Charlotte billboards will rip religion, politics

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/08/17/3462033/charlotte-billboards-will-rip.html ^ | 8/17/12

[Libloather]

Charlotte billboards will rip religion, politics
Modified: Friday, Aug. 17, 2012

TAMPA, Fla. A prominent atheist group is using next month’s Democratic National Convention to take aim at the presidential candidates’ religion, putting up billboards targeting Mormonism and Christianity in Charlotte.

“Our political system … depends too much on religion and not enough on substance,” said David Silverman, president of American Atheists. “Religion is silly and religion has components that are inherently divisive. …

There is no place for any of that in the political system.”

The billboards go up Monday and will stay up for a month at a cost of roughly $15,000.

American Atheists wanted to put an anti-Mormon billboard in Tampa, Fla., to coincide with the Republican National Convention. Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney is a Mormon. When no billboard company would lease the group space, Silverman said the organization decided to focus solely on the Democrats in Charlotte. CNN

[Libloather]

They left out the Muslims. Wonder why.

[Dilbert San Diego]

So, religion is inherently divisive. But a radical movement such as atheism is not divisive? Is this for real??? If the criteria for judgement here, are that we want movements which are not divisive, then American Atheists themselves, to be intellectually honest, would have to check out of the debate.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Why didn’t they file a lawsuit in Tampa, against the company which wouldn’t rent billboard space to them to bash Mormons??? This sound like something a good liberal judge would want to rule, that in the interest of free speech and such, that we would be required to rent billboard space to expressions of religious resentment.

[tet68]

American Atheists wanted to put an anti-Mormon billboard in Tampa, Fla., to coincide with the Republican National Convention. Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney is a Mormon. When no billboard company would lease the group space, Silverman said the organization decided to focus solely on the Democrats in Charlotte.

Bewhahahahahahah.

[Gamecock]

I’m sure the atheists will be well received in Charlotte. < /sarc>

[Gene Eric]

>> . “Religion is silly and religion has components that are inherently divisive. …

Said the condescending atheist.

[Gene Eric]

Furthermore, Christianity is not a religion, asshat.

[Arkansas Toothpick]

Hmmmm, wonder when they will put up a billboard decrying the divisiveness of Islam?

Yeah.

[Rodm]

Let’s see now, How many people have been killed by Atheistic and Anti-Christian governments? Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pot, Viet Nam, Burma have killed millions.

I want religion and virtue in my elected officials.

[struggle]

One Billboard:

Atheist governments killed 100 million people.
That’s something to believe in.

[darkwing104]

They left out the Muslims.

because they are cowards

[loveliberty2]

Perhaps they chose that site because of the "progressive" ideology which will predominate the agenda there. After all, there are competing ideas which must be placed before the people prior to this election.

One set is consistent with America's founding principles of liberty, and the other is based on another, and competing set of ideas:

The following is excerpted from a series entitled, "Lessons on Liberty," by the Co-Editor of "Our Ageless Constitution" & "Rediscovering the Ideas of Liberty."

The "Lesson" contrasts the Founders' "Ideas of Liberty" which they wished to be taught to rising generations, with the Counterfeit Ideas being promoted in the so-called "public schools" of America for decades now.

IDEAS OF LIBERTY:

(from America’s Founders and Presidents)

“The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.” (Jefferson - 1774)

“Statesmen may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone which can establish the principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.” (John Adams - 1775)

“The Sacred Rights of Mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the Hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.” (Alexander Hamilton)

“Without God, there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first and the most basic expression of Americanism. Thus the founding fathers saw it, and thus, with God’s help, it will continue to be.” (Dwight Eisenhower)

“The same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe, the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.” (John F. Kennedy - 1961 Inaugural)

“…it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor….”(George Washington)

“Now the virtue which had been infused into the Constitution…and was to give it…the stability and duration to which it was destined, was no other than…those abstract principles…proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence—namely, the self-evident truths of the…unalienable rights of man…the…sovereignty of the people, always subordinate to a rule of right and wrong, and always responsible to the Supreme Ruler of the universe for the rightful exercise of that sovereign…power.” (John Quincy Adams, on the occasion of The Jubilee of the Constitution - 1839)

"Today, across our nation, we see consequences of decades of gross neglect and outright censorship of the Founders’ ideas from textbooks and from our public discourse. We have allowed counterfeit ideas to dominate the public square, and the Founders’ principles have been crowded out. Unwittingly, many teachers and other unknowing officials have participated in the agenda of an unelected mind-controlling elite whose tyrannical actions have robbed generations of Americans from reading or studying the ideas that made America free. Like termites, they have eroded our foundations as effectively as if they had burned the books. Yet, not once have they been willing to call it by its rightful name—censorship. Once, in America, stifling ideas about the Creator and Creator-endowed liberty was considered unthinkable. . . .

"The ideas of liberty must be passed on from generation to generation if liberty is to survive. These ideas, when they are allowed to be examined freely, will prevail, because their appeal is to reason and to the love for liberty that is deep in the human heart. John Adams warned: “The people of America now have the best opportunity and the greatest trust in their hands, that Providence ever committed to so small a number…if they betray their trust, their guilt will merit even greater punishment than other nations have suffered, and the indignation of Heaven.”

COUNTERFEIT IDEAS:

(from some of those whose views have dominated national educational policy)

“The idea of God is the keystone of a perverted society. The true root of liberty, equality and culture is atheism.” (Karl Marx)

Our thinking is enlightened “in the degree in which we cease to depend upon belief in the supernatural.” (John Dewey, father of ‘progressive education’ and 1st President of American Humanist Society)

“…democracy is a human faith and movement, unencumbered by supernatural preconceptions.” (John Childs, a protégé of John Dewey at Columbia)

“…the majority of our youth still hold the values of their parents, and if we do not alter this pattern, if we do not resocialize ourselves to accept change, our society may decay.” (John Goodlad, 1971 Report to President, Schooling for the Future)

“As in 1933, humanists still believe that traditional theism, especially a faith in the prayer-hearing God, who is assumed to love and care for persons, to hear and understand their prayers, and be able to do something about them, is an unproved and outmoded faith.” (Humanist Manifesto II, 1973)

“…the most important factor moving us toward a secular society has been the educational factor. Our schools may not teach Johnny to read properly, but the fact that Johnny is in school until he is sixteen tends to lead toward elimination of religious superstition.” (Paul Blanshard, The Humanist, March-April, 1976)

“It [the Nat’l. Education Association’s publication list] includes the delegitimizing of all authority save that of the state, the degradation of traditional morality and the encouragement of citizens in general and children in particular to despise the rules and customs that make their society a functional democracy. The NEA is drifting into exceedingly dangerous waters, and probably carrying more than a few teachers and pupils with it.” (Chester E. Finn, Jr., Ass’t. Sec. Of Education & Prof. Of Education & Public Policy, Vanderbilt Univ., 1982)

--------------

“Now, my countrymen, if you have been taught doctrines which conflict with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence…let me entreat you to come back. Return to the fountains whose waters spring close to the blood of the Revolution.” (Abraham Lincoln)

[presently no screen name]

Atheism is a religion.

[upchuck]

It appears the billboard companies in Tampa have bigger cojones than the ones in Charlotte.

[presently no screen name]

When no billboard company would lease the group space, Silverman said the organization decided to focus solely on the Democrats in Charlotte.

Atheism vs. Islamism LOL! seems all the godless will congregate in the state of one great Christian/Billy Graham.

[presently no screen name]

I agree and Tampa being the headquarters of the CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY

[dandiegirl]

The atheists will fit right in at the dem freak show that is coming our way. Bottom dwellers of society on full display.

[GOPJ]

They've got the money to put up billboards and liberal media whores will give them press coverage. Too bad they can't get more than 200 people to show up at a Chick-fil-A protest.

Groups like this need time to hire 'rent a crowd' protesters. And notify liberal media whores when to show up...

[eyedigress]

I have moved to the area recently and the democrats are way behind the curve. This area is no less vocal about GOD than any other area in the south. Let the democrats start with their atheist views. Charlotte is a nice area. I live in Concord.

[donna]

Soviet history/America’s future:

Society of the Godless (The Union of Belligerent Atheists or The League of the Militant Godless

S.o.G. embraced workers, peasants, students, and intelligentsia. It had its first affiliates at factories, plants, collective farms (kolkhoz), and educational institutions. By the beginning of 1941, S.o.G. had about 3.5 million members of 100 nationalities. It had about 96,000 offices across the country.

Guided by Bolshevik principles of antireligious propaganda and party’s orders with regards to religion, S.o.G. aimed at fighting religion in all its manifestations and forming scientific mindset among the workers.

It popularized atheism and scientific achievements, conducted individual work with religious people, prepared propagandists and atheistic campaigners, published scientific literature and periodicals, organized museums and exhibitions, conducted scientific research in the field of atheism and critics of religion.

S.o.G.’s slogan was “Struggle against religion is a struggle for socialism” which was meant to tie in their atheist views with economy, politics, and culture. S.o.G. had vast international connections; it was part of the International of Proletarian Freethinkers and later of the Worldwide Freethinkers Union.