Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
2011-04-09 13:16:31 UTC
- - -
Excerpts [with inserts, not part of original
article, inserted in brackets]:
- - -
April 9, 2011
Atheists are just ordinary people all
smiles, but no gods [well, even though
it's understandable that the group wants
to convey an "all smiles" presence to
counter the "all smiles" illusion presented
by many religious groups, the actuality
of the situation is that human existence
is an up-and-down adventure, with a
combination of happy and sad and, for
some, many terrible moments, so "all
smiles" is not accurate, just as the "all
smiles" illusion that many of the religious
try to convey is just as inaccurate]
National group launches billboard
campaign in North Carolina
at chieftan.com:
http://tinyurl.com/ordinary-people-with-no-gods
- - -
... some atheists are coming out of their
own closets with a new billboard campaign
that attempts to project a friendly, whole-
some image of a group long stigmatized
[overwhelmingly, by religious conservatives
for the most part] for its unconventional
beliefs.
Plastered on billboards in Raleigh, Durham,
Pittsboro and Smithfield, N.C., are the smil-
ing faces of real atheists and agnostics,
accompanied by pithy statements such
as ''I'm saved from religion'' and ''Another
happy, humanist family.''
The ''Out of the Closet'' campaign is just
one of several ways the growing nonbeliever
movement is flexing its muscles and ele-
vating its profile amid a competitive reli-
gious marketplace nationwide.
''We're ready to shift the stereotype of
the curmudgeonly old, overly educated,
angry white man,'' said Mark Zumbach,
president of the Triangle Freethought
Society, which is sponsoring the cam-
paign. ''We're a pretty diverse community.
There are a lot of young people, women
and families.''
Silent no more
...
Atheists at Fort Bragg have organized as
the Military Atheists and Secular Humanists,
or MASH, so they can begin to solicit dona-
tions.
Griffith said at least 18 percent of soldiers
at Fort Bragg indicated in their records file
they had ''no religious preference,'' making
unaffiliated soldiers the second-largest
group on the post after Christians.
That's roughly the same percentage of
Americans who have no religious affiliation,
according to recent polls.
Groups such as the Triangle Freethought
Society, which now has about 200 members,
are encouraged.
''Our biggest intent is not to disenfranchise
anyone with (religious) belief but to make
ourselves known to people who don't know
us and feel they need to get together with
others who have the same thoughts,'' said
Kristen Douglas of Carrboro, N.C., a society
board member.
Nonbelievers are far more willing to challenge
the status quo these days, said Laurie Maffly-
Kipp, a professor of religion at the University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The spate of
books by atheists such as Richard Dawkins
and Christopher Hitchens is one example.
''They're emboldened by people unhappy
with religious extremism,'' said Maffly-Kipp.
''It's a way of proposing another road to
take - give up on religion entirely.''
And while different religious groups will
respond in different ways, most [? - unclear
where this claim comes from, as in many
parts of the country, many if not most
religious organizations preach a hellfire
and brimstone fate for disbelievers, or
at best, oblivion for disbelievers, an ap-
proach that is mated to their promises
of immortality solely for those who be-
lieve in the "right" God in the "right"
way, a stance that has leads many in
the religious community to have a less
than tolerant stance towards those of
different religious faiths (in many cases)
and towards those of no faith (supported
by a plethora of passages in their ancient
so-called "holy" documents)] recognize
atheists' right to free speech.
[maybe in public some do, but when in
their bully pulpits, many of them preach
a quite different message than that, one
of intolerance and demonization of free-
thought and disbelief]
... the ''Out of the Closet'' campaign is
the largest and most ambitious so far.
Most of the money for the effort, about
$10,000, came from the national Freedom
from Religion Foundation based in Madison,
Wis. Another $2,000 was raised locally. The
people pictured in each billboard paid $50 to
have a professional photographer shoot their
picture.
''If all that people see are church marquees,
steeples and crosses, then religion wins by
default,'' said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-presi-
dent of the Freedom from Religion Founda-
tion. ''We want to change that.''
Gaylor said the foundation chose Raleigh
because of the strength of its Triangle
chapter.
The national group plans to take the campaign
to three other cities this year - Phoenix, Min-
neapolis and Columbus, Ohio.
Zumbach, the president of the Triangle free-
thought group, said many more people signed
up to be on the billboards and publicly declare
they were not religious. But the group decided
to limit the initial campaign to 12. ''We're in
your families,'' he said. ''We're in your neigh-
borhoods. We're in your workplace. There's
nothing to be afraid of. We just think differ-
ently.'' [another way of saying that we don't
look to ancient so-called "holy" books or to
so-called "holy" all-powerful supposedly all-
present all-good all-knowing entities, nor do
we pretend to talk to such entities in any
subservient manner, as if such entities can
really do anything other than act as make
believe forces for both good and evil]
- - - end excerpts - - -
- - -
Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
http://prohuman.net/
- - -
Excerpts [with inserts, not part of original
article, inserted in brackets]:
- - -
April 9, 2011
Atheists are just ordinary people all
smiles, but no gods [well, even though
it's understandable that the group wants
to convey an "all smiles" presence to
counter the "all smiles" illusion presented
by many religious groups, the actuality
of the situation is that human existence
is an up-and-down adventure, with a
combination of happy and sad and, for
some, many terrible moments, so "all
smiles" is not accurate, just as the "all
smiles" illusion that many of the religious
try to convey is just as inaccurate]
National group launches billboard
campaign in North Carolina
at chieftan.com:
http://tinyurl.com/ordinary-people-with-no-gods
- - -
... some atheists are coming out of their
own closets with a new billboard campaign
that attempts to project a friendly, whole-
some image of a group long stigmatized
[overwhelmingly, by religious conservatives
for the most part] for its unconventional
beliefs.
Plastered on billboards in Raleigh, Durham,
Pittsboro and Smithfield, N.C., are the smil-
ing faces of real atheists and agnostics,
accompanied by pithy statements such
as ''I'm saved from religion'' and ''Another
happy, humanist family.''
The ''Out of the Closet'' campaign is just
one of several ways the growing nonbeliever
movement is flexing its muscles and ele-
vating its profile amid a competitive reli-
gious marketplace nationwide.
''We're ready to shift the stereotype of
the curmudgeonly old, overly educated,
angry white man,'' said Mark Zumbach,
president of the Triangle Freethought
Society, which is sponsoring the cam-
paign. ''We're a pretty diverse community.
There are a lot of young people, women
and families.''
Silent no more
...
Atheists at Fort Bragg have organized as
the Military Atheists and Secular Humanists,
or MASH, so they can begin to solicit dona-
tions.
Griffith said at least 18 percent of soldiers
at Fort Bragg indicated in their records file
they had ''no religious preference,'' making
unaffiliated soldiers the second-largest
group on the post after Christians.
That's roughly the same percentage of
Americans who have no religious affiliation,
according to recent polls.
Groups such as the Triangle Freethought
Society, which now has about 200 members,
are encouraged.
''Our biggest intent is not to disenfranchise
anyone with (religious) belief but to make
ourselves known to people who don't know
us and feel they need to get together with
others who have the same thoughts,'' said
Kristen Douglas of Carrboro, N.C., a society
board member.
Nonbelievers are far more willing to challenge
the status quo these days, said Laurie Maffly-
Kipp, a professor of religion at the University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The spate of
books by atheists such as Richard Dawkins
and Christopher Hitchens is one example.
''They're emboldened by people unhappy
with religious extremism,'' said Maffly-Kipp.
''It's a way of proposing another road to
take - give up on religion entirely.''
And while different religious groups will
respond in different ways, most [? - unclear
where this claim comes from, as in many
parts of the country, many if not most
religious organizations preach a hellfire
and brimstone fate for disbelievers, or
at best, oblivion for disbelievers, an ap-
proach that is mated to their promises
of immortality solely for those who be-
lieve in the "right" God in the "right"
way, a stance that has leads many in
the religious community to have a less
than tolerant stance towards those of
different religious faiths (in many cases)
and towards those of no faith (supported
by a plethora of passages in their ancient
so-called "holy" documents)] recognize
atheists' right to free speech.
[maybe in public some do, but when in
their bully pulpits, many of them preach
a quite different message than that, one
of intolerance and demonization of free-
thought and disbelief]
... the ''Out of the Closet'' campaign is
the largest and most ambitious so far.
Most of the money for the effort, about
$10,000, came from the national Freedom
from Religion Foundation based in Madison,
Wis. Another $2,000 was raised locally. The
people pictured in each billboard paid $50 to
have a professional photographer shoot their
picture.
''If all that people see are church marquees,
steeples and crosses, then religion wins by
default,'' said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-presi-
dent of the Freedom from Religion Founda-
tion. ''We want to change that.''
Gaylor said the foundation chose Raleigh
because of the strength of its Triangle
chapter.
The national group plans to take the campaign
to three other cities this year - Phoenix, Min-
neapolis and Columbus, Ohio.
Zumbach, the president of the Triangle free-
thought group, said many more people signed
up to be on the billboards and publicly declare
they were not religious. But the group decided
to limit the initial campaign to 12. ''We're in
your families,'' he said. ''We're in your neigh-
borhoods. We're in your workplace. There's
nothing to be afraid of. We just think differ-
ently.'' [another way of saying that we don't
look to ancient so-called "holy" books or to
so-called "holy" all-powerful supposedly all-
present all-good all-knowing entities, nor do
we pretend to talk to such entities in any
subservient manner, as if such entities can
really do anything other than act as make
believe forces for both good and evil]
- - - end excerpts - - -
- - -
Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
http://prohuman.net/
- - -