Sam Harris

In his ‘LETTER TO A CHRISTIAN NATION’ Sam Harris writes:

“Religion raises the stakes of human conflict much higher than tribalism, racism, or politics ever can, as it is the only form of in-group/out-group thinking that casts the differences between people in terms of eternal rewards and punishments.  One of the enduring pathologies of human cullture is the tendency to raise children to fear and demonize other human beings on the basis of religious faith.”
(end quote)
I suppose there could be 50 million Christian children in the U.S. who have been taught to demonize and hate atheists.  To help reduce fear and hatred in the world, and to give atheists a chance to run for president some day, I suggest a public relations campaign to help improve our image.  This could be in the form of TV commercials in the vein of the anti-smoking campaign.  Or, how about a series of posters distributed to kindergardens?  Here are some poster ideas.

1.  SANTA CLAUS IS AN ATHEIST.  He is popular with Buddhist children in Japan.

2.  THE TOOTH FAIRY IS AN ATHEIST.  The Bible doesn’t believe in elfs.

3.  PINNOCHIO IS AN ATHEIST.  He has a father, but no mother.  (People without a mother have got to be atheists).

4.  Moses did not believe in Jesus.

5.  Adam and Eve were not Christians!

6.  Your dog and cat are atheists.  Hamsters only pretend to believe.  Your goldfish could care less, he just wants a bigger bowl.

7.  Dinosaurs are suspect.  Like atheists, they lived before God made the world.

8.

9.

Most forum members are probably too young to remember the Captain Video commercials in 1950.  A chorus of little children sang while an animated peach stone and an apple core danced:

“The peach stone said to the apple core
‘the color of our skin doesn’t matter any more -
Ho ho ho, can’t you see?
The color of your skin doesn’t matter to me!”

A mere 59 years later we were able to elect a black president, so please give this topic consideration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Video

8. You don’t have to worry about what anyone thinks, you’re free to commit crimes, harm others and harm yourself as long as you remain within the boundries of the law.

9. Atheists have a more complicated answer for all the questions you don’t know the answer too.

10. You shouldn’t have the freedom to choose if you believe or not, God is a drug that harms other people when you try to love and respect them equally. NOT the correct foundation of capitalism!

Bad_Conduct - 05 June 2009 02:30 PM

8. You don’t have to worry about what anyone thinks, you’re free to commit crimes, harm others and harm yourself as long as you remain within the boundries of the law.

Sam Harris comments: “The only real restraint God counsels on the subject of slavery is that we not beat our slaves so severely that we injure their eyes or their teeth (Exodus 21).  It should go without saying that is not the kind of moral insight that put an end to slavery in the United States.

“There is no place in the New Testament where Jesus objects to the practice of slavery.  St. Paul even admonishes slaves to serve their masters well - and to serve their Christian masters especially well:

Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ . . .  - EPHESIANS 6:5

“If a man discovers on his wedding night that his bride is not a virgin, he must stone her to death on her father’s doorstep (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)”  (as long as you remain within the boundaries of the law?)

9. Atheists have a more complicated answer for all the questions you don’t know the answer too.

Unsmoked asks:  Which do you prefer, a scientific answer, or a 2000 year-old pre-scientific answer?  For example:  How old is the earth?  How were human beings created? 

10. You shouldn’t have the freedom to choose if you believe or not, God is a drug that harms other people when you try to love and respect them equally. NOT the correct foundation of capitalism!

Sam Harris comments:  “Countries with high levels of atheism are also the most charitable both in terms of percentage of wealth they devote to social welfare programs and the percentage they give in aid to the developing world.  The dubious link between Christian literalism and Christian values is belied by other indices of social equality.  Consider the ratio of salaries paid to top-tier CEO’s and those paid to the same firms’ average employees: in Britain it is 24:1; in France, 15:1; in Sweden. 13:1; in the United States, where 80 percent of the population expects to be called before God on Judgment Day, it is 475:1. (is the U.S. pointing to the correct foundations of capitalism?)  Many a (capitalist) camel, it would seem, expects to pass easily through the eye of a needle.”

Sam Harris quotes are from his book, ‘LETTER TO A CHRISTIAN NATION’

“The only real restraint God counsels on the subject of slavery is that we not beat our slaves so severely that we injure their eyes or their teeth (Exodus 21).  It should go without saying that is not the kind of moral insight that put an end to slavery in the United States.

So after Christianity abolished Slavery in Rome, than Christians again abolished slavery in America, some how the recent occurance of Atheists have lead to the abolishment of child labour in China and Africa?

Or are you wearing your Nike’s right now?

There is no place in the New Testament where Jesus objects to the practice of slavery.

What about Mao, Stalin or Kim Jong Ill? A few bad apples?

Oh yeah, Atheists don’t talk about them or use them as references. That would upset the balance of things.

“Atheism has been successful since I ignored all the bad things.”

Good luck ignoring all the bad things in the bible, I think that might be the point of it. That’s how the world works.

Or just predudice because you want to hate a group of people for their beliefs?

Which do you prefer, a scientific answer, or a 2000 year-old pre-scientific answer?  For example:  How old is the earth?  How were human beings created?

Neither answer is 100% correct. Do I get stoned to death for not believing either?

“If a man discovers on his wedding night that his bride is not a virgin, he must stone her to death on her father’s doorstep (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)”  (as long as you remain within the boundaries of the law?)

Well if you want to follow the 2000 year old law book, be my guest. But when I say “law” I’m not making any reference to biblical text. Obviously.

“Countries with high levels of atheism are also the most charitable both in terms of percentage of wealth they devote to social welfare programs and the percentage they give in aid to the developing world.

Ironically… most of the top atheist countries are also top Christian countries.

Go figure?
Christian————————-(Atheist)
1 USA 224,457,000 85%  (6)
2 Brazil 139,000,000 93%
3 Mexico 86,120,000 99%
4 Russia 80,000,000 60% (3)
5 China 70,000,000 5.7% (1)
6 Germany 67,000,000 83%  (5)
7 Philippines 63,470,000 93% 
8 United Kingdom 51,060,000 88% (7)
9 Italy 47,690,000 90%  (12)
10 France 44,150,000 98% (6)
11 Nigeria 38,180,000 45%

And Obviously Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines are recieving aid.

And OBVIOUSLY very Christian countries recieve very Christian support.

Talk about lying stats!

You people are so gullible. Just because it’s in one book and not another, it must be fact!

Yeah, it’s a fact. Just a blantantly ignorant one.

http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_atheist.html
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_christian.html

Better yet.

Why would you advertise hatred? Why don’t you just show graphic images of Jesus being nailed to a cross with

“Do don’t religion”

“Christianity kills”

“Second hand religion causes heart disease, lung cancer and spontanious crusifixion.”

unsmoked - 04 June 2009 06:52 PM

7.  Dinosaurs are suspect.  Like atheists, they lived before God made the world.

 

This cracked me up! What’s even funnier are the ways in which evangelicals try to explain their existence.