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October 9th, 2013
02:27 PM ET
Creationists taunt atheists in latest billboard warBy Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN)– A new video billboard in New York's Times Square has a message from creationists, "To all of our atheist friends: Thank God you're wrong." The video advertisement at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan is one of several billboards going up this week in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, paid for by Answers in Genesis. Answers in Genesis is best known as the multimillion-dollar Christian ministry behind the Creation Museum outside Cincinnati. The museum presents the case for Young Earth creationism, following what it says is a literal interpretation of the book of Genesis, which says the Earth was created by God in six days less than 10,000 years ago. Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, said the idea for the advertisements came from an atheist billboard in Times Square at Christmas. During the holidays, the American Atheists put up a billboard with images of Santa Claus and Jesus that read: "Keep the Merry, dump the myth." “The Bible says to contend for the faith,” Ham said. “We thought we should come up with something that would make a statement in the culture, a bold statement, and direct them to our website. "We're not against them personally. We're not trying to attack them personally, but we do believe they're wrong," he said. "From an atheist's perspective, they believe when they die, they cease to exist. And we say 'no, you're not going to cease to exist; you're going to spend eternity with God or without God. And if you're an atheist, you're going to be spending it without God.' " Dave Silverman, president of the American Atheists, said he felt sad for creationists when he saw the billboards. "They refuse to look at the real world. They refuse to look at the evidence we have, and they offer none," Silverman said. "They might as well be saying, 'Thank Zeus you're wrong' or 'Thank Thor you're wrong.' " Silverman said he welcomed another competitor to marketplace, noting that after atheists bought a billboard two years ago in Times Square that read "You KNOW it's a myth," the Catholic League purchased competing space at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel for a sign that read "You KNOW it's true." "I would suggest, if they're actually trying to attract atheists, they should talk about proof and reason to believe in their god, not just some pithy play on words," Silverman said. Ham says part of the goal of the campaign is to draw people to the website for Answers in Genesis, where he offers a lengthy post on his beliefs for the proof of God. Ham insists that this campaign is in keeping with their overall mission. "We're a biblical authority ministry. We're really on about the Bible and the Gospel. Now, we do have a specialty in the area of the creation account and Genesis because that's where we say God's word has come under attack." Ham said Answers in Genesis made the decision to split its marketing budget for the ministry between a regional campaign for the museum and this billboard campaign, rather than a national campaign. IRS filings for the ministry in recent years have shown a yearly operating budget of more than $25 million. Ham said the marketing budget is about 2% of that, about $500,000 a year. Though they are waiting for all the bills to come due for this campaign, he said he expected it to cost between $150,000 and $200,000. Silverman noted that his billboards were not video and cost approximately $25,000 last year. He said another campaign was in the works for this year. "They're throwing down the gauntlet, and we're picking it up," Silverman said, adding that his group would "slap them in the face" with it. Ham said that despite criticism from other Christians for being negative and the usual criticisms from secularists he received on his social media accounts, the advertisements have been a success. "We wanted people talking about them, and we wanted discussion about this. We wanted people thinking about God," Ham said. The Creation Museum and the theory of Young Earth creationism are widely reviled by the broader science community. In a YouTube video posted last year titled "Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children," Bill Nye the Science Guy slammed creationism, imploring parents not to teach it to their children. "We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future," he said. "We need engineers that can build stuff and solve problems." The museum responded with its own video. For the past 30 years, Gallup Inc. has been tracking American opinions about creationism. In June 2012, Gallup's latest findings showed that 46% of Americans believed in creationism, 32% believed in evolution guided by God, and 15% believed in atheistic evolution. For as long as Gallup has conducted the survey, creationism has remained far and away the most popular answer, with 40% to 47% of Americans surveyed saying they believed that God created humans in their present form at one point within the past 10,000 years. The Creation Museum said it recently welcomed its 2 millionth visitor since its opening in 2007. soundoff (8,748 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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To reason with "the religious" is as futile as trying to reason with the vioces heard by the mentally ill.
Your dismissal of those with whom you have differing ideologies as intellectually inferior is an unnecessary ad hominem attack.
Could be a sound policy. Triage is called for when the world is thick with believers.
Think about what he's saying....monotheists "talk" to God. Its a trait they have, love, and relish in. But at the end of the day, when you realize your god is as false as every other one of the thousand fictional gods written about by Man, then all of these people are talking to themselves ... and getting answers back!!
"differing ideologies" is not what I am "attacking". You cannot reason with anyone who happen to know they´re right, while disregaring any and all information that would suggest that their "bubble of right" is just nonsence. It´s like trying to reason with a child during its temper tantrum or ,as previously stated, to the voices heard by a mentally ill person. (the mentally ill and the child can however not be blamed for their current lack of reasoning skills)
It's not always futile, Anders. A great many atheists/agnostics were at one time in their lives "religious".
Ok, I´ll try to muster some more patinece. But reasoning logically with someone that "just knows what they believe is ultimate truth" is just a lost cause. Said person have obvioulsy given up on all critical thinking and logical reasoning.
On reddit recently, a question was posed to atheists who had converted and became religious to state their reasons. What I found interesting, other than the fact the vast majority of these converts had actually converted to non-Abrahamic beliefs (Buddhism seemed to be a favorite), was that so FEW had converted at all.
It's important to challenge the idiocy of religious zealots, if only to publicly humiliate them and keep in check their proselytization.
I have the dick of a cave man.
dried up and worthless? Mazel Tov!
Someone bothered spending time and money on this...
Yes its kinda a big deal
Good to see the came forward with their strongest argument.
I’m an agnostic and as such I can surely say that there is no other belief group more annoying than the atheist one. What noise these guys do to impose their worldview on the others! Disgusting!
It’s an interesting phenomenon worth of some research – Minorities trying to take over.
Yesterday for instance I watched a Youtube video about another subject (2 million views) with 93% of positive ratings. Guess what? The comments to it (more the 800) were mostly (maybe 95%, from what I could assess) from the 7% ! Basket case!
400 years ago a tiny minority thought the earth orbited the sun.
@Massardi
You said, "I’m an agnostic"
Based on the rest of your post, I doubt that very much.
You said, "and as such I can surely say that there is no other belief group more annoying than the atheist one."
Atheism isn't a belief. It's the absence of belief.
You said, "What noise these guys do to impose their worldview on the others!"
Nobody is forcing you to abandon your silly superstitions. Nobody is forcing you to give up your infantile beliefs.
You said, "It’s an interesting phenomenon worth of some research – Minorities trying to take over."
Trying to get people to think and rationally evaluate the bullshit they believe isn't a minority trying to take over. It's merely an attempt to get people to shed their ignorance.
You said, "Yesterday for instance I watched a Youtube video about another subject (2 million views) with 93% of positive ratings. Guess what? The comments to it (more the 800) were mostly (maybe 95%, from what I could assess) from the 7% ! Basket case!"
If you don't want your beliefs questioned, maybe you should stay off the internet.
Alright! I concede you're right. Now would you stop preaching please? I promise you I will never connect on the internet again.
@Massardi
You said, "Alright! I concede you're right."
Of course, I'm right, but thanks for acknowledging it.
You said, "Now would you stop preaching please?"
I don't preach.
You said, "I promise you I will never connect on the internet again."
It would be far better if, instead, you rationally evaluate what you read on it, and what you believe.
1st grade Teacher "So as you can see Massy, two plus two equals four."
Massy "Alright! I concede you're right. Now would you stop preaching please?"
"It's called Teaching Massy."
"Whatever..."
Why are you whining about atheists when this is an article about creationists foisting their opinions on others?
To all of our Creationist friends:
Your Welcome.
*You're
These people are quite proud of their ignorance.
Which group are you referring to – the atheists or creationists?
In studies appearing in recent issues of Stem Cell Journal and Developmental Cell, researchers show that endothelial cells - the cells that make up the structure of blood vessels - are powerful biological machines that drive regeneration in organ tissues by releasing beneficial, organ-specific molecules. Damaged or diseased organs may someday be healed with an injection of blood vessel cells, eliminating the need for donated organs and transplants.
This came about through prayer.
As an immunogeneticist of faith I reject your premise that Christians reject science. Thank you in advance for no longer promoting such ignorance.
As a scientist, a careful read of my post will show I had no such premise.
I'm a computational/molecular biologist/geneticist, but my hobby has me interested in how much of Christianity you have had to edit out in order to continue to believe yourself Christian.
Interesting observation, Christian scientists don't reject science, they reject select portions of Christianity.
@bostontola
Since they all do that, what is the difference? Schizoid interpretation of fairy tales is part of how all religions work.
Schizoid ? Do you even know what that means ?
@JWT
Yes. I would guess that you don't, since you have such a problem with the word being used correctly.
Being a schizoid I am quite well versed in the meaning of the term.
Boy, those disciples must have been real suckers. They were willing to die for something that didn't exist and wasn't real. It's fact that people were executed for believing and following Jesus, the Christ. For those who believe in Evolution without a Creator, I wonder if their conviction is strong enough that they would be willing to be crucified for it. Be still and know that He is God.
No, Scott. No one should believe in evolution in the way people are asked to believe that Jesus is alive and is God. That latter kind of belief is a disorder. As you touched on, the outcome is sometimes unfortunate.
"Boy, those disciples must have been real suckers. They were willing to die for something that didn't exist and wasn't real."
Which disciples? Oh, you mean the ones written about decades after the supposed events others claim happened? The illiterate fishermen? Really? They died? When did that occur? All of them died for their beliefs and none lived out a normal life span? Or are you saying they were just "willing" to die for it decades earlier when Christ supposedly was alive but somehow managed to stay alive in spite of putting their lives on the line?
Scott: Lots of people died in the Heaven's Gate fiasco. I guess that means the Marshall Applewhite was a prophet
Again, just saying it's rare for people to be willing to die for something they bellieve in when they have a choice not to.
Scott,
So what happened to the 9/11 attackers and all the suicide bombers who don't believe in God?
When you can prove there was a Jesus, who was crucified, who had all those disciples "willing to die" and use sources other than your bible for such proof, then we can have a conversation. In the meantime, how about we discuss all the people Christians slaughtered for NOT believing?
@Scott,
1) Evolution requires no faith nor belief, just facts.
2) People often die for things that don't exist, e.g. Branch Davidians, Heaven's Gate, People's Temple, etc. History is littered with them.
... but cone to think of it everyone dies for evolution.
The interesting fact that thinking people must deal with is that Peter vehemently denied even knowing Jesus during his trial and crucifixion. Then, after seeing the resurrected Jesus he was willing to die and did die for his faith in him. So timid fearful Peter, who had easy access to verify the reality of Jesus resurrection, concluded with his very life that Jesus lived.
"1) Evolution requires no faith nor belief, just facts. "
You're correct in saying that evolution doesn't require faith, but it does require belief. In acutality, it requires a lot of credulity. No one's ever observed humans descending from ape-like creatures. But some people believe it anyway.
What about facts? Well, it depends on how one defines "evolution." If you mean the adaption and variation within the same kind of animals, then, yes, that is fact confirmed by observational science. If by "evolution" you mean "common descent" then, no, that is not a fact. That is a belief based on one's interpretation of the evidence.
"If by "evolution" you mean "common descent" then, no, that is not a fact. That is a belief based on one's interpretation of the evidence."
No it's a fact based on numerous other facts. The simplest is common body plan. If each creature on Earth is, as you believe, a separately designed creation of your God, then why the same repeated body plan? 1 head, torso, 4 limbs, 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, 1 mouth etc, etc...over and over again and again? Does your God have no imagination whatsoever to create truly unique animal forms? This alone screams common descent and is exactly what we would expect to find if life was shaped by evolution. The same pattern with wide variations caused by adaptation to external forces.
If you are confidant in yore so called facts you would not feel the need to continue with adhominem attacks. Being a Christian does not require self crucifixation. Not that you are interested in facts. Thank you in advance for no longer promoting ignorance
Scott, those folks at Jonestown must have been spot on then. David Koresh must have really been the second coming and the heavens gate people must have joined up with the mothership after all.
Seriously, read the bible.
It makes so much more sense that God first created day and night, then created sky, then created plants before creating the Sun on day 4. The fact that he would wait until day 4 to make the sun demonstrates his raw power and logic. You can't argue with that.
God also created unicorns, talking animals and dragons according the Bible. Read it.
They are linked to day 2.. Day 2 is arguably the most important day in creationism. Read your bible.
Yes, read your bible. God created fields of grain and plants, etc. on day 3, and THEN the sun. God is retarded.
I am of course, referring to the firmaments or "pillars" that hold up the sky. Science found those pillars, and unicorn bones, but secular scientists are hiding the truth. Unicorns walked with man. We have the footsteps to prove it. If you read the bible, you wouldn't need proof.
ReadTheBible
"I am of course, referring to the firmaments or "pillars" that hold up the sky. Science found those pillars, and unicorn bones, but secular scientists are hiding the truth"
lol. lol. lol. A conspiracy theory. That's a riot. With a HUGE majority of this country being Christians, it's beyond ANY LOGIC that this conspiracy theory wouldn't be exposed.
Send FOX News your "FACTS". They will believe ANYTHING.
Seriously, read a book. Any book that deals with astronomy will do. Careful, though–you might actually learn something non-biblical.
@ReadTheBible,
Would that be the same real smart and powerful "God" who spoke to the ancient Israelites and personally told them:
– Unfaithful wives' thighs rot if you make them drink some magical water – Numbers 5
– Striped goats are bred by having the mating pair stare at striped objects – Genesis 30
- Leprosy is treated by dipping a live dove in a dead dove's blood and having it fly about; and by anointing the toe of the sufferer with the blood. - Leviticus 14
The "Lord" supposedly actually spake these things (and various other nonsense). Read it.
Lol, and these people actually believe this stuff. Amazing...
(Gen. 1:25-26) “God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
(Gen. 2:18-19) “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.”
Pick whichever sequence you like. Contradictions are everywhere in the Bible so there are plenty of options.
sarcasm
Yes. Finally... I was beginning to worry.
You're as terrible at portraying sarcasm as Colin. Do us all a favor and don't bother, k?
Really cool to see Christians getting slammed down at last. Too many centuries of their cr@p. Time to ditch the lot of it.
christians/muslim,, all the same. Both annoying.
It's not Christianity that is getting slammed, it's illogical thinking. I don't care what doctrine you are peddling, if you claim the earth is 10,000 years old or flat or some other nonsense you should be told in no uncertain terms how mind bogglingly wrong you are.
Jesus is the light!!! You should seek him. Those who find God find life!!!!
" Bill Nye the Science Guy slammed creationism, imploring parents not to teach it to their children. "We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future," he said. "We need engineers that can build stuff and solve problems."
Bill Nye is conflating operational science and historical science. Engineering is applied operational science. Engineering does not require the BELIEF that humans and apes have a common ancestor. I feel sorry for Bill Nye. I pray that he will one day understand the difference between operation science and historical science.
and you actually believe you make sense? Wow
maybe he's talking about the Ahmish...
Paul, oh great and wise one, that difference is irrelevant to Mr. Nye's point. He was saying that selective denial of science could compromise an engineer's application of science, and more fundamentally, steer future potential engineers to other lines of business. To be competi tive, we will need more scientists and engineers, not less.
Science is science. The laws of physics, geology, astronomy, chemistry, electro-magnetism, etc. apply all the time everywhere no matter what a bunch of ignorant fact-deniers claim.
He already knows the difference between science and delusion.
Historical science, I've never heard that term before, at least used in the sense you seem to mean. Science that is interested in events that occurred in the past, origins, that kind of thing? Something that might actually answer questions you believe you already have the answers to? Your competition, at least in your mind?
@Paul,
The distinction between operational and historical science is a false distinction made up by organizations like AIG, to further confuse the public into to thinking Bible is a science book.
"By definition, no apparent, perceived or claimed evidence in any field, including history and chronology, can be valid if it contradicts the scriptural record. Of primary importance is the fact that evidence is always subject to interpretation by fallible people who do not possess all information."
(http://www.answersingenesis.org/about/faith )
Keep holding on to that blue blanket and rocking gently, creationists. Too bad you're no more important to the universe than that snail I stepped on yesterday.
Well said.
As an atheist, I take better care of this earth than most christians I know who believe their god magically created this planet.
ever notice the religious right doesn't believe in global warming? Yet at the very least they should take care of not polluting their god given earth. Rather a two-faced group.
They are anti-abortion,, yet there are so many children in need of adoption, but the do nothing about that. Likely because the children are the wrong race.
Part of it is they think their god will provide a new place come the end of times – which can't be long now, right?
I'm religious and I believe in global warming. The Democratic party has left room for people of all beliefs at the table. I hope athiests such as yourself don't ruin that by incorrectly assuming their are only religious on one side.
Yeah, who ever heard of a religious group doing any kind of charity?
http://www.forbes.com/top-charities/
The top 3 kind of dampen my point...
1: United way founded by a priest, two ministers and a rabbi
2: The Salvation Army is a Christian denomination and international charitable organization
3: Catholic Charities USA needs no further explanation
I couldn't find any explicitly atheist ones but I'm sure there's TONS.
better not comment on catholic charities. funded by our tax dollar. Yep, an organization which money laundered in the us in the late 80's and most recently in Italy..
If there's no cash in it,, they shut it down
At least they do something useful with all that money that they scam out of the pockets of the gullible.
the religious right is pro-adoption... at least newborn white baby adoption...the rest aren't, well you know, "their responsibility..."
Why not just write CHRISTIANSARERACISTSCHRISTIANSARERACISTS if that is what you are going to communicate and spare us the oblique dressing up, it would be not less obvious.
whoever finds God finds life.
too funny.. Seems like the creationist are trying hard to convince themselves.
"IRS filings for the ministry in recent years have shown a yearly operating budget of more than $25 million."
Wow, I didn't realize there were such big $$$ to be made denying facts.
Do the "flat earthers" know about this? When is THEIR billboard going up?
Damn good money in the service of the lord. TAX CHURCHES !!!!!!!!!!!
"Taunted"??? I think not. Creationism would be laughable if it didn't have so many blind followers holding back true progress.
what do you mean by "would be"?
I'm not uncomfortable with a population of people with quaint ur-beliefs. They just shouldn't have a voice in what our goals are and in how resources are used.
Brilliant! They want us to believe life is too complex to just magically appear (even if it took hundreds of millions of years) but want us to believe God, a person so complex, he can create life, magically appeared in the Universe. Don't these silly people see the contradiction?
Love it! Absolute sureness like this is typical of small minds.
Atheist: I see no evidence of God or gods and thus I do not believe in it/them.
AIG: Thank God you're wrong.
Atheist: Which part is wrong? That I do not believe in them or that there is no evidence of them?
AIG: No, you are just wrong to not believe in my God.
Atheist: I would be happy to believe if there was some empirical evidence of your God.
AIG: Thank God you're wrong.
Atheist: So are you saying there is empirical evidence for your God?
AIG: God says you're wrong.
Atheist: Arrgh!!
You cannot argue with people who want to use faith instead of logic. Its pointless
They use the myth to explain the myth.
Of primary importance is the fact that evidence is always subject to interpretation by fallible people who do not possess all information."
yet somehow, those same fallible people claim certainty on their narrow version of a supernatural being. Wow.
meant to be a reply below.
Every time they make a revision of their understanding they assure themselves that this time they got it right...
Why it doesn't occur to them that those were the exact same words used the last time they updated their doctrine is what amazes me.
It is weird, almost all religious criticism of rational thought is more appropriate for faith based thought. They should check it on themselves.