Sam Harris

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/12/godless.holiday.ap/index.html

From the article:

WASHINGTON (AP)—You better watch out. There is a new combatant in the Christmas wars.

Ads proclaiming, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake,” will appear on Washington buses starting next week and running through December.

The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday.

“Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake,”

I always found that lyric to be out of place in “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town,” which is all about being good simply because of the reward.

Still, that’s not as bad as “Here Comes Santa Claus” pushing a sectarian message in the latter lyrics.

Hey C, haven’t seen you around much recently - good to hear from you.

Oh, you better watch out
you better watch out
you better watch out
you better watch out
Santa Claus is Santa Claus

He’s sleeping when he’s sleeping
he’s awake when he’s awake
he knows if you’ve been bad or good
so you’d better be bad or good…

Redundant Xmas carols.

I applaud the AHA’s efforts. Yay for publicity, but remember how many people think that without the Bible there is no standard for good/bad. This campaign will be meaningless to them.

They were talking about this on the radio this morning and a caller said, “I don’t think it matters because god IS goodness… so it’s just another advertisement for god.”

I applaud their efforts too, but the religionists have made a cynic out of me in this regard. “Bliss ninnies” are addicted to their bliss and avoid critical thinking at all costs.

Blinnies.

Still, baby steps. I don’t think this sort of sign would’ve made it onto a bus 20 years ago. Maybe not even 4.

Could EOF even have found a mass market publisher say, 50 years ago?

There are plenty of things to be mortified/angered by, but I consciously refuse to get too cynical. In an antithesis of the “look for miracles” attitude I can also look for, and find, little tendrils of rationality. On the side of a bus, for example.

Iso, you heard it being discussed on the radio - in a public forum! This is progress. Time and exposure make more “deconverts” than applied reason.

You’re right mp…
Cynicism is poor form for a self-proclaimed existential optimist.

isocratic infidel - 13 November 2008 10:43 PM

a caller said, “I don’t think it matters because god IS goodness… so it’s just another advertisement for god.”

Pathetic attempt at hijacking the sign’s message. Even if we assume that gods exist, there is no reason to believe they have anything to do with goodness. The gods may be evil or indifferent to goodness.

Jefe - 14 November 2008 03:49 PM

See Bill Donahue explode over this issue:

http://www.foxnews.com/video-search/m/21416450/war_on_christmas.htm

For a minute there I thought I was watching a scene from “Scanners.” I thought for sure Bill D’s head was going to explode, spewing bone, brain and blood everywhere…. but no, the spew only came from his mouth.
The demonization of their perceived enemy continues. According to Billy boy, gays who engage in protest are now “militant” gays.
Calling it a “war” on christmas is a nice bit of inflammatory hyperbole as well.

What a thoughtful, well-spoken gentleman the head of the AHA is.

He said (paraphrasing) “You notice how they (secular humanists) always start this around Christmas time?”

You notice how the religious right always start their “war on Christmas” shit around Christmas time too?

rab - 15 November 2008 04:26 AM

You notice how the religious right always start their “war on Christmas” shit around Christmas time too?

It appears to me to be disguised Jew-baiting.

“The humanists’ entry into the marketplace of ideas did not impress AFA president Tim Wildmon.

“It’s a stupid ad,” he said. “How do we define ‘good’ if we don’t believe in God? God in his word, the Bible, tells us what’s good and bad and right and wrong. If we are each ourselves defining what’s good, it’s going to be a crazy world.”“

Oh, no you dih-ih!

Nulono - 16 November 2008 11:44 AM

“The humanists’ entry into the marketplace of ideas did not impress AFA president Tim Wildmon.

“It’s a stupid ad,” he said. “How do we define ‘good’ if we don’t believe in God? God in his word, the Bible, tells us what’s good and bad and right and wrong. If we are each ourselves defining what’s good, it’s going to be a crazy world.”“

Oh, no you dih-ih!

“How do we define good if we don’t believe in God?” Well, I’m assuming the ad was basing goodness on the way we treat others. The golden rule, which is universal to practically all religions and not just Christianity, defines goodness as treating others the way we would want to be treated. Even without the Judeo-Christian bible, we’d still have that rule.

The other point I’d like to make is how does the bible define good? Is Wildmon referring to the Old or New Testament? The god of the Old wasnt what I would call “good” but just the opposite. I like Richard Dawkins description of him:

‘the most unpleasant character in all fiction ... a misogynist, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully’.