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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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Will praying protect me from cancer, gun violence, premature death, natural disaster, heart disease, protection of my family from bad people, no. Should I take help from science when I am sick? Should I call a doctor or a priest when I am having a heart attack? So, what will God do for me?
Maybe he'll test your faith by making you homeless and giving you a bunch of diseases. See the Book of Job to see how it might come out.
chill
Taunt me? LOL! Nothing of the sort...if these Xtian billboards conjure any feelings its ones closer to pity.
Its Xtians who seem most prone to emotional feelings of being taunted and picked-on. For some reason, most of them lack real strength in their Faith that they are always seeking a means to attack others when challenged. American Xtians are the "Evolutionary" dead-end of Xtianity. They have backed themselves into a dead-end alley because they cant adapt to reality. They lack the skills to make any sort of pragmatic adjustments to their Religion and bolster it with reality. To many still rely on centuries old cliches to defend themselves.
Nah, Xtians cant taunt Atheists, but we atheists sure seem to be able to get under their thin skins.
Hey, if creationists want to publicly embarrass themselves, they can go right ahead! No intelligent person would even care about this idiotic sign. They obviously don't understand evolution and don't care to learn.
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." Bertrand Russell
They refuse to look at the real world.
They refuse to look at the evidence we have, and they offer none," Silverman said.
Here is what you are asking for, Mr. Silverman!
http://www.holy-19-harvest.com
UNIVERSAL MAGNIFICENT MIRACLES
This guy post the same thing many times.
SPAM!
Isn't is funny that the word atheist contains the word Theist in it. While they try so much to claim there is no God, they are always referring to God. Since they claim to be so smart, why haven't they found a new word to explain who they are without saying the Word 'God'?
Food for thought. If anyone misses heaven, the person cannot miss hell. Believe and be saved.
how about "imaginary invisible friend in the sky"
oh too long.
I just used god, with a small "g".
Good grief, you're really reaching with that one. Are you joking or are you just completely unaware of how words work?
Let's see: if we don't accept God before we die, he will condemn us to eternal horrible torture in Hell. But he loves us.
That is a load of garbage. How can someone who loves us subject us to torture if we don't love him back?
The God who you believe created you was pretty stingy with IQ numbers because he stuck you with 39. Do you know how to tie your shoes?
Price Jay,
The prefix "a-" means "not" or "without". Such as anemic meaning lacking vitality, or apart meaning not a part of, or asymmetric meaning not symmetrical. So.. stay with me here, I know its tough... atheist means without god.
Using an ignorant argument to "prove" your ignorant point is rather redundant, don't you think?
OMG, you can't spell apolitical without political! That totally means anybody claiming to apolitical is actually huge into politics. Errrrr, not.
It is convenient to not believe in God. You can do whatever immoral acts you want to and all you have to worry about is the legal system and since not everything that is immoral is illegal you can get away with quite a bit without fear of punishment when you die. You are free to believe what you wish, God has given you that right. He could very easily force you to believe in him or destroy you for not believing, he does not. God wants you to believe because you have faith not because you have proof. Rest assured however, that when you die the fact that you believed in nothing will not save you from punishment. If you deny God he will deny you. Oh, and by the way if it were not for America, which is and always has been a Christian nation, the world would not be as advanced as it is. And there is that whole saving the world twice from tyrants.
Thank you dear. One of the contributors said ' "We need engineers that can build stuff and solve problems."". I just wonder which world the person is in. Do I have to name all the inventions by Jewish people, Christians and Arabs? Those people groups are predominantly Theists.
I don't know how believing in God makes one less an Engineer nor a problem solver. I know many born again Christians with great inventions to their names. The American president and indeed all American president of recent history are Christians. So, I really wonder who the contributor had in mind while uttering those words. If there are persons who are Theists that they know that made them have such thoughts, they need to look at the full list.
God is love. He loves all alike. Those who believe and those who do not believe. All I can say to the atheists is "Repent and believe the gospel."
Isn't is funny that the word atheist contains the word Theist in it. While they try so much to claim there is no God, they are always referring to God. Since they claim to be so smart, why haven't they found a new word to explain who they are without saying the Word 'God'?
Food for thought. If anyone misses heaven, the person cannot miss hell. Believe and be saved.
uh so the part about destroying you for not believing, wasn't that part of the Spanish Inquisition? You have your belief in unknowable things and it is wrong to force those beliefs on others who don't share your faith.
Those are all lies. See you in hell.
Are you repeating the lies your pastor told you about atheists or did you make up these lies about atheists all by yourself?
Actually, it is far more convenient to believe in a god than to disbelieve. You can hardly go wrong by believing, since you can only ever know if you were right and can never know if you were wrong. So go ahead and make the safe bet.
What's more, it is only true believers who never have to worry about the morality or consequences of their actions - because they can always get forgiveness from their god.
Uhhhh, you don't have to believe in god to have a moral compass. A truly compassionate person does good deeds to help others, not to please some guy that will punish you if you don't. Another atheist myth bites the dust.
The fool has said in his heart there is no God. Where did the energy come from to cause a big bang? If I'm wrong I lose nothing but if you're wrong just think about what is going to happen to you. I know God is real, and no one can ever convince me that we came from under a rock.
Thank you Yarah. The other day we prayed for a little boy who couldn't hear or speak. Our prayer was in the name of Jesus. He both heard and spoke. My friend Daniel prayed for a 9-year old boy who couldn't work, he rose and started working. We prayed for someone who lost sight in one eye, we prayed for him in the name of Jesus and he started seeing with both eyes. We prayed for a woman who had tumors, and the tumor disappeared. Our prayers were in the name of Jesus. It doesn't matter what they try to claim. Jesus is so real. And to some extent, they know it.
I was speaking with a 'free thinker'. I gave him verifiable testimonies and he exclaimed 'If you experienced it, you can hardly deny it'. He was right. These people need to experience what we are talking about. Bible says 'Taste and see that the Lord is good...' – Psalm 34:8
If any of these things really happened they would be on the news. They wouldn't be mentioned casually as "the other day..." and one of thousands of blog posts. You are a liar. See you in hell.
Prayer is a placebo medicine and nothing more. It's been studied, tested and confirmed. They did a study with sick patients to see if recovery time improved when prayed for, and the results came in that it DID have an effect, but ONLY for folks that KNEW they were being prayed for. It's really a hopeful motivational thing. Positive thinking always helps.
*Thank you Yarah. The other day we prayed for a little boy who couldn't hear or speak. Our prayer was in the name of Jesus. He both heard and spoke. My friend Daniel prayed for a 9-year old boy who couldn't walk, he rose and started walking. We prayed for someone else who lost sight in one eye, we prayed for him in the name of Jesus and he started seeing with both eyes. We prayed for a woman who had tumors, and the tumor disappeared. Our prayers were in the name of Jesus. It doesn't matter what they try to claim. Jesus is so real. And to some extent, they know it.
I was speaking with a 'free thinker'. I gave him verifiable testimonies and he exclaimed 'If you experienced it, you can hardly deny it!'. He was right. These people need to experience what we are talking about. Bible says 'Taste and see that the Lord is good...' – Psalm 34:8
You are a liar.
Uh, so basically you just keep pasting this same BS response to everything? Where's the physical evidence? Proof or it didn't happen. I'd LOVE to see proof that a boy regained sight and hearing just from prayer. LOL.
They're called MIRACLES chief...and they happen EVERY day.
R E P E N T!
Jesus STILL loves you....you crazy bobo athiesits!
GO REDSKINS beat vikings!
So how do you explain Tebow's ultimate failure in the NFL? The guy was as Christian as it gets and surely god would want a spokeman from a crazy media market like that. God either doesn't care what we do, he never existed, or he left earth a long time ago in his space ship.
Where are you going to be if Zeus is the head god and you have been praying to Yahweh?
So in other words, you only believe it because you're afraid you might be wrong. No offense, but any compassionate creator that refuses to even make his presence known or explain to the world which religion to follow, and then judges folks by sending them to eternal torture for guessing wrong is not any god I'd like to be associated with. We're taught that things like slavery, genocide, and murder are wrong, yet this god character made his name doing exactly that. Most illogical captain.
Where do atheists get buried? Maybe they are cremated and the Voodoo stick people dance around a bonfire while wearing masks, chanting and shoving leafs down the front of their pants?
Humans have an uncanny need to feel special. The whole funeral ritual preserving dead bodies is honestly morbid and disgusting. We came from nature, when we die we should return, not sit in a wooden box preserved by chemicals for decades. I never understood the purpose of that. I'd rather be cremated then preserved after death. It makes no sense at all.
What? A Smoking BIBLICAL gun? Uh Oh Mr. & Mrs infidel you may want to RE-think your etrenal life thesis:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/09/17/newser-archeologists-bible/2828549/
Interesting. So that must mean that since Jurassic Park refers to a city that really exists it must be 100% true!
While 46% of Americans believe in creationism, the rest of the developed world is focused on science as they build modern societies and economies. America the stupid will be left behind.
I'm afraid you are right. It's truly pathetic and makes me sad to know such things as creation museums exist in America.
Look on the bright side-we don't stone or lash people before our football games.
Always look on the bright side of life 😉
But the creation museum is losing money and can not compete with the science museums in the country.
Minnesota Science Museum is known around the world and is committed to teaching of EVOLUTION.!
And Texas publishers said NO creationism for new text books.
Left behind??? Sounds like the rapture.!!!
Bbbbbbwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha
Left's behind??? Sounds like the socies with the educratism from the Frankfurt School!!!!
Bbbbbbwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaha
The ruptured bruised banana is lol?? ?
I don't buy those stats. Gallop polls never poll enough people to be considered to represent the public's viewpoint. It's silly. As far as literal biblical creationism goes, it's more like 30% (the religious right / fundamentalist evangelicals) that still cling to literal ancient translations. America won't be left behind, just the unintelligent religious folks in the south that denounce science and spread lies.
Whatever. You talk to invisible people. Explain that one.
Invisible people are the best kind.
It's hilarious. Normally folks stop talking to imaginary friends when they hit 6-7 years old. If you are older than that and still have imaginary friends, they call it mental illness... Unless of course it's god. LOL.
Quit picking on my visible friend, dood.
These hostile, outspoken, contentious trolls of both camps cast a bad name on those who share those beliefs but who don't insist that everyone else believe them.
Yes, Seth I agree. But if it makes you feel any better there are also plenty of hostile, outspoken, contentious trolls, like myself who frequent here who belong to neither group.
gotta go, thanks for the fun, it's been a while.
Remember, extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof. Don't let the supersti tion mongers off the hook, demand the proof!
ECREE??? Really??? LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's a joke;
What kind of god chooses a people and them allows them to be enslaved?
What kind of god can't just magically un- enslave his "chosen people"?
What kind of god makes EVERYONE, but only chooses a few, condemning the rest to eternal torture?
Answer: There is no god, just a bunch of sociopathic priests lookin after the almighty dollar/shekel/drachma that they get from keeping people in fear and ignorance.
Ok, it's not a joke, or at least it's not funny. Free your mind, Yoozyerbrain, don't teach supersti tion as fact to children. How hard is that?
Here's a question... if you are right... in 100 years, who will care that you made a correct statement on this day? If someone walks over your grave, why would they care one whit about anything you did in this life? So, why bother doing anything if it doesn't matter?
Because I'm here for a good time, not a long time . . .
Ridiculous assumption from the supposition. Look what we have learned from atheists (as well as theists) that made a difference before us. What we value from such people often has nothing to do with their beliefs or lack thereof. This is important to note when neither theists nor atheists can actually prove their suspi-cions. For us humans, regardless of the cause or purpose, if any, of our creation, things will always matter.
The absolute most dumbest and most stupidest thing any atheist can ever say is, "There is no god". Why? Because they haven't a shred of evidence to back it up. Therefore, they haven't a clue what they're talking about. Even worse, they're too stupid to even admit the truth that "they don't know" whether god exists or not. But then again, no one ever said that atheists were that bright…
Hey @Opposing View. Your point is not valid, let me explain why. Evidence isn't provided to demonstrate the lack of something, it is provided to show positive proof of something. So when you say that atheists "haven't a shred of evidence to back it up," you're quite right, but not for the reasons you imagine. Atheists, by the way, DO NOT assert that "there is no god." Rather, we reject the claim "there is a god" due to lack of evidence demonstrating the existence of said god. There is a subtle but very important difference between rejecting a claim based on lack of evidence and asserting something. Do you understand now?
The burden of proof is on you. You're the one asserting the claim that there is/are god/gods.
Says who? I mean really. I agree with Opposing view "I don't know"...how do I prove I don't know?
Ah yes,discernment, the claimed ability (in Christian contexts) to have a perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding. This makes one better than non-Christians and better than Christians that don't discern as well. That is anyone the discerner disagrees with.
I don't understand why there is such strife between religion and science, or why any reasonable person should care about another person's beliefs. Believe what you will, those with faith will have faith, those without will go without and angry comments only make each side look more and more petty. What struck me about this article is the fact that so much money is being spent on billboards that will never accomplish anything at all. Christians should put money into missions, where they believe it will do the most good. Atheists, invest more in science and new technologies, who knows what wonders a struggling scientist might be able to bring to light if they have an extra grant. I am a scientist, but I realize the damage technology has done. I have faith, though I see the errors in past Christian actions. We do not need to argue, this world must move along to greater things.
For someone pursuing science you seem to be ignorant of history and the history of religions, and evolutionary ethics and religions in general. You could start with the holocaust-you know the murdering of millions of Jews, including babies and children, because of their religious faith. Hitler did this to clean up the world by eliminating a bloodline and heritage of the people he believed killed Jesus. Back to the beginning, religion gave groups of people cohesiveness which aided in their survival and helped them be led into wars against those outside their group. It gave them instructions on what to do with the remaining population of their opponents: take all of the possessions you desire, burn the rest, kill everyone still alive-except those girls who had not “know” a man-they may be useful as slaves, concubines, or wives. Check out the Bible, you will find it quite bloody and very instructional on the treatment of others, including when punishments were due for beating your slave too badly. For the world to move on we must love, help and respect people of all colors and religions. We cannot allow hateful stereotypes, started and maintained by religions, to cloud our judgments. Religions for the most part pull people away from rationality, sustain group cohesion, and promote self-interest. Look at how the three sects of Islam have and continue to make bloody histories, or how the Christian world and Islamic world do the same.
Evidence repeated for The Truth:
The bible factual errors in the creation myth, the period morals in bible (slavery, punish descendants for parents crime, etc) are strong evidence for the fallacy of Christianity. Every other religion has similar flaws in their scripture.
There have been hundreds of religions and thousands of gods worshiped in history. The dogma associated with all but 1 sect must be wrong. That is overwhelming evidence, don't you think? No proof, but a lot of evidence. As science compiles more knowledge, the more the universe is explained with no need for a supernatural element. Again, not proof, but a lot of evidence.
Sorry, meant as reply.
Every nation were given a prophet or messenger to guide them to correct the inhuman things that they used to do but very few of the people listened to their guide. And these message and messengers were sent to their own community so that the evil minded people correct themselves but unfortunately most of the human did not listen to their prophet.
A religious book should not have something which will put human as a slave… but the message has always been as there is no difference between human except the one who has more fear of The Lord Almighty.
When you see any inhuman things mentioned in the book, that book can not be from The Creator but from the elite group of the society…
One might want a proof to see or touch or taste it, I can't and actually no one cant bring back the second just got passed... you just have to use your intellectual...
Peace!!!
mzh,
"When you see any inhuman things mentioned in the book, that book can not be from The Creator but from the elite group of the society…"
Well, that puts your book out of the running then... lots of killing and cutting off of hands & feet and beatings going on in there. Plus, Allah is just a spin-off of the quite nasty Hebrew OT god, from their fantasy book.
its blocking me to upload and i have no idea what are the key words that it is filtering and not allowing me to upload... i even tried uploading in part by part...
well, i was trying to say you need to know how the quran was being revealed in order to say what you said...
also laws are there not to punish the citizen but to prevent the crimes...
who of us can say that i do not break a single law? ppl breaks the speed limit laws while they drive... so should i say to cop not to give me a ticket???
fyi... it took 23 years to reveal the entire quran and you can learn little by little what was it that took 23 years... where Paul wrote a letter to some and it became of the bible and many more...
But why do Muslims kiil so many innocent people?
mzh,
There is a word in English – "rationalize". It means : to think about or describe something (such as bad behavior) in a way that explains it and makes it seem proper, more attractive, etc.
You are rationalizing about the words and intent of your book. There is not a single shred of evidence that your book was divinely inspired (or that a divine being even exists) - and the same goes for any others who claim that.
Please don't bother with the "Oooooh, how did the "prophet" know thus and such scientific info many years before it became known to all..." These "Oooooohs" have been debunked many times over.
What a waste of energy, shut up and let people get on with finding their own.
Why did you waste energy making your comment? Hypocrisy perhaps?
The Truth: "They don't have any evidence for their atheism, ...and they can't logically prove there is no God. "
LOL – I am an atheist. OK that should be good enough evidence of atheism.
The Truth: "and they can't logically prove there is no God. ."
LOL – most atheist don't try to prove anything. Do they argue the crazy claims made by theists which lack evidence? Of course.
Seeing how you messed up so badly in describing atheists, I suggest you learn more about them before attempting any logic.
As someone else once wrote here, proofs are for mathematicians. Of course it's true that both theists and atheists alike ask each other for proof, but you rarely see anyone attempting it successfully here.
Well said, scientists don't endeavor to prove things either, they describe what is and test those descriptions. If they match then they are used until something better comes along.
Science looks at natural phenomena through measuring, weighing, seeing, etc. God, by definition, is not limited to the universe. Therefore, it would not be expected that physical detection of God would be found.
Truth,
I'm not looking for that. If a god can affect humans, it can make objective evidence apparent.
Quoting The Truth
"Science looks at natural phenomena through measuring, weighing, seeing, etc. God, by definition, is not limited to the universe. Therefore, it would not be expected that physical detection of God would be found."
If evidence of the supernatural cannot be found in nature then why would it be rational to assume that the supernatural exists at all?
The supernatural cannot be cited as a cause or having any effect on nature that can be measured. The supernatural lies beyond use in the theories of understanding nature. Theory must predict outcomes that can be measured. How is the Supernatural useful and why bother believing the supernatural exists if the belief has no practical value or relevance in understanding reality?
If God exists and leaves traces of its existence and interactions in our world, what form would they take (scatology aside)?