Humanists Launch National Advertising Campaign

by betterdaze 10 Replies latest social current

betterdaze

Humanists Launch Largest National Advertising Campaign Critical of Religious Scripture
Washington, D.C., November 9, 2010
A national multimedia ad campaign – the largest, most extensive ever by a godless organization - launches today and will include a spot on NBC Dateline on Friday, November 12, as well as other television ads, that directly challenge biblical morality and fundamentalist Christianity. The campaign, sponsored by the American Humanist Association, also features ads in major national and regional newspapers and magazines demonstrating that secular humanist values are consistent with mainstream America and that fundamentalist religion has no right to claim the moral high ground.
The ads juxtapose notable humanist quotes with passages from religious texts, including the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Quran. The ads then ask the audience to "Consider Humanism." One example is the following pairing: The Bible: “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.” I Timothy 2 (New International Version) Humanism: “The rights of men and women should be equal and sacred—marriage should be a perfect partnership.” Robert G. Ingersoll, in a letter dated April 13, 1878. Another pairing is: The Bible: “The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open.” God, Hosea 13:16 (New International Version) Humanism: “I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own—a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.” Albert Einstein, column for The New York Times, Nov. 9, 1930
To see images and videos of the ads and find more information about the campaign please visit: http://www.considerhumanism.org
"Humanist values are mainstream American values, and this campaign will help many people realize that they are already humanists and just did not know the term," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. "Humanists believe in and value love, equality, peace, freedom and reason – values that are comparable to those of moderate and liberal religious people."
In addition to the television ad on NBC, ads will also be displayed on cable channels. Print ads will appear in major newspapers, including USA Today, the Seattle Times, the Village Voice, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Independent Triangle, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and magazines, including Reason and The Progressive. Ads will also appear on Metro trains in Washington, D.C., on billboards on I-95 near Philadelphia and in Moscow, Idaho, and on buses in select cities.
"We want to reach people in every corner of the U.S., from all walks of life, to raise the flag for humanists and show others that they have more in common with us than with biblical literalists," said Speckhardt.
"It's important that people recognize that a literal reading of religious texts is completely out of touch with mainstream America," Speckhardt added. "Although religious texts can teach good lessons, they also advocate fear, intolerance, hate and ignorance. It's time for all moderate people to stand up against conservative religion's claim on a moral monopoly."
All quotes from religious texts were checked by scripture scholars to ensure accuracy, context and proper translation.
The Stiefel Freethought Foundation was the primary sponsor of the Consider Humanism campaign with a $150,000 donation. Another $50,000 was raised from supporters of the American Humanist Association for the launch of this campaign, bringing the total ad buy to $200,000 so far.
The American Humanist Association (www.americanhumanist.org) advocates for the rights and viewpoints of humanists. Founded in 1941 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., its work is extended through over 140 local chapters and affiliates across America. Humanism is the idea that you can be good without a belief in God.
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betterdaze

Exposing Fundamentalism and Considering the Humanism Alternative
The Ad Concept:
The American Humanist Association’s Consider Humanism campaign, the largest nontheist advertising campaign in history, is a series of advertisements that feature two “sections”—one devoted to quotes from religious texts, the other to humanist principles.
There are millions of Americans of strong moral character who don’t happen to believe in a god. Humanists have always understood that you don't need a god to be a good person, but many other Americans have not, and that’s one reason we’ve been running ad campaigns in the past. This year, we’re going further in our attempt to challenge the intolerant view that atheist and agnostic humanists can’t be good without Bible derived morality. We’re taking a hard look at what is included in religious texts.
The first section of each ad displays one of several quotes from the New International Version Bible and a Qur’anic quote as well. A description accompanies each quote, naming the source of the quote. This section includes large-font text that reads, “What some believe.” The second section features contrasting quotes from humanist documents. These have been pulled from Humanism and Its Aspirations and from nontheist luminaries such as Katharine Hepburn and Richard Dawkins. This section includes large-font text that reads, “What humanists think” and “Consider Humanism.”
The Stiefel Freethought Foundation gave a generous $150,000 toward this campaign. A number of members of the American Humanist Association donated within the last month to help the campaign top the $200,000 mark. Please consider helping the campaign continue and expand.
The Outlets:
The ads will be featured in major newspapers such as USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Seattle Times, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Village Voice, the Durham Herald Sun, the Arizona Republic and the Independent Triangle, and magazines such as the Progressive and Reason. The ads will also appear on buses and phone booths across Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, inside the Washington DC metro and bus system, on billboards in Moscow, Idaho and Philadelphia, PA, as well websites such as the Friendly Atheist. Consider Humanism TV commercials will appear nationwide on NBC’s Dateline, and stations such as MSNBC, CNBC and Bloomberg Business Television.
Scully
Heaven

Timothy's words are in direct contradiction to Christ's teachings of Love and treating people the way you wish to be treated (Matthew 7:12). Ask any man if he wants to be treated as described by Timothy and see what he says.
designs

Its a intellectual battle that needs to be waged. We need to stop scaring our children with end of the world stories and tales about a supreme being who tortures humans.
The Jesus character tells people that he will punish them for all eternity if they do not follow him.
Paul sends gentile christians on the largest institutionalized business of trading in human flesh the world has ever seen.
Join a local humanitarian and environmental cause and participate in making things better.
tec

A better approach, imo, is something like this:
Do you care about the homeless man starving on the street corner? So do we.
Have you tried to help him, and others like him? So have we.
Do you care about the survival of this planet and its resources? So do we.
Do you love your children? So do we.
Do you volunteer your time helping the homeless and the hurting? So do we.
Do you treat others as you want them to treat you? So do we.
Etc, etc. (I'm sure someone could come up with statements that throw more of an impact)
The point is, attacking faith by pulling quotes out of the bible is only going to put people on the defensive. It'll take all the focus off helping those in need, and putting it on a continued debate back and forth. It'll turn into an attack on religion, and that's where the focus will be. Just my opinion, but I guess we'll see.
Tammy
PSacramento

When we attack anyhting with "selective text" we are no better than those that do the same to us.
Yes there are passages in the OT and NT that, when take out of context, give the wrong impression and yes, there are verses written by man that have been stated as being "by God" by some and that is an issue that MUST be addressed.
I don't think this is the way to do it and it won't win any "converts" as they things tend to "preach to the converted".
Maybe they should also study where "humanisim" came from and people like Petrarch.
Petrarch is traditionally called the father of Humanism and considered by many to be the "father of the Renaissance." [ 25 ] He was the first to offer a combination of abstract entities of classical culture and Christian philosophy. In his work Secretum meum he points out that secular achievements did not necessarily preclude an authentic relationship with God. Petrarch argued instead that God had given humans their vast intellectual and creative potential to be used to their fullest. [ 26 ] He inspired humanist philosophy which led to the intellectual flowering of the Renaissance. He believed in the immense moral and practical value of the study of ancient history and literature – that is, the study of human thought and action. Petrarch was a devout Catholic and did not see a conflict between realizing humanity's potential and having religious faith.
A highly introspective man, he shaped the nascent humanist movement a great deal because many of the internal conflicts and musings expressed in his writings were seized upon by Renaissance humanist philosophers and argued continually for the next 200 years. For example, Petrarch struggled with the proper relation between the active and contemplative life, and tended to emphasize the importance of solitude and study. Later the politician and thinker Leonardo Bruni argued for the active life, or "civic humanism". As a result, a number of political, military, and religious leaders during the Renaissance were inculcated with the notion that their pursuit of personal fulfillment should be grounded in classical example and philosophical contemplation.
PSacramento

Timothy's words are in direct contradiction to Christ's teachings of Love and treating people the way you wish to be treated (Matthew 7:12). Ask any man if he wants to be treated as described by Timothy and see what he says.
Those words are also in contridiction to most of what Paul said about women and the high place he held the likes of Phoebe, Mary, Junia, Julia, etc.
Reason why many believe those words to be either a later addition or an edit of Paul's original letter.
Lore

Yes there are passages in the OT and NT that, when take out of context, give the wrong impression
Yeah!
Such as the four or five passages that paint Yahweh as loving and kind that clearly go against the other 99% of the bible for example!
That verse was technically "out of context" yes. So lets put it IN context and see if that helps. . . Here is the whole chapter:
(Hosea

There, that's the context.
Well crap that just made it WORSE. The whole chapter is just god saying: "How dare you be successful and have exalted hearts without my help! Fine I'm gonna rip you a new one! *insert long rambling list of threats here* "
13:1-16)13 “When E′phra·im spoke, there was trembling; he himself carried [weight] in Israel. But he proceeded to become guilty in regard to Ba′al and die. 2 And now they commit additional sin and make for themselves a molten statue from their silver, idols according to their own understanding, the work of craftsmen, all of it. To them they are saying, ‘Let the sacrificers who are men kiss mere calves.’ 3 Therefore they will become like the clouds of morning and like the dew that early goes away; like chaff that is stormed away from the threshing floor and like smoke from the [roof] hole. 4 “But I am Jehovah your God from the land of Egypt, and there was no God except me that you used to know; and there was no savior but I. 5 I myself knew you in the wilderness, in the land of fevers. 6 According to their pasturage they also came to be satisfied. They became satisfied and their heart began to be exalted. That is why they forgot me. 7 And I shall become to them like a young lion. Like a leopard by [the] way I shall keep looking. 8 I shall encounter them like a bear that has lost its cubs, and I shall rip apart the enclosure of their heart. And I shall devour them there like a lion; a wild beast of the field itself will tear them to pieces. 9 It will certainly bring you to ruin, O Israel, because it was against me, against your helper. 10 “Where, then, is your king, that he may save you in all your cities, and your judges, [concerning] whom you said, ‘Do give me a king and princes’? 11 I proceeded to give you a king in my anger, and I shall take [him] away in my fury. 12 “The error of E′phra·im is wrapped up, his sin is treasured up. 13 The labor pangs of a woman giving birth are what will come to him. He is a son not wise, for in season he will not stand still at the breaking forth of sons [from the womb]. 14 “From the hand of She′ol I shall redeem them; from death I shall recover them. Where are your stings, O Death? Where is your destructiveness, O She′ol? Compassion itself will be concealed from my eyes. 15 “In case he himself as the son of reed plants should show fruitfulness, an east wind, the wind of Jehovah, will come. From a wilderness it is coming up, and it will dry up his well and drain his spring. That one will pillage the treasure of all desirable articles. 16 “Sa·mar′i·a will be held guilty, for she is actually rebellious against her God. By the sword they will fall. Their own children will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women themselves will be ripped up.”
Now if you were to take verse 4 and read that by itself, it doesn't sound horrible at all! But THAT would be 'out of context' since all the verses around it show how jealous and vindictive he is.
Lore

hmm, still figuring out this new forum setup. is there a way to edit my post?

Humanists Launch National Advertising Campaign

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