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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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It could have been creation or evolution long, long ago; who really cares... There needs to be a billboard stating we were deposited in multiple spots on earth by aliens for, most likely, the purpose of basic/fundamental research and development. That would make the public less ignorant and they would better understand why the pictured billboards are stupid.
Given the geographical distribution of animals and plants today (unique species by continent and region), which makes sense?
1) All life was reset by god in the flood and the current segregated populations and races migrated in whole in 4000 years.
2) evolution.
Yes, as someone relatedly suggested ...
Stipulating the flood, why did all the kangaroos and platypuses travel all the way to Australia from the fertile cresent and not go anywhere else?
Why didn't elephants go to South America, but only Africa and India (and became somehow different along the way)
et cetera
Why are there no kangaroo remains found along the way?
Indeed.
"Stipulating the flood,why did all the kangaroos and platypuses travel all the way to Australia from the fertile cresent and not go anywhere else?"
First of all, you're assuming the kangaroos and platypuses traveled there. To answer your question, they became isolated there after the flood waters ran off.
But since evolutionists don't believe a global flood happened, they are the ones with the problem. How do evolutionists propose to solve the problem of getting monkeys from Africa to South America? Rafts. Apparently frogs rafted too. But this has never been observed so it's not scientific.
http://johnhawks.net/weblog/fossils/primate/new_world/frog_rafting_review_2007.html
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/19053178/
Paul
"First of all, you're assuming the kangaroos and platypuses traveled there. To answer your question, they became isolated there after the flood waters ran off."
Yep. After getting off the ark in the Middle East, the kangaroos hopped all the way to Australia, going without food since all the plants had died from the flood
Don't try to pretend there are any logical explanations for the Noah's ark science fiction story. Get serious and think about the nonsense you are trying to spread.
According to Genesis 1:20, the answer is evolution:
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
course, the bible "made it up" thousands of years before Darwin "discovered" it.
My only problem with this is that atheists, on average, have an IQ of 130. Creationists have an average IQ of 96.
And i've an IQ of 154 and believe in God, and think most atheists are as ridiculous as the creationists....and you are too stupid to even understand why
How very Christian of you.
That poster didn't say which god they believed in, or what religion they are a part of.
No s/he didn't.
It is nevertheless, still a remark typical of many so-called "Christians" don't you think?
you have an IQ of 154, that sounds very unlikely given that you'd be in the top .25%. You obviously just spewed out a random number and nothing about your comment even i
claims are easy to make, heredcn
That is a false propaganda. There is no causal relationship between IQ scores and belief in God.
IQ of 149. I believe in God. And science. Now all you atheists get off CNNs Belief Blog. Why you're posting here is beyond me.
So you don't believe in free speech? Anyway, here's a few reasons I visit:
– to keep on eye on the crazies that might want to turn democracies into theocracies
– to rebut the crap believers spew
– to show others they do not have to cave into societal pressures to believe believer crap
– to save just one person from religious cults
– for the sheer humour of seeing what believers believe
Hard to believe that a guy with a 149 IQ doesn't get that belief in what's provable is also a belief.
""" Why you're posting here is beyond me."""
Just give it a little thought and it'll come to you, Einstein.
Oh, and by the way, there is no such thing as a FORMER marine.
Thank god there is no god.
Imagine all the loonies running around talking to an imaginary friend.... oh wait.
With all this religion talk, if you changed one word you would think you were talking about Iran. The two nations are really so much more alike than anyone cares to believe.
There is no war with creationist because there's nothing to debate there is no god and religion is for control freaks that don't get that Atheist do not need adult supervision we can think for ourselves.
Stop whining there is no debate on something that doesn't exist. How inane.
If there's no debate then what are you ranting about?
I thought an atheist was someone who didn't believe in a God. Why would someone like that care what I believe in?
Your post contradicts itself and the fact of this discussion. The proof of a debate is demonstrated by all of the different postings. The only challenge is determining who is right and who is wrong. Seeking the truth takes a lot of work. Unfortunately, too many here only seek to merely respond.
Which "God", of thousands are they referring to? And just what is the evidence? Genesis evidence, LOL. If it's Nature, Atheism is in harmony with Nature. If it's the man made Jehovah, Zeus, or any of the others they should be embarrassed.
In that same vein .. to which atheists are they referring. After all, we are all atheists who don't believe in someone else's God(s).
Not necessarily, what if they are all figures of speech to describe the internal workings of man. Then you could believe in all of them at some level.
Not by their definitions of their Gods. They are very explicit about their Gods difference and that they are real, not figures of speech. If they were figures of speech, then yes, we are all the same ... but that is not their contention.
it is bernie, dodo. y keep nagging? agreed? point being. HUGE LAWSUIT
Atheism may or may not be in harmony with nature. Atheism is the lack of belief in a God. Not a belief in nature, love, harmony, peace, planetary alignments, science or even Nutella. It is a non-belief. Now, atheists may or may not believe in any of the above or none (personally I believe strongly in Nutella), but atheism itself is a lack of belief.
They are referring to the God who made man, not the god who man made.
Atheisim is a joke among all religions. (Supreme court classifies Atheisim as such). They ignore the first law of reason, that which is self evident. i.e. we live in Creation thus there is a Creator). They ignore the basic laws of science, such as all life comes from life, etc., stuff we all learned in the 8th grade. Their Theology is horrendous and they offer nothing that is true evidence using Science. Not to mention the Pope of Athiesim, Dawkins, is a self proclaimed anti religious bigot, who bases his entire philosophy on Darwanian evolution which was started by a racist. Atheisim is intellectual suicide.
If it's a science it's a science, if it's an "ism" it's a philosophy.
When did the SC call atheism a "religion"?
Atheism is a religion like abstinence is a $exual position.
Atheism is the lack of belief in a God. But certainly, some self-professed atheists seem to act as though their atheism is a religion. And a very evangelical one at that. These atheists seem to enjoy posting comments regarding their non-belief on a website called CNN's Belief Blog. Go figure.
Ok, we understand your positions on many subjects. Now all you have to do is back up your claims with even a wee bit of evidence. I suspect you will fail as spectacularly as those that have made similar claims.
Faith does not require evidence. In fact, the definition of faith requires no that there be no proof. Why do atheists keep wanting to attack religion? You would think they'd want nothing to do with it, but they come on CNN's Belief Blog trolling for a fight. Kind of like vegetarians always telling people to stop eating animals. You can be a vegetarian even if others are not. You can be an atheist even though others are believers. And you can be a creationist without picking fights with the radical atheists.
– to keep on eye on the crazies that might want to turn democracies into theocracies
– to rebut the crap believers spew
– to show others they do not have to cave into societal pressures to believe believer crap
– to save just one person from religious cults
– for the sheer humour of seeing what believers believe
rf,
Speaking of jokes, please tell us all about your beliefs in unicorns, talking non-humans, dragons and people turning into salf. Or don't you believe everything in the Bible (like atheists)?
Well they all exist as a thought, because you've mentioned them.
Doesn't your creator ever ask himself "who made me?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_regress
If God started everything than there was a point when there was nothing, except that one thing. If there was never nothing and there was always something then you have infinite regress, don't you? But if God is defined as being infinite then you have the same thing wouldn't you. Infinity?
So what is nothing? What is non-existence?
Are you asking if infinity has a consciousness or not, and if you were how would anyone ever prove if it does or does not?
Is my consciousness part of a larger consciousness?
Herself.
The infinite does not have to ask Himself anything because that goes against His all knowing nature. The questions that appear on this page are finite, limited thinkers who cannot answer infinite questions.
@rf you're too stupid to speak with so explain the science of your comic book that says that the world was created by Adam and Eve, given that means they came from a one branch tree which means they mated with each other.
Now ignore the incest but how do you explain how two people populated the world.
Umm, atheists don't have a 'theology'.
By definition.
I don't understand why people have to say that belief in God is for the unintelligent among us. To rule out the possibility of a God right off the bat seems a bit closed minded to me, and admitting that there is a God doesn't mean there is no need to study science, it simply gives a foundation to build on, rather than trying to continuously alter the theory of evolution so it will have a leg to stand on. The fact that everything works as intricately as it does should be a good clue that points to a creator. This is my personal belief and I think that we would all get a lot more done if everybody worked together, discussed their differences in belief, but then continued to work and discover. I feel like so much time and money is spent bashing the respective sides that could be used to explore.
Best post on here yet.
You have my vote , er: blessing
Arguments from incredulity are fallacies. Complexity is not the mark of a good designer.
Like when the earth seemed flat. It's seemed incredulous that the earth was round. Therefore, the roundness of the earth is a fallacy. Your second sentence made me upchuck a little.
Complexity is only a sign of .. well .. complexity. If they'd stop anthropomorphizing everything they don't or won't understand they'd be able to see the fallacies they speak for what they are .. their own wishful thinking.
"to rule out the possibility of FAIRIES right off the bat seems a bit closed minded to me". See how people with reason view your statement?
We can point to specific folklore where the idea of fairies began, which makes their actual existence less probable than the universal idea of a higher power that transcends bibles, korans, torahs, etc.....the idea of a greater reality is bigger and much more profound than fairies, so, yeah, it's different.
First tell me what God "is" then I'll tell you if there is or isn't one.
To most, God is the creator. To atheists, God is a myth. And who are you to tell if God is real or not?
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
I don't rule out the possibility of a god, but the time to start believing in anything is when the evidence supports it, not before.
Some gods, however, are too illogical to be taken seriously, and any all-knowing, all-powerful deity who is supposedly also all good would never allow evil to exist like the Christian god supposedly does, making him too illogical to believe even remotely possible.
But that's the sacrifice that the Lord asks of us, and he made it that simple. That's called faith – the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I have that evidence in my heart the day he Saved my soul. No preacher told me I was Saved, nor did I recite any silly phrase on a piece of paper. I was there and I know what happened. That's evidence that can't be seen, and laugh all you want but can't be taken away by anyone, even myself. I pray for those like you.
Probably because intellectuals see the impact of infinity on things. There isn't a possible way that one individual (IE: God) can be in control. Also intellectuals see the logic in complexity and understand that it can and will rise to more complicated designs naturally without needing an influence to tell it to do so. When someone can't see those facts and points of view then they are un-iintelligent and fall within a social brainwash of unbelievable things to explain what they don't understand.
I will believe WHEN I see something to believe in... which is not seeming likely.
I will continue to be Agnostic (look it up)
Amen.
If you "saw something" the way you're thinking of it (the face of God in the sky or an angel flying around), you will be waiting a long time. But if you did, you would effectively have no choice but to believe. That's kinda scary to think of (no free will).
I saw a airplane in the sky today which means I have to believe in it, but the lack of free will I apparently experience does not bother me. Why should it be any different if a person saw god? If you saw god at least you would know one way or the other. Free will doesn't really matter.
Not sure if I get you. If free will is unimportant or possibly non-existent to you, then you don't even need to worry about thinking about your thought processes/decisions. So, in effect, you shouldn't argue with people that believe in a higher power because it's already been decided for them.
Maybe I understand now, and I've thought about this before. Free will is important because it adds value to your life and decisions. If we just saw God and were effectively forced to believe, we would be forced to decide and act in accordance with how we perceived God would want us to decide/act out of fear. Actions lose value without a "choosing" so to speak. Definitely food for thought.
Even if you're agnostic, as long as you don't actually believe in a god, or gods, you are also an atheist.
I believe in possibilities.
WHAT AN IDIOT
So – God created one male and from that male a female. Now for us to be descendants of the original pair of humans means that their children would had to have practiced incest, as there were no other humans to mate with. The Bible is full of possible examples of incestuous relationship and of specific prohibitions of incest. There seems to be a great deal of contradiction on this and other topics explored by the Bible so it leaves a huge gap in credibility to be filled by blind faith. My spirituality as a human is my truth and it hasn't failed me yet. I don't need Hollywood style anguishing over "how can God let this happen". It's people that make good and bad things happen, and religion is merely a distraction to reality.
Some people still marry their cousins and no, it is not considered incest.
You realize that even the Pope will tell you everything in the Bible isn't to be taken literally, correct? Some Pennsyltucky preachers may say otherwise, but you need to stop lumping believers into one set of beliefs. It's a diverse group.
The consequences of religion are far more abysmal than a "distraction" . That's like calling small pox a virus.... and hopefully religion like small pox will one day be eradicated .....the vaccine is called common sense
There was no prohibition of incest in the beginning. It was only after eating of the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil that sin was prohibited.
"Genesis Evidence"....lmaorotf
LOLLOLLOL!
Look, if you believe in God, good for you. But keep that belief to yourself, ya? We don't care. Persoanlly, I am of the belief that the concept of god was born when our primative forefathers looke dup to the nighttime sky and becamse fearful of the dark... therefore the moon was an evil goddess that chased the true god, the sun, away. Then, as we starte to think somehwa tmore rationally, we began to give names to the gods – for eveything had a god... music, wine, food. flowers, waether.... we fear death so we created the concept of an afterlife. We want those who we deme good to be rewarded and those whom we see as bad be punished. Ergo, we created the concept of heaven and hell.
We finally whittled that down to one all-powerful God.... taking the snippets we liked from other religious beliefs nad wrappig it into a new and shiny statue... but no matter how you descrinbe it, God is an excuse, nothing more. When something good happens we thank God! When something bad happens we blame God. When someone does something horrible we say the Devil made them do it.... anything to keep from taking any responsbility for our own acitons whastoever.
Look, I am not saying there's NOTHING out there. But it sure as anything isn't some all powerful dude sitting on a cloud. We are God. We are satan. We carry both light and darknes sin us and we – only we – are responsible for what we do and accomplish.
Please keep your opinions to yourself.
Hey....remember freedom of speech?
I was being ironical Gerry.
Personally u r dodo, agreed, so, point being, your stench precedes u
"Thank god, you're wrong" Really? That's the best they could come up with? Where are all the facts and evidence to support that claim? Oh wait, they don't have any.
They have a book! And if that's all the proof that's needed, then i am certina Harry Potter will fly out of Narina with the Wizard of Oz to defeat Voldemort in Mordoor soon...
I'd have the same reaction to this as I would reading a sign that said "Don't believe the hype, the world is flat." when it's coming from people who think the planet is only 10,000 years old.
HA HA HA Still a load of BS.
The problem with my fellow "Christian" brothers today is that they do not think about what they do. The Bible says to turn the other cheek, and they fire back at American Atheist's billboard with this. Also, the Bible says to love one another. Christians are supposed to take people in and help them, not fuel pointless arguments. Christians think atheists are just devils I guess and atheists think Christians are crazy idiots. It's like Congress. Both sides are arguing and not getting anything done. Stop the hate and live in peace people!
Can't and won't argue with that!
I find unfounded belief with reinforcement mechanisms really interesting, Brandon. No hate from this direction.
Reason and faith are like oil and water.
More like apples and oranges.
Oil and water.
Exactly, oil and water. One sits on top of the other, they do not mix. One merely compliments the other.
Faith is greater than reason.
However, between faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love.
You said well to live in peace. However, we should strive to live in peace, and love one another.
There is much reason in us humans being designed, and having a spirit.
25, 30 years ago. When I would talk to christians, the congregational sitting in the pews every Sunday folk. Talk with the ministers, deacons, priests and elders about Genesis and the 6 days. They would ALL say, "God is God and doesn't hold to our time limitations. To God, 24 hrs can be a million years or more." They never talked about 6000 years. When and why did they change there minds. I blame the good people of Kansas.
One day atheists will dump the notion that a higher power that created the universe is equivalent with a guy in a white beard that sits in the sky judging us. There are plenty of believers that see a higher power is sublime and probable. Neither non-belief or belief in a higher power are insane. Therefore, can we please stop bashing the other's intelligence?
In my personal experience, the white guy with a beard living somewhere in the clouds comes directly from christian childhood indoctrination centers aka Sunday School, therefore it is believers who need to replace that image with a more correct one. All they have to do is remove the bearded fellow to arrive at a more correct representation.
I did not even suggest replacing the bearded dude with an unbearded one. But that would be equally weird.
I think a good 1880s hipster mustache would be good. Yeah, the white beard notion came from people trying to put a face on God, which is probably a mistake.
But my point is that atheists love to lump believers into one category as to how we perceive or imagine a higher power (because it's easier to categorize/stereotype people) and the white beard thing is kinda funny/outdated easy to make fun of.
Don't know. Possibly beyond our current understanding.
The key is for all humans: happiness. It's not intellectually dishonest to believe in a higher power, because there is a real possibility that one exists. Many believe in a God because it provides them happiness. Therefore, why anyone would bash someone's honest belief in God as ludicrous/childish is both logically incorrect and rude (interfering with one's happiness).
It appears there is a power greater than myself at play in the universe. Yes.
Because it makes some people happy. Happiness is more important than productivity (as we are not robots). Even if you want to look at it that way, happy people are likely more productive people.
If humans are created in god's image as Christians like to claim then he has to look like a human. Perhaps he is a well toned, muscular guy with no beard?
Where are all the missing links? The stages of evolution such as from a bird without wings to a bird with wings? Where is the bird with a small stub of a wing? Or a half-developed wing? They don’t exist. This is true for every species and sub-species. The absence of these life forms puts the entire theory into severe question. So how can the ideas be accurate? They can’t. This isn’t an argument for Creationism. But let’s be honest. There is no scientific proof for either. In the end it’s a matter of personal belief and opinion. In the end the Darwinist or materialist believes and states that the evidence of the missing links will eventually be found. Their total acceptance and belief in the theory makes that a logical necessity. Their unwavering belief in the theory of evolution is not demonstrable.
Here. A page with a great variety of transitional forms.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional.html
Enjoy.
I'll have to look at it. It's ironic that no" intermediate" animal exists today. I've seen scientists build an entire skeleton based on one tooth and one arm bone. Many scientists stretch it here
Every life form is a transitional form. Yes, including modern humans.
Look at this fiber glass model I made. See the evidence?
Who's used a fiber glass model as evidence?
Ever hear of the dodo bird? Ostrich? ect. etc.
Ostrich uses its wings for balance. Science!
Surely you realize that birds come from dinosaurs and that all of the 'missing link' fossils you insist don't exist, do?
Why do some snakes have a pelvis?
Did the "intelligent designer" make an oopsie?
Look up the troodon.
Really, you're going to reference the word Phdodo, the language of Jar Jar Binks to make you'r point....really?
Ignorance of evolution and transitional species does not make you correct. That's the equivalent of sticking your head in the sand and vehemently claiming there are no stars.
The problem with Christians these days is they say they are Christians but know nothing about the Bible sad really a Jewish rabbi can kick there butts with there knowledge.