Atheists are irrelevant
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I thought that the usual pre-Christmas battle between the extreme Atheists and the extreme Christians had finished but that doesn’t seem to be the case. In my experience the majority of Atheists are thoughtful people who have studied the topic and the philosophies intensively, and decided that the faith idea just doesn’t cut it. They don’t preach, they don’t try to convert, they just don’t really see what all the fuss is about.
According to Tom Sears of the Daily Star in Onetona, New York, however, there are too few Atheists to really matter. Now at first blush this statement could be considered irrelevant unless there are too many Christians out there that might believe it. Here is the story:
Atheists are once again trying to bring attention to themselves by attempting to denigrate, insult or demean religions and, in particular, Christianity and therefore Christians.
This time it is a billboard advertising stunt in New Jersey; the billboard was placed there by some atheist activist group that calls itself American Atheists. Once again an attempt to put down Christianity will be doomed to irrelevance.
Polls show atheists to be 3 percent or less of the total population of the United States, a number that has remained about the same over past years. However, in a desperate attempt to make the number appear higher, the president of this organization now claims that there are many more “closet atheists.” He goes so far as to say that there are many who attend religious services during the holidays but don’t believe in them. Kind of pathetic if you ask me.
Fortunately, the country is headed back on the right track to sanity. A few years ago only 20 percent of the nation’s top companies dared to make any mention of Christmas in their stores. A great many were simply intimidated by the American Civil Liberties Union or similar organizations. The number mentioning Christmas has reversed itself and is now up to 80 percent and continuing to rise. It’s also nice to see the Salvation Army bell ringers back in places where they were previously banned.
Why are atheists so afraid of Christianity that they feel they have to go out and aggressively attack it every year around this time? Why don’t you instead proudly proclaim your “atheistic religion” and explain all the reasons and research that led you to your stance. Maybe you can’t? Maybe your choice was made out of laziness and you didn’t even give religion a chance? Are you going to give your children the right to choose?
Tell you what; why don’t you pick a day, any day, call it Atheist Day, and spend the day celebrating your atheism. Get yourself an atheist tree, exchange atheist gifts and have a great atheist meal. Call all the other atheists you know (won’t take long) or send them a card and exchange happy atheist wishes.
Since you believe that there is no being more supreme than yourself (a rather egocentric viewpoint), you can celebrate you by staring at yourself (or small groups staring at each other) in the mirror all day. Isn’t this a better idea than going around and putting other religions down? At least you are doing something more positive for yourself if you follow my strategy for you.
We Christians are on the Right Side of this issue. Atheists have no real beliefs; they just want to tear down one more longstanding tradition and belief. How can they claim that a baby in a manger, a cross, a Christmas tree or some innocent Christmas songs cause them untold suffering and still keep a straight face? And then they tell the rest of us to be more sensitive to their feelings. Wrong, atheists; you are the ones who need the sensitivity training sessions. Your claims of hurt and pain are bordering on the side of ridiculousness.
As has been shown over the past few years, Christians can make their feelings known by voting with their feet and their wallets. As much as the atheists hate to admit it, their impact is becoming smaller each year. Remember the movie, “The Passion of The Christ”? It is now No. 15 of the top 1,000 grossing films of all time in the United States. On the other hand, Bill Maher and his classic film, “Religulous,” is number … well, I can’t find it on the list. As a matter of fact, I wonder if it even covered its costs. I think it was popular for about three weekends. Examples like this abound.
The same thing holds true for retailers. Whose business do they want? Do they want 3 percent of the population frequenting their stores or a much larger percentage? I think the answer is obvious when you look at all the establishments that realized they made a huge mistake a few years back and have since rethought their positions.
Even though I do push back hard against you atheists, I still hope you will rethink your position and change before it’s too late. You are making the biggest mistake of your lives by not at least giving religion a serious try. In the meantime I wish you a Merry Christmas and I will be praying for you.
ED. NOTE:Speaking as an Atheist I don’t really want Tom or anyone else praying for me. I seem to do fairly well for myself and the last thing I need is a mythological yet vengeful God placing me in his/her/its sights. I mean just think of the possible repercussions. So, praise the Lord and pass the fruitcake.
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So clear and easy to follow post. Thanks. Looking forward to your forthcoming posts.
Lol, I’m a atheist, I have not studied that either, and my best friend is christian, everyone will believe what they want, so stop posting such obsurd things.
Sincerely,
A 13 year old girl who has a better grasp on reality and life than you
P.s we are the.next generation, so stop trying to ruin it like in the early 19 hundreds, ie slavery, wars and stupid idea.
Burn in Hell freaks.
LOL… what a great Christmas present. The Oneonta Star actually published my response to Mr. Sears’ rant. If anyone care, just visit the comment box and keep clicking… I think about four times.
Throwing in my two cents: Don’t equate Tom Sear’s ideations with all of Christianity. The Sears of the world would glom onto any wackiness his cultural environment might provide him. If he were born in Yemen, he’d be an extremist Muslim. Though I don’t count myself Christian, there are many Christians out there who are not pathological. Most Christians I know, and grew up around, are psychologically well adjusted and don’t take The Bible literally.
Today I found this and purchased it. Kind of goes along with this post, as far as what I see being the reason for the season. Yer welcome.
http://www.zazzle.com/axial_tilt_the_reason_for_the_season_tshirt-235681170904948742
Nice T shirt Jess,
try this one for size as well.
http://www.spreadshirt.co.uk/no-god-bothering-t-shirt-C4408A7602101
I like that one too. They don’t have the women’s fitted type shirts, which is the only bad thing or I would get one.
Interesting how the Christians assume, with their typical egocentricity, that the billboard’s message was aimed at them.
It is message to the non-believers that in this season, while they no doubt feel outnumbered by their superstitious brethren, to remember they are not truly alone and do have an excuse to celebrate, because they possess “Reason”.
Having a reasonable mind does not make one irrelevant- quite the reverse.
Are most xians even aware of the fact that the majority of the population of the countries in Europe are Atheist/Agnostic? They are well ahead of the U.S. in areas such as science, math and common sense! I regress, the Muslims are taking over Europe! Ask the British, French, Swedes etc. From one crazy religion to a crazier one! At least the Europeans know the difference between fairy tales and reality? Evolution help us all!
As an out and proud atheist, I don’t belive we need to stand up and be counted, no I don’t. Unlike my extremist religious brothers and sisters, I have no need of bearing the witness thing to get souls into some imaginary sky bed and breakfast for being good citizens of the world. I do, however, think we need to stand up when we keep hearing about how Christians are constantly persecuted by atheists because that is total and complete horseshit. Am I irrelevant, not on your life I’m not.
Hear! Hear Jess!
I don’t really care what someone believes or doesn’t. But religious zealots are imposing there believes on me and destroying our world in the process.
You can pray to Bob Dobbs for all I care but don’t let that loony ass shit leave the church.
Keep it to yourself!
I agree. I have the misfortune to live in a part of the country where there is a church on every corner.
“Don’t pray in my schools, and I won’t think in your church.” A holiday thought from Trophy Husband…
Should I be feeling irrelevant? I don’t feel irrelevant; irreverent maybe 🙂 So what’s the issue here beyond another crazy Christian with a keyboard? It does get tiresome.
That whole thing is actually very childish. Ah well, I certainly won’t lose any sleep over him calling me irrelevant. I’ll just continue to go on living my life, being a good person, and loving my family and friends. And it turns out that I don’t need the fear of going to hell to do it.
Yep, it is childish, but there are too many of them in positions of power, or moving into such positions as the Republicans start to gain.
They don’t seem to care that you are a good person by your works and attitudes.
They have a strict binary solution set.
Christian, goes to church = good
Non-Christian = bad
I also agree about the fear. Being helpful to others has it’s own rewards, we don’t need a big bogeyman to keep us in line.
Robert, I respect and admire your conviction. I feel the same about atheists. In fact, I an not an atheist, but my faith requires me to respect all faiths… except, perhaps, Cheneyism. (LOL)
Do you feel those of the Jewish or Muslim faiths are just a percentage of people who should be ignored? Personally, I don’t care if someone wishes me “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Holidays,” “Blessed Winter Solstice,” or even just “How ya doin.'” Any and all of these phrases, when said in kindness, should be cherished equally.
Just because a particular group of people are in the minority doesn’t mean they should be silenced. I was brought up Jewish, comprising approximately 1.7% of the U.S. population. By your logic, people of the Jewish faith are also useless. Ann Coulter, a self-proclaimed Christian, called Jews “unfinished Christians.” That statement denigrates all Christians.
No one can reason another into faith. However, you provide us with an important reminder: that Christianity does not mean stupid or vicious. I deeply believe in C.S. Lewis’ comment from Mere Christianity, a logic I wish were practiced by all faiths:
“The battle is between faith and reason on one side and emotion and imagination on the other….. the same thing happens about Christianity. I am not asking anyone to accept Christianity if his best reasoning tells him that the weight of evidence is against it. That is not the point at which faith comes in.”
http://dangerousidea.blogspot.com/2008/05/
c-s-lewis-on-faith-from-mere.html
Lewis’ logic is irrefutable I do not believe any soul is “useless.” Atheists have a belief in that they don’t believe in anything.
I hope you have an opportunity to view the text at this link:
http://www.soundvision.com/info/christmas/muslimcountries.asp
Here’s how Mohammed viewed Christianity and Judaism: “… when he established the first peace sanctuary of Madinah, where the majority of the people were not Muslims. Here is what he said about the Christians of Najran (Yaman):”
“Najran has the protection of God and the pledges of Muhammad, the Prophet, to protect their (the Christians’) lives, faith, land, property, those who are absent and those who are present, and their clan and allies. They need not change anything of their past customs. No right of theirs or their religion shall be altered. No church leader, monk or church guard shall be removed from his position.”
I strongly believe in the most important central tenets of Christianity: “Judge ye not” and “The greatest commandment of all is Love.” I cannot give religion a serious try–only faith.
Having written this long-winded response, I want to say that I hope you were able to make it to London. And I do wish a Merry Christmas to a wise and thought-provoking man and his family.
Whoa Stella.
That article is NOT by me. I wrote the preamble, but the article was taken verbatim from the Daily Star.
I was trying to point out that there are still many people out there with closed minds and fixed viewpoints, who interpret everything through their lens of faith.
I DO NOT agree with the article in any way.
You comments show (I believe) an open-mindedness to many religious concepts, and you are willing to listen and discuss. I strongly approve of such an attitude, and it’s the way I try to conduct myself.
Please believe that I support anyone’s right to believe in anything they want. Just don’t expect me to conduct my life according to someone else’s rules, especially if those rules are based on a non-provable premise.
Thanks for your good wishes; it’s looking good for the flights.
Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year. (We can still call it New Year, right?)
You know Robert, the issue of Christmas is not just between the Christians and and the Atheists. I think both sides tend to forget that particular point. Many other religions do not celebrate Christmas as a holy day only as a holiday. I know several atheists who simply refuse to get embroiled in the controversy since it seems to them, so they say, there is nothing to argue about.
I agree lazersedge, I treat Christmas as a simple holiday, a time for friends and family. It’s the extremists who seem to keep the pot boiling, on both sides, although I sense the Christian right seem a tad more incensed than usual this year.