American Humanist Society Calls for Godless Holiday
"Why Believe in God? Be Good for Goodness' Sake."
The American Humanist Society ads will typically feature a man in a Santa suit with the caption: "Why believe in God. Just be good for goodness' sake." There will eventually be a link to a website for like-minded atheists and other nonbelievers. The ad campaign was inspired by a similar and controversial ad campaign that recently took place in London.
Meanwhile Christian groups are gearing up for the annual fight to "keep Christ in Christmas" and threaten boycotts to any retail outlet or other entity that dares greet people with the generic, "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." And, of course, there will be the usual fights over religious symbols in the public square.
As someone who is old enough to remember when Christmas was a holiday to be celebrated and not an excuse to create a political controversy, one wonders what is the big deal? Thanks to the Constitution people in America have the right to believe anything or not believe anything as they choose. Americans can celebrate any holiday or not as they wish when they wish.
One suspects that the real reason that the American Humanist Society is up in arms is that atheists and agonistics are a small minority in the United States. Nonbelievers feel assaulted by images of Christmas and Easter every time of the year these holidays take place. Traditionally most nonbelievers have learned tolerance, perhaps even celebrating their own nonreligious winter holiday; Festivus or Winter Solstice or something like that.
But lately nonbelievers have learned the art of grievance politics. The ad campaign by the American Humanist Society is only the latest manifestation of the phenomenon of the militant, in your face, almost evangelistic atheist. Books like The God Delusion and God is not Great proclaim that belief in a deity is not only a mistake, but irrational, immoral, and perhaps a little bit silly. And many atheists don't mind telling their religious friends these things are so.
Leaving aside the metaphysical arguments over whether there must be a God to be a universe, researchers have recently found evidence to suggest that humans are hardwired for spiritual belief. The spiritual experience of everyone from Buddhists monks in meditation to Catholic nuns in prayer can be measured using brain scans. Human beings are, in effect designed to have religious faith.
Of course this research has helped to spark a further debate. Is religious experience simply brain chemistry or is the brain tapping into something beyond just synapses firing? One suspects that the folks at the American Humanist Society would conclude the former rather than the latter.
Still, the American Humanist Society is fighting against nature and not nurture. We believe in God (or the equivalent) not because some preacher tells us to, but because we are designed to. Is that proof in the existence of God? Or is it a sly joke of evolution? That too will be an argument to be fought out.
Sources: God, humbug: Humanist holiday ads say just be good, Eric Gorski, AP, November 11th 2008
Your Brain on Religion, Sharon Begley, Newsweek, May 7th, 2001
Published by Mark Whittington
Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington... View profile
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8 Comments
Post a CommentWhen you are drawing your last breath, it is our prayer you change your mind and "believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ-and thou shalt be saved!" We are praying for you, sorry if it offends you. Your bus ads offend us.
It's also sad that the sign companies are losing the money for signs that they painted/created/put up , in good faith, put up but were forced to remove. There are a number of "Don't Believe in Christ? - Hell is Waiting" signs in my area I find offensive but I wouldn't feel it was right to censor them - they are only words (and images) and someone paid good money to put them up. It's a shame freedom of speech is only for Christians.
Carly Hart said "But many of the basic tenets of "goodness" come straight from the Bible and the 10 commandments... quite a paradox if you ask me." - That's because all of the Ten Commandments which don't command belief in God or forbid worship of anything but God come straight from Hammurabi's Code, a legal document which predates the Bible. It's a shame so many people feel that belief in God is required to be good. To me, it's good that non-Christians are allowed to buy signs with atheist messages in some parts of the US. In other parts of the country, Fundamentalist Christians have forced the signs to come down because they believe freedom of speech is only for the religious. Luckily, the billboard companies have refunded the money for the signs that they were forced to take down. In other areas of the country, the signs are being defaced or stolen. Hmmm, which commandments speak positively of bullying, vandalism, and theft?
What is this world coming to ? Sad...
There's nothing wrong with secular holidays, but it shouldn't have to come at religious holidays' expense. They can coexist...isn't that what people always say: "coexist"? And why does everyone start these campaigns around Christmas. No one talks about it during, say, Rosh Hashanah or Ramadan. But let's just start observing Festivus...surely, that's a holiday we can agree is for the rest of us!
melpol,.......what? Remember the signs: Don't make me come down there........God God is in the heart of every man/woman that invites Him in. I do agree with melpol, the rest are just weird! Good article, Mark.
Godless Holiday?
Oxymoron.
Holiday=Holy Day.
No God, no Holy.
Atheists or not, they have the right to advertise just as much as folks in DC have the right to complain or boycott the bus transit system because they find the ads offensive to their faith. Taking God out of everything - Christmas, off currency, etc. disenfranchises more folks than leaving it in annoys. Yes, we all should be good for goodness' sake. But many of the basic tenets of "goodness" come straight from the Bible and the 10 commandments... quite a paradox if you ask me.