[Pastor Ezekiel]

Brothers and sisters, THIS is serious. The radical atheistic heathens have come up with all manner of new strategies to destroy our yearly celebration of Jesus' birthday!

Atheists Reach Out -- Just Don't Call It Proselytizing

Late next month, atheists, humanists, freethinkers, secularists -- in short, nonbelievers of every description -- will gather in dozens of cities to mark the holiday they call HumanLight.

Whether by singing from a Humanist Hymnal, decorating a winter wreath or lighting candles dedicated to personal heroes, they'll celebrate what has been an exhilarating ride for the faithless -- a surge in recognition that has many convinced they're on the brink of making a mark on mainstream America.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which represents atheists and agnostics, kicked off an ad campaign with this billboard in Madison, Wis.
During the past three years, membership has grown in local and national associations of nonbelievers. Books attacking faith as a delusion shot up best-seller lists. For the first time, the faithless even raised enough funds to hire a congressional lobbyist.

Building on that momentum, nonbelievers have begun a very public campaign to win broad acceptance. On billboards and bus ads, radio commercials and the Internet, atheists are coming forward to declare, quite simply: We're here. And we're just like you.

"We've had an undercurrent of emotional and academic support, but we've been waiting to make a movement happen," said Joe Zamecki, an Austin landscaper who recently organized Texas' first statewide convention of nonbelievers. "It's a very new age."

Not so fast, religious leaders respond. They point out that the vast majority of Americans believe in God. A poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life earlier this year found 71% of American adults are absolutely certain God -- or some sort of universal spirit -- exists, and a further 17% said they were fairly certain. Only 5% said flatly that they don't believe.

Atheists "are talking to a very small slice of the population," said Mathew Staver, a leading Christian conservative and law-school dean. "In some ways, they're really just talking to themselves."

The new ad campaigns and other public-relations efforts are designed to raise comfort levels about atheism by making the point that nonbelievers are "just as ethical and moral as anyone else," said Lori Lipman Brown, who lobbies Congress on behalf of the Secular Coalition for America.

As Doug Krueger, a philosophy professor in northwest Arkansas, put it: "Step one is for people to know we're not crazy, we're just regular people [who have] perfectly satisfactory lives without believing in God."

So the American Humanist Association is spending $42,000 to plaster buses in Washington, D.C., with ads asking: "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake." FreeThoughtAction and its local affiliates have put up billboards all over the country asking: "Don't believe in God? You are not alone." Eight billboards are going up this month in Denver.

At the same time, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., has hit at least nine states in the past year with billboards that look like they're made of stained glass but say "Beware of Dogma," "Imagine No Religion," or -- coming soon -- "Reason's Greetings." The group also advertises on the liberal radio network Air America. One spot features Ron Reagan, son of the former president, who signs off: "Ron Reagan, lifelong atheist. Not afraid of burning in hell."

Local groups of atheists are also making a point of getting out in public to show that they're part of every community.

The Pennsylvania Nonbelievers rehabbed a women's shelter this fall. Kansas City FreeThinkers hold monthly walks in a dog park and weekly coffee-house meet-ups, advertised online. Secularists in Sacramento, Calif., stage a family-friendly Freethought Day each fall, complete with roving magicians.

Organizers of such efforts generally say they aren't trying to evangelize. Instead, they say their goal is to make the public more comfortable with the concept of atheism and give fellow nonbelievers a sense of community.

In seeking the spotlight, the movement risks a backlash. Some Christians find the billboards deeply offensive, especially at this time of year. In recent weeks, press releases from the religious right have accused atheists of "mocking" and "insulting" Christmas. In rural Chambersburg, Pa., one Christian group responded to an "Imagine No Religion" billboard with a giant sign of their own, asking: "Why Do Atheists Hate America?"
Even some who share common goals with nonbelievers are uneasy with the provocative nature of the ad campaign.

Some nonbelievers respond that this is a critical time to reach out, as a new administration prepares to take office in the White House. For instance, some atheists are dismayed by some of President-elect Barack HUSSEIN Obama's proposals, such as his pledge to funnel more tax dollars to faith-based groups running soup kitchens, tutoring programs and the like.

Others are more hopeful.

They note that in a big speech on faith last summer, Mr. Obama called for "Christian and Jew, Hindu and Muslim, believer and nonbeliever alike" to work together. It isn't often that politicians specifically mention nonbelievers, they say.

Secularists also are encouraged by Mr. Obama's eclectic upbringing. He has written that his mother disdained organized religion but exposed him to a variety of faith traditions and holy books as an anthropological study. Though he now talks often of his Christian faith and envisions a role for faith in the public square, Mr. Obama has sought to use inclusive language and signal respect for different traditions.

Still, leading activists say nonbelievers tend to be just as wary of organized atheism as they are of organized religion -- making it tough to pull together a cohesive movement.

"A pastor can say to his flock, 'All rise,' and everyone rises. But try that in an atheist meeting," said Marvin Straus, co-founder of an atheist group in Boulder, Colo. "A third of the people will rise. A third will tell you to go to hell. And a third will start arguing....That's why it's hard to say where we're going as a movement."

[Dr. Ernest C. Ville, D.C.S.]

"Step one is for people to know we're not crazy, we're just regular people [who have] perfectly satisfactory lives without believing in God."

Ding ding ding. He fails at his own "first step". People KNOW atheists are crazy--you'd have to be to reject the ultimate Wisdom of the Bible for their own moral weathervane. Atheists are one of the most distrusted groups in America, and for good reason--they have no way to determine right from wrong.

And secondly, the idea that someone can live a satisfactory life without Jesus is just absurd. Everyone knows that. That's why our ministry spends so much time and money constantly persuing people who claim to be "happy without Jesus" until they break down, usually in tears and ask "WHAT CAN I DO to make you go away".

In other news, it's sickening that these atheists are so offended by our holiday. Our holiday doesn't disrupt their hell-bound lives in any way, but they still cry & whine "persecution". If they want to know eral persecution, they should try being in the Christian majority for once

And everyone knows that atheists do have a national holiday: April 1st.

[SUV]

Let's us all get down to wherever they are and yell HOMER!!! at them. That should really put them in their place(s) and discourage any such further antics in the future

[AnonymousAtheist]

As an atheist I swear that I do not agree in any way shape or form with this display. Atheism is not a group of people, we are individual freethinkers and I would never support such an open protest to someones beliefs.

With Love,
The AnonymousAtheist

[Pastor Ezekiel]

Originally Posted by AnonymousAtheist

As an atheist I swear that I do not agree in any way shape or form with this display. Atheism is not a group of people, we are individual freethinkers and I would never support such an open protest to someones beliefs.

With Love,
The AnonymousAtheist

Is that a quote from your atheist idol Stalin? Or maybe Mao? I get them confused.

[alexross8]

Before I say anything , i would like to point out that Jesus said that we are not his disciples if we disobey him and his father.

That means we should obey Jesus.
If we sin , we ask for forgiveness.


Who are the people we see in jail?
Christians don't go to jail.
neither muslims or jews.

If you disobey your religion purposely , you are a non-believer.
Non-believers go to jail.
Atheists go to jail.

When i see a child gets murdered , I know that an atheist is responsible , because religious people wouldn't kill.

Okay , maybe an atheist isn't responsible , but it might aswell been an atheist because they lack morality.

If the world were Christians , no one would murder innocent children.

How can any atheist try to convert a believer , when they know that they are doing a bad thing for the wrong reason?

It sickens me.

[Pastor Ezekiel]

Originally Posted by alexross8

Before I say anything , i would like to point out that Jesus said that we are not his disciples if we disobey him and his father.

That means we should obey Jesus.
If we sin , we ask for forgiveness.


Who are the people we see in jail?
Christians don't go to jail.
neither muslims or jews.

If you disobey your religion purposely , you are a non-believer.
Non-believers go to jail.
Atheists go to jail.

When i see a child gets murdered , I know that an atheist is responsible , because religious people wouldn't kill.

Okay , maybe an atheist isn't responsible , but it might aswell been an atheist because they lack morality.

If the world were Christians , no one would murder innocent children.

How can any atheist try to convert a believer , when they know that they are doing a bad thing for the wrong reason?

It sickens me.

Well said freind.

1 Samuel 15:23 “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”

Sin is rebellion. Anyone who uses his free will to choose to remain in sin is a practicing witch. And we all know what God says about witches.

[RichardDawkins]

We just want to take the fun out of Christmas in the name of our god Satan. Is that too much to ask?

[Pastor Ezekiel]

Originally Posted by RichardDawkins

We just want to take the fun out of Christmas in the name of our god Satan. Is that too much to ask?

GET THEE HENCE, DEMON!!!

[Wide-Open]

Originally Posted by Pastor Ezekiel

GET THEE HENCE, DEMON!!!

Perhaps we should have this person Expelled! Pastor.

Or maybe it doesn't matter, as he's going to hell anyway. Satan will make him blind, and then let him repair watches for all eternity!

[SUV]

Originally Posted by AnonymousAtheist

I swear that I do not agree in any way shape or form with this display.

Display? What display? We don't have them here. T'isn't Godly, ya know?

You must be thinking of that Plastic Manger Scene the Nazirenes have just put out

[Decerealized]

Atheists win! now no one gets to display anything there. best christmas ever, taking it away from you. ha.

[alexross8]

< this guy right here has his name in the Holiday , hence Christ-mas.


We celebrate Christmas on the 25th because our savior was born on that day.

Any other Holiday on that day is a coincidence or a creation of evil.

maybe not jewish holidays.
cuz our old testament is the torah.

Let atheists have there own holiday.
They will be stealing our Holiday just like they claim we did .



replace those Muslims with atheists.

[SteveTheNiceAtheist]

"We celebrate Christmas on the 25th because our savior was born on that day. "

where does the bible say that?? O.o

[Nigrarrgh!]

Originally Posted by alexross8

< this guy right here has his name in the Holiday , hence Christ-mas.


We celebrate Christmas on the 25th because our savior was born on that day.

Any other Holiday on that day is a coincidence or a creation of evil.

maybe not jewish holidays.
cuz our old testament is the torah.

Let atheists have there own holiday.
They will be stealing our Holiday just like they claim we did .



replace those Muslims with atheists.

Actually, if you knew anything at all about your own religion, you would know that your messiah was actually born sometime around March.
Christmas - the celebration of the life of Jesus Christ was placed around the time of the Winter Solstice, because the church believed that in doing so they were belittling the Pagan religion and rendering it's holidays useless in the public eye.
So far it has been very succesful.

Also, atheists have no holidays, since they dont believe in ANYTHING, so any holiday you stole wasnt theirs to begin with.

I find it amusing how little many christians seem to know about their own religion.
For example - the fact that halloween is a christian holiday, and the fact that the number of the beast is actually 616, not 666.


In other words... you are a fail :]
Put THAT on a cross and worship it.

[Nobar King]

Christmas was over two weeks ago. But, you knew that, also, didn't you? Do you go around Christmas parties shouting "It's not REALLY Christmas!!!"? That would be pretty rude to baby Jesus.

[Nigrarrgh!]

Originally Posted by Nobar King

Christmas was over two weeks ago. But, you knew that, also, didn't you? Do you go around Christmas parties shouting "It's not REALLY Christmas!!!"? That would be pretty rude to baby Jesus.

Baby jesus wasnt present at any parties i attended over the christmas period.

[Nobar King]

You would be wise to capitalize the names of Jesus and Christmas, this is a Church, you know. I noticed that you CAN capitalize pagan.

[Benny!]

Originally Posted by Ninarrrgh!

Baby jesus wasnt present at any parties i attended over the christmas period.

I'm pretty sure that baby Jesus wouldn't understand anyway.

[Nobar King]

You're not Danny the X-dresser, are you?