Like I need an atheist to tell me to be good. They’re just as preachy as the Christians 
Though, I have to say in this debate with Bill Donahue, the atheist comes off as much more reasonable (and all the atheists in the house go, “Well, yeah”).(via)Here’s what the arguing is about:
Ads proclaiming, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake,” will appear on Washington, D.C., buses starting next week and running through December. The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday.[...]“We are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you,” said Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group. “Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion.”To that end, the ads and posters will include a link to a Web site that will seek to connect and organize like-minded thinkers in the D.C. area, Edwords said.Edwords said the purpose isn’t to argue that God doesn’t exist or change minds about a deity, although “we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people’s minds.”
Yes, it’s much more rational to believe all this complexity was created from nothing, that one day the entire plant burst forth into existence and not only the planet but other planets as well and stars and they all just happened to follow a pattern of rotating around the sun which also just appeared one day. And of course I needed to see that ad to begin the “critical thinking” process and it was so brilliant that it planted a “seed of rational thought” that I’m sure I’ll give up twenty years of thought and study to “be good for goodness sake.” Sorry but after all the years of studying God’s character and revelation I’m going to need something more than an invitation to be good, as if Christianity is summed up and refuted by ethics alone. If there is no God, I‘m partying like it’s 1999! The heck with being good!
posted November 13, 2008 at 12:04 pm
“If there is no God, I’m partying like it’s 1999! The heck with being good!”
And that right there is the difference between a Christian and an Atheist. A Christian needs someone threatening them with hell in order to behave.
posted November 13, 2008 at 12:26 pm
And people wonder why atheists, mostly, don’t go around trying to de-convert people. If you heard how many times I’ve been told ‘if there were no God, what stops you from rape/murder/pillage (insert nastiness here)’, the LAST think you’d want to do is to remove what is apparently that person’s sole reason to not go on some kind of psycho rampage.
And it would be fascinating if you could find me one atheist who actually /thinks/ that ‘one day the entire plant burst forth into existence and not only the planet but other planets as well and stars and they all just happened to follow a pattern of rotating around the sun which also just appeared one day’. Along with the evolutionary scientist who thinks men actually came from monkeys.
But hey, Michele, keep on believing. We’ll apparently all be safer for it.
posted November 13, 2008 at 12:43 pm
“A maqn’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. If people are good only because they fear punishment and hope for a reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” – Albert Einstein
Michele McGinty, we atheists do not need any God or arrogant Christians to tell us how to live. The fact that you are unable to devise your own set of morals and ethics proves just how inferior your entire system of superstitions really is. Your article is pathetic and so are you.
posted November 13, 2008 at 1:47 pm
we atheists do not need any … to tell us how to live.
Or other atheists.
the atheist comes off as much more reasonable
You know Seuss’ The Lorax? Who comes off as more reasonable in that tale … and yet who’s right? Donahue “speaks for the trees.” Yeah, I wish he was more classy, so what.
posted November 13, 2008 at 3:38 pm
“If you heard how many times I’ve been told ‘if there were no God, what stops you from rape/murder/pillage (insert nastiness here)’, the LAST think you’d want to do is to remove what is apparently that person’s sole reason to not go on some kind of psycho rampage.”
Isn’t that the truth. These folks I would have to consider marginally criminally insane. But for their belief in an imaginary being they would begin murdering, raping, stealing, committing arson, and a host of other, probably more terrible things.
May the Spaghetti Monster help us if the Christians ever truly lose their faith. Crime will skyrocket!
posted November 13, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I can’t get all bent out of shape about the recent ad campaign on Washington D.C.’s Metro buses. The campaign sponsored by some humanists. Sign says: Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness sake…
By the way, a quick correction. I don’t believe in a God either. I believe in God. There’s a difference
But mostly, let’s enjoy this campaign. Good is good. Besides, I have a funny feeling that, given a few weeks at this, the folks who believe it is really clever will discover a few things:
First, they’ll discover that the more good they are the happier they are, and that just might make them try to figure out where the happiness comes from…
Second, they’ll discover being good to others can get a little difficult the more you get to know them, because most people are a real pain in the neck. It gets real hard to love folks who are pretty unlovely. Our advantage is that we don’t love them because they are lovely. We love them because Jesus loves them.
Last, they’ll pretty quickly discover that what Bill might mean by good might be different from what Sheila thinks is good and soon enough they’ll be in a fistfight over who’s good is really good.
posted November 13, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Sounds like a good set of ads on the DC Metro. Atheists have just as much right to make themselves known as the believers of various religions. This just makes a great statement….be good for goodness sake. Works for me.
posted November 14, 2008 at 12:26 am
Wouldn’t guarantee that, Robert. Either one.
I’ve managed to be relatively non-psycho (no partying like 1999) for most of my 40-some odd years. I don’t wonder why it feels good. Come to think of it, I wonder what sort of impetus a person is working under who is apparently only barely restraining their urges to behave in such a way only because of fear of divine retribution.
I’ve done most of my ‘good’ working in a shelter, where I find many lovely people, and some real pieces of work. What’s ‘loving’ someone got to do with helping them? They don’t have to BE lovely, nor do I even have to particularly like them, much less love them, to help them out. I help them because help is what they need, and what I can give.
Finally, oddly, no fist fights. Manage to reach reasonable compromises on what ‘good’ is, what ‘bad’ is, and what falls under ‘ain’t nobody’s business if I do’.
And in the meantime, hopefully, good’s gone on being done.
posted November 14, 2008 at 9:22 am
“The fact that you are unable to devise your own set of morals and ethics …”
Exactly the problem. You devise your own and I’ll devise mine. There is nothing in any of them that would compel another to agree. It isn’t “morals and ethics” at that point; it’s pragmatism. And if Bob’s version includes “kill anyone who gets in my way,” on what grounds could anyone protest?
Oddly, it appears that using a Christian set of morals and ethics is consider a bad thing …
posted November 14, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Apparently, Stan, though people DO disagree on which ethics are correct, even when within the same religious tradition (you aren’t claiming that all theists… all Christians.. heck, all Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod attenders at Emmanuel Lutheran in Nashville, agree on every point of ethics, morality, or even orthopraxy, are you?) there are points of dissent, nonetheless, we somehow manage to muddle through without continually defaulting to ‘But GOD says THIS’. And all without accepting that, just because we don’t all agree, that ‘kill anyone that gets in my way’ is an acceptable ethical position.
Not even mentioning when Divine orders sure seemed to coincide with that particular position…. (Check out most of Joshua for examples.)
posted November 15, 2008 at 6:53 am
I find Donahue’s reaction to be hilarious. He reminds me of the Muslims who pop a
gasket over a misnamed teddy bear.
Michele, you final paragraph is basically a restatement of the teleological argument. The Wikipedia entry above has a good section on counter arguments and why a rational person could find it unconvincing.
posted November 15, 2008 at 11:30 am
Stan
You said: Exactly the problem. You devise your own and I’ll devise mine. There is nothing in any of them that would compel another to agree. It isn’t “morals and ethics” at that point; it’s pragmatism. And if Bob’s version includes “kill anyone who gets in my way,” on what grounds could anyone protest?
Boris says: If Bob’s morals lead him to break the law then he will have to suffer the consequences. The problem really is with Christians and Muslims who think that the law given in their holy book supersede any man-made laws. This is why people like you Stan are very very dangerous.
You said: Oddly, it appears that using a Christian set of morals and ethics is consider a bad thing …
Boris says: The hijacking of morality and ethics by religion just makes me sick. There is nothing original in the Bible. All the morals and ethics in the Bible were take from much older civilizations that existed long before there were any Christians or Jews. The Christian claim that their religion is the basis for all morality is nothing but a big fat lie. Christianity stole everything it has including the myth of a dying and resurrecting savior king.
posted November 15, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Someone else’s post on this topic – I don’t often agree with her, Julie D., but she’s right when she says, “Give me a real atheist any time.” Amen.
All the morals and ethics in the Bible were take from much older civilizations that existed long before
And … so what? I just don’t share your “us & them” view of humanity.
“Being good for Goodness’ sake” – anything less simply won’t wash.
posted December 6, 2008 at 12:58 pm
“…one day the entire plant burst forth into existence and not only the planet but other planets as well and stars and they all just happened to follow a pattern of rotating around the sun which also just appeared one day.”
Funny, I was under the impression that the bible said just that. Except of course that god did it. Atheists are very unlikely to tell you that this all happened in a day. It was a gradual process over a ridiculously long amount of time that humans can’t even begin to fathom.
I find it sad that you only behave as a good person because of your belief in a god and a fear of punishment.