Atheist Ad Is Not Anti-Christian

The American Humanist Association (AHA) has put out an ad for the holiday season. The ad pictured above, which shows some people in Santa hats and the words "No god...No problem", is the version meant to put on buses. They did a similar ad in Washington D.C. last year, but this year they have expanded and are running the ads in Washington, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The ad is of course meant to reach out to nontheists, and let them know they have millions of friends who believe as they do in this country and around the world. It also provides a website where they can contact others who believe you don't need any god to be a moral person. The ad does not mention christianity or any religion, and does not say anything negative about any religion. It simply says it's OK to be a nontheist (atheist).

Here's how Ray Speckhardt, executive director of the AHA, explained the purpose of the ad campaign, "We're hoping this campaign will build awareness about the humanist movement and our ethical life philosophy -- particularly among the "nones": the rapidly growing percentage of people who claim no religion."

He went on to say, "We also want nontheists to know there is a community of like-minded individuals out there they can connect with. Many feel uncomfortable talking openly about their personal beliefs because of prejudice against them -- they fear they'll be rejected by their family, their friends and their community, and in some cases, they even fear retaliation for their beliefs. But the American Humanist Association provides an accepting community for nontheists to turn to for support and ways to get involved."

But, of course, the right-wing fundies have to make it into something evil -- an attack on christianity. Right-wing nut Bill O'Reilly said, "Why do they loathe the baby Jesus?...You don't sell atheism by running down a baby." Of course the ad says nothing about Jesus -- as a baby or an adult. Nobody is running down the "baby Jesus".

And of course my favorite religious lunatic Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, had to get into the act. He said, "Why didn't they choose the summer solstice? I guess they have no other time of the year to get out their message except to crib off someone else's holiday."

I guess Donohue wasn't paying attention, but similar ads were being run last summer (but without the Santa hats). As for cribbing off someone else's holiday, christians are pretty good at that themselves. Centuries before christianity was even thought of, people were celebrating the winter solstice with yule logs, gatherings, feasting and giving gifts.

The Catholic Church couldn't get people to stop these celebrations, so they labeled it as Jesus's birthday and made it a christian holiday. No one actually knows the date of Jesus's birth -- if he even lived at all.

Of course, that's not going to stop many christians from declaring this another volley in the nonexistent "war on christmas". Facts are not important to these people.