Atheist Billboards Coming To North Texas


Believers in God have their billboards and now those who don't believe in God have their own message.

"We're not trying to attract people who believe in God. We're not trying to change their minds," said Terry McDonald with Metroplex Atheists.


At the weekly gathering of the Metroplex Atheists, the talk was about Monday's unveiling of two billboards with the message, "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."

"It's to let those people who don't believe know that they're not alone and that there are a lot of groups that they can become involved in," said McDonald.

The billboards will stand along I-35 near Loop 12 in Northwest Dallas and I-35 at Braswell in North Fort Worth.

The message encourages atheists and other non-believers to log onto www.dfwcor.org. The C.O.R stands for "Coalition of Reason." The website will be up and running Monday to coincide with the unveiling of both billboards.

Dr. Darrell Bock of the Dallas Theological Seminary welcomes the debate.

"They (non-believers) represent a significant minority in our culture. They're becoming more verbal and the thing to do is to have a conversation with them about that," he said.

Dr. Bock says the billboards may enrage some Christians at first, but he doesn't expect that anger to last.

"People pretty much have their minds made up on these kinds of matters. They're either going to be for or against," he said. "A lot of people will drive by and it will be the topic of conversation for a few days perhaps, but I don't think it's going to change very much."

Identical billboards are already up in Philadelphia and Denver. Non-believers have been gathering momentum as of late. HBO comic Bill Maher questioned God's existence in his 2008 documentary, "Religulous."

A recent study found that more than 15 percent of Americans no longer affiliate with a religion.

Video

8 comments:

Mule Breath said...

I hope they get the web site up by the time the billboards go up. I just checked and there is nothing there yet.

Jeff said...

I kind of like the message on these ones better than the other ones that went up in the UK. Although the creators of the first ones said that the purpose was to let non-believers know that there "were others out there," this one seems to communicate that much better. I hope these ones spread like the first ones did :)

Harry H. McCall said...

Mule B:
Watch the video at the bottom of the post. The website will be up this Monday (3-30).

feeno said...

I'm glad you guys have weekly gatherings of the metroplex atheists, and you can be encouraged by a speaker, and there is even a lot of groups you can get involved in.

Thank goodness your not a religion. Do they pass a collection plate at this weekly gathering?

Peace out, feeno

Harry H. McCall said...

Feeno,

How do you define a religion? Do atheists pray: No. Do they believe in a afterlife spirit: No. Do they believe in a god: No.

On the other hand, Scientology does not believe in or do the above either, BUT they want to be call a religion to get US tax brakes.

So, if a motorcycle club meets, by your definition, they are practicing a religion. Are they worshiping motorcycles?

If bird watchers meet weekly as a group, are they practicing a religion and is a bird is their god?

Please advise the IRS to rewrite their tax code as your definition of religion covers about every group that meets in the world!

Harry

Gandolf said...

One thing it helps with maybe is making people realize they are not so alone in disbelieving .Could maybe help remove the stigma thats presently involved with disbelief of gods in many countries.This way maybe more folks will feel they are able to be honest about it.

feeno says "I'm glad you guys have weekly gatherings of the metroplex atheists, and you can be encouraged by a speaker, and there is even a lot of groups you can get involved in."

Yeah maybe helps people realize they can still become closer to people in many ways without the need to go to churches or to have faith in God/s etc.

Cause we can see how a suggestion can be made to humans that we will be divided,and many will then just simply except it.So the same might be able to work to some extent in reverse.

Grimmy said...

I have a more accurate version here: http://darwin-hitler.blogspot.com/

Harry H. McCall said...

But Grimmy, all I have to do is read the Bible the how murderous your God is!

Just look at the Biblical book of Joshua:

The above elements are brought together in the epic tale of the fall of Jericho where both the concepts of Holy War and the Divine Warrior are incorporated with the common ancient Near Eastern magical number seven:

“Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. "It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.” (Joshua 6: 4 - 5).

With the city wall destroyed, the human slaughter of all the men women and children along with their animals could begin under the ancient concept of Holy War where Yahweh, as the leading Warrior-King deity of the Israelite army, demands all the booty of the city from the death of all living things to its gold, silver, bronze and iron as his portion of the הרס or “harem” or the BAN.

“They utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword…They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. (Joshua 6: 21 & 24)

{Word study: שָׂרַף as used in this context is associated with בָּאֵשׁ as the text reads
“שָׂרַף בָּאֵשׁ” or “to burn with fire”. This is a cognate of the Akkadian ina isati sarapu “to destroy by fire” as in relation to burning figurines in magic rituals.

The word שָׂרַף as used in this study is associated in the Priestly work of Leviticus in the burning of animal sacrifices (see also Numbers 17:4, Judges 7: 31, 19: 5 and 2 Kings 17:31). However, most importantly, פרש is used in the Hebrew Bible in the context of children burnt to the gods: Duet. 12: 31, Jeremiah 7: 31, 19: 5, and 2 Kings 17: 31.


Thus, all life, both human and animal life of the city of Jericho, is ritualistically slaughtered and then Yahweh can feast on the smoke from the blood and bodies of the victims, the city is “שָׂרַף בָּאֵש” or burnt with fire.}

The cultic magical elements flow full and free in Joshua 6 - 7. But the victory is short lived due to hidden sin! Unknown to Joshua, Yahweh is denied his full booty; not the precious lives of the non-combatant: All the innocent women, children, babies, the unborn and animals (which Yahweh again equates the innocent human life), but Yahweh greed is for the material metal wealth; that is the gold, silver, bronze and iron that could be used in his tabernacle. (In the book of Jonah, after Jonah preaches in Nineveh, Jonah 4:11 tells us that both humans and animal repented.)

With the murder of all life in Jericho completed and the everything burnt to Yahweh (Notice that the cultic proper killing of life of both humans and animal in Jericho means that their blood must be drained. Thus Joshua 6: 21 makes it a point to tell the Jewish reader of this epic that death was to be by “the edge of the sword” before the ritual / sacrificial burning 6: 24 could take place.)

To seal the future fate of the city, an divine curse is placed on anyone who tries to rebuild it:


“Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, "Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates." (Joshua 6:26). (again, the curse here is much like we find in such major This is like many general ancient Near Eastern Akkadian texts such as the epilogue to the Code of Hammurabi. Thus, Yahweh’s curse in verse 26 has set the stage for the slaughter of Achan and all that belonged to him.


Since Yahweh was denied his booty of gold and silver, Yahweh must take his vengeance out on the 3,000 Israelites by not marching into Holy War against Ai:


“So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water.” (Joshua 7: 4-5)


The reason given to Joshua is that “Israel has sinned” by taking Yahweh’s gold and sliver:
"Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things.” (Joshua 7: 11) Thus, all of Israel must consecrate themselves to be made holy (as in a divine ritual for Holy Warriors and priests):


“ 'It shall be that the one who is taken with the things under the ban (harem) shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel.'" (Joshua 7: 15).


Since Yahweh was cheated out of his gold and silver, human slaughter must sacrificially be feed to Yahweh to quench his hunger for blood and life:



“Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day." And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.” (Joshua 7: 25)


Again, the slaughter of men, women, children, babies along with the unborn are an atonement for the original booty of gold and silver God was denied. As such, Achan’s whole extended family is sacrificed by stoning (death caused by blunt force trauma
associated with both external and internal bleeding) then, just like Jericho, the slaughtered families are sacrificed to Yahweh to feed on by fire and its smoke.


To mark the spot as holy, an altar built of stones was set up there to honor Yahweh:


“They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Achor to this day.” (Joshua 7: 26)


With Yahweh’s hunger for human blood and flesh satisfied, he again marches with the Israelites into Holy War; this time against Ai. But, unlike before, Joshua cuts a deal with Yahweh to make up for their defeat the first time by Achan’s hidden sin. Thus, Israel will get to keep all the “spoils and its cattle” (8: 2), but again, all the human life of 12,000
souls must be sacrificially killed and burnt to Yahweh:

“…then all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. All who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000-- all the people of Ai. For Joshua did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. … So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation until this day.” (Joshua 8:24c - 26 and 28)

In light of the above, your God of love an grace in the New Testament is a far cry from the covenant only Semitic god Yahweh. I you were not chosen by Yahweh in the treaty / covenant, there was not grace; just death and being burnt to God