are not familiar with aspects of sciences. Unlike it is often argued, chemistry (and biology) doesnt function on the basis of lottery. There is a logic, so to speak, behind the functioning of particles and atoms, which we are increasingly aware of. A famous example in context of evolution is the experiment of S. Miller in 1953. He combined hydrogen, water, methane, and ammonia into a container and after week of subjecting it to heat and electricity the outcome was organic compounds. Not because of luck, but because of chemical reactions. This is in the core of the development of life. Life is not a freak accident from the perspective of science as often portrayed by religious people, but a rational development based on the make-up of matter, which extends from amino acids to single cell organisims and beyond.
In regards to the x-mas. Even though I do not believe in god as written in the bible or any other religious text, I am entitled to celebrate the holiday like any other. The notions related to x-mas are not all related to existence or non-existence of god. Coming together with your friends and family, acts of kindness towards others as well as the atmosphere of x-mas in general in middle of cold winter is as good for an atheist as it is to religious person. In contemporary plural societies, idea of preserving the right of x-mas celebration for only religious people is absurd.
As usual, when I ask the religious person to answer the hard questions they run away!
This has happened to me in this debate at least a thousand times now. Also, I’m not here to teach evolution. That takes many months of study!
Evolution is though, where all life came from. No gods. All life originated from a single common ancestor over 3 billion years ago. We have mountains of fossil evidence that more than verifies this. Christians please read a nice big juicy science book on evolution. We actually did not come from apes like your clergy men and women suggest. They love to say that to scare you. If you educate yourselves thoroughly on this subject you'll know the truth. What you see is all there is. No supernatural BS.
Keep in mind that learning about evolution is not a quick study. It takes many, many hours in a classroom to learn all the in and outs about this fascinating fact. To the common American citizen that has only heard this or that about biological evolution and then learns nothing more, it is no wonder they write it off so easily. If they could just maybe read at least 100 to 200 pages about evolution in a college textbook they would see what they were really missing and didn’t know.
The educated atheist/evolutionist in general gets very aggravated and annoyed that the religious refuse to learn all the facts and then, after they learn something completely new to them, and only then, make their judgment about life’s origins. They only know the bible, and that the bible explains all they need to know. Not really see because they close their minds completely shut! We know that the religious person has believed in their faith for so…… long. So, long in fact that it’s now become a built in survival/comfort mechanism and almost impossible to have the religious minds look at what’s genuinely real and factual.
Has anyone answered the nipple question yet? Can it be answered from the bible or from evolutionary science? Guess?
I'm not saying that Christianity or Christmas is bad or that I don't like them. I’m not even saying there's no gods. Although, there's certainly no evidence or actual verifiable proof of any gods? I am 99.999% sure that no gods exist.
Why would the Christian god put nipples on Adams chest if he actually did “create” man? This can only mean that the book of Geneses is a made up story. Therefore no original sin. Therefore no Christ a savior is required.
CHRISTIANS! Why do men have nipples??? PLEASE ANSWER!
Reply To: acwilliams
You ask me to watch a Hollywood film so I can see for myself "adequate" evidence for the existence of a creator god? Please just tell me what that evidence is please ac? I actually want there to be a god and an afterlife! What's the evidence you saw please?
motekeeper
motekeeper, I request that you spend your Friday evening viewing the movie 'Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed' and then come back and tell me that there is 'adequate' evidence that God in fact DOES NOT exist. Every time one of these people 'humanists' whatever are asked 'Where did we come from?' they start mumbling words like...possibly, maybe, there's a chance.... There are no such thing as atheists. Atheist implies there IS NO God. You don't know that for a fact. So, in fact they are instead, agnostics. And as I said before, we'll all find out the truth in the end won't we? I'd rather not live a sad dark existence devoid of any hope of anything but returning to the wormdirt we came from. By the way, do you still tell your kids/grandkids they better get into bed because Santa's coming? Or do you put up a Christmas tree? Do you celebrate any kind of holiday observances? If a person is agnostic, they should not take advantage of these paid days off, yes? Neither Easter, Sundays, and then our 'politically correct' Congress shouldn't be on 'recess' for the holiday season either. When you drop all of the observances of our hope and faith by celebrating the religious holidays (holy-days) we do, we are left with nothing but a selfish self centered me, me, me society that seeks after it's own indulgence and satisfaction. How dark and disturbing to think of it. Imagine, how much 'luck' did it take for a bunch of atoms to decide to put together the workings of the human eye. Not possible. Sorry.
Sorry to get off subject of the article, but I was asked a question, and I will absolutely answer any question that comes along if I think I have adequate information to do so.
I Cor. 15:58 I shall NOT be moved!
And I DO recommend that anyone who HASN'T seen 'Expelled' to go to redbox, and pay the $1 to see it at least once. Then go to the Way of the Master website. Merry Christmas!!
Guys! Please!
I was a complete true Christian for 40 whole years! What happened??? I actually sat down and really read the actual Holy Bible! Lots of ugly stuff in there. The god in our bible killed a lot of innocent people, said slavery was cool, and that we can kill woman and children for different reasons! BUT, HE LOVES US!???? I then started thinking of all the other gods people from around the world believed in or still believe in. 100's of different gods! I figured if I was born in a non-Christian country then I'd probably believe in a different god than the Judeo-Christian one. Think of all of the gods that have been proven not to be true? Zeus, Thor, Isis, etc...
Why do most of the super highly educated scientists (98 %!!!) KNOW for sure evolution is true and happened? Ask yourself now? ASK YOURSELF??? Why do they? How do they know? Because they went to college and got educated about it. We did not! We don't realize that evolution did happen and we simply reject it because we are lazy and simply ignorant to the entire subject.
Ask yourself what makes more sense? That you believe in a book of supernatural stuff written thousands of years ago by men that still thought the earth was flat, didn't understand weather, tectonic plates, etc. or shouldn't we trust our science people with all this education that they have? ANSWER PLEASE!!!
They worked their butts off in school to learn the facts of how life began and how everything works. But, people would rather believe that the earth is flat?
Who made that PC you’re typing on now? WE KNOW A LOT MORE NOW THAN THEY DID THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO FOLKS! It's time to simply grow up and stop believing in all his religious mambo jumbo they really simply just made up thousands of years ago! But, remember this guys? THERE IS ZERO EVIDENCE THAT ANY GOD HAS EVER EXISTED, BUT MOUNTAINS AND MOUNTAINS AND MOUNTAINS OF EVIDENCE THAT MAN EVOLED FROM LOWER SPECIES. Therefore a divine creation DID NOT happen. BIBLE IS A LIE AND WAS MADE UP BY BRONZE AGE MEN! Think rationally please! I beg you!
Re: "Please explain why evil exists?"
Even more simply, evil exists because God exists.
If there is no God then there is no evil because evil is relative to a moral standard. Moral standards do not exist without a belief in something.
It seems to me what you are really asking is how can a good and loving god let inequity exist?
To answer that question I add, life is filled with inequity. The belief in the existance of God is not the belief that life is fair. Thus the existence of inequity in life is a poor reason to reject the existance of God.
I too believe that everyone has freedom to choose and everyone excercises their decisions for good or for evil. I do not have all the answers but I do believe that God can sort out the inequities, if not in this life then after this life is over.
Just a reminder the article is about an Atheist group posting a sign in a government building denouncing the existence of diety and the sign's proximity to a Christmas Tree and a Nativity.
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