Thanks For The Advice
I recently watched Greta Christina’s presentation at Skepticon IV about why atheists are angry. It is well worth the watching. In it, she mentioned that Christians often give atheists advice on how we should run our movement. This particularly caught my attention because I hear this all the time and even heard it shortly before watching the video.
The next time a Christian offers advice to me about how atheists should conduct our movement, I would like to point out to them that Gandhi must have eagerly awaited the advice of the British when he was conducting his protest. Perhaps Martin Luther King Jr. consulted with the Grand Wizards of the KKK before his famous speech.
I wonder what their advice would have been. I bet it would have been something along the lines of stop fighting for your rights and don’t shove your concerns in the face of the entire nation. Interestingly enough that is the same advice Christians give to me about atheism.
Just the other day, I wrote about the new American Humanist Association billboards and a Christian told me that he thought they were offensive. I asked him in what way they could possibly be offensive and he told me that one of them used the word, “God.” That billboard said, “Don’t believe in a God? Join the club.” So his advice to me was to not mention “god” or “belief” or “even “atheism.” In other words, his advice was to just put up a billboard that said, “Join the club.”
Thanks for the advice but in the immortal words of Jack Napier, “I didn’t ask!”
Related articles
- Humanist group announces new billboard, bus, and newspaper campaign (examiner.com)
- Five atheists to be thankful to in 2011 (examiner.com)
- Wanted: “Atheists Who Are More Upset If You DON’T Share The Gospel With Them” (freethoughtblogs.com)
- Last Week’s Anti-Atheist Bigotry (atheistethicist.blogspot.com)
Filed under: atheism, billboards, culture war, humanism, People of Reason, Religion
