American Atheists To Display Anti-Mormon Ads During Florida Presidential Debate

[ButterflyBlood]

Source: Huffington Post

From interfaith efforts in support of Islam to "I am Mormon" billboards, it's become common for religious organizations to buy public ads to promote their faiths and causes. But a national atheist organization is taking it a step further, using Monday's presidential debate at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., to launch a week-long attack on the faith of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

The mobile billboard ad, which will be propped up on a truck that will circle the university during the debate, is sponsored by American Atheists, the nation's oldest atheist organization. "Shame on Mormonism," the ad says. "No blacks allowed (Until 1978). No gays allowed."

The sign references the church's former ban on black members in the lay priesthood, its policy that gay members should remain celibate and its high-profile promotion and funding of anti-same sex marriage efforts.

Dave Silverman, the president of American Atheists, said he plans for the $8,000 ad effort to make stops at Romney-related events over the next week as the campaign reaches its final stretch before the Nov. 6 election.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/22/american-atheists-mormon-mitt-romney-florida-debate_n_2001078.html

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I am not an atheist, but I do applaud American Atheists on this one. I'd love a T-shirt version of this, would probably wear it to church.

[RebelOne]

1. I am an atheist and I definitely applaud American Atheists. n/t

[mike_c]

2. +1

eom

[jkrichter]

3. ugh.. I don't agree with Mormonism, however I don't think we should bash

others religious beliefs. I think as Democrats we should welcome and respect people of all faiths.

[Liberalagogo]

7. Since when is

pointing out the truth, "bashing"?

[jkrichter]

11. Okay.. I guess I think that spending money to publicize differences in Religious beliefs is

kind of like bashing.. Ads that make someone else's religion appear strange or cultish for political gain... It seems immoral.. BUT HEy if it wins us this election.. why not? haha. The history of Mormons being anti-gay and anti-black is wrong, and I think the American people must be informed!!

[defacto7]

37. But the fact is

it is strange, cultist, anti-gay and have just recently decided to allow blacks, although they have not changed their belief that blacks are cursed by Elohim with black skin.

Take all the politics out of it.. these are still the facts and I don't trust anyone who wears magic underwear and whose church's founder got his vision looking into a magic hat with magic glasses to be the POTUS. I live SLC, aka Mormon purgatory.

It's not really about politics. It's about having the faculties to be the president.

[Liberalagogo]

45. Bashing is criticizing or falsing smearing something or someone.

All this is, is telling the truth.

The RW inserted religion into politics, now they're going to pay the price.

[IndyJones]

36. Okay, but ask yourself if you'd be behind protesting Harry Reid for the same thing.

Since he is Mormon.

[crim son]

43. Precisely.

Organized religion has its evils but protesting Romney's particular brand of Jesus strikes me as a bad idea.

[Liberalagogo]

44. I'd say EXACTLY the same thing.

Are you aware your belief system is a bigoted organization?

No problem with that. No attack, no bashing, just pointing out THE TRUTH.

[4saken]

14. There's a difference between respecting an individual, and respecting the content of a belief.

Just like the flat earth society and geocentrism, I respect their right to believe it, and (at least initially) the individual. But I don't hold the propositions implied by those beliefs in high regard whatsoever. I think this guy make some good points on the topic.

People shouldn't be held back from pointing out absurdities, purely due to social stigmas. That contrived expectation of religious beliefs being untouchable and sacred drastically reduces our ability for self-correction.

And the term "bash" implies an unprovoked attack. No Christian of any sizable sect can claim that their religion has not provoked, an example regarding billboards.

The message on this atheist billboard reminds me of this video(watch until the end).

[JNelson6563]

46. Awesome video!

Just as I was all set to really hate that guy arguing "against" gay rights....

Nice surprise ending there!

Julie

[BigDemVoter]

20. I don't.

They don't respect me as a human being, because I'm gay. They demonize me and my community, so FUCK THEM. I don't give a good goddamn if they call themselves a religion or not. They are stupid, deluded, and intolerant. I have NO tolerance for those who wish to do harm to me and those I love.

This shit that we should respect their religion is just a bunch of feel-good malarkey. They can take their temple and burn it down. Treating them with kid gloves because we don't want to insult their religion is allowing them to get away with their racist, homophobic and sexist agenda.

[LeftyMom]

4. A major party candidate is a member of a racist, homophobic and sexist hate group.

It's about damned time somebody mentioned it.

[humblebum]

5. American Atheists are certainly not helping their own image lately. nt

[nichomachus]

12. Yeah, beause "mainstrem" religious groups

Are doing such a splendid job. Fred Phelps, the most famous Christian. Pedophile enabling Catholics. Splendid examples of religion.

[loli phabay]

17. when did fred phelps become the most famous christian, was their a competition or something

[Proletariatprincess]

13. Atheists aren't recruiting...

we just want some critical thinking. Image dosen't enter into it. We don't care if you join us or not.

[humblebum]

18. Oh, it definitely inspires critical thought in many. nt

[nolabels]

25. I think the posters idea was about critical thought about policy as it relates to reality

Not sure if you missed that part

[humblebum]

28. Perhaps I should have used the sarcasm icon. nt

[Union Scribe]

6. That's just going to rally otherwise hesitant evangelicals to his defense.

Not smart.

[mountain grammy]

8. I'm not sure about that..

most evangelicals I know, my husband's family, really distrust Mormons.. but also athiests. A catch 22.

[4th law of robotics]

9. I expect they will riot and murder some diplomats

just you wait.

Free speech does NOT cover mocking religion.

[loli phabay]

16. for the win, i wonder if people will see the parallels

[Kingofalldems]

21. Clever

[fujiyama]

41. Good one!

[Proletariatprincess]

10. We really need more of this...

religion has much too much influence on society. Athiests need to be more vocal and more visable. People need to do more critical thinking and be less accepting of the supernatural. Thank you, Atheists! I am proud to be one of you.

[defacto7]

38. + 1000

and thank you for thanking us Atheists! And Atheists thank you too.

[Barbara2423]

15. At least the atheist are taking it to Them.

Maybe the atheist are the ones to show the world what a fake Romney is. It's about time someone got in their face.

[BigDemVoter]

19. I AM an atheist, and I'm delighted to see us fight back.

Atheists are so often demonized, and it's about goddamn time somebody calls a spade a spade. The mormon religion (really only a cult) has victimized and degraded blacks, gays, women; you name it. And we're supposed to coo over them and respect their religion when they don't respect anybody else? I'm sorry, but magic underwear and polygamy just don't do it for me.

[24601]

22. Interesting irony for an Atheist to call on God to Damn anything. The whole concept of

damning presupposes the damned and un-damned. Shouldn't that be irrelevant in an Atheist context. One might infer that you have Deity-envy.

Methinks you are less than candid when you slam only the Mormons (which I'm not). If you want to score cheap political points, just say so. It's a political forum - nobody will condemn you for it.

I'll also counter that atheism has been the biggest murdering cult when you consider body counts of the USSR (61M), China (35M) & North Korea (1.6M). But who can worry about mega-murders when we have the gathering underpants threat creeping up on us?

Data Source: http://www.fff.org/freedom/1094f.asp

[BigDemVoter]

23. Figure of speech!

Just like when Jews invoke "Jesus Christ!" as an exclamation.

[0rganism]

31. really? you want to go there?

First, atheism is no way a cult:
[link:dictionary.reference.com/browse/cult?s=t]cult[/link]   
noun
1. a particular system of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, especially as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.
3. the object of such devotion.
4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.
5. Sociology . a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.

Good luck fitting atheism into that definition. Anywhere.

Secondly, it's an outright fallacy to claim the defining characteristic of the USSR, China, and NK that led to their holocausts was atheism. But since we're doing that, let's get started on atrocities committed by "Christian" nations. Which century shall we start with? How about the 16th century? 200000 devout Christian Spaniards moved to the Americas following in the footsteps of Cortez, Pizarro, de Soto, et al, and exterminated around 60 million former inhabitants along the way. And that's without the benefit of "modern" technology - no machine guns or Zyklon-B needed!

Do you really want to go forward with a Christian tally for the 20th century?

[defacto7]

39. yes, I can do without the magic underwear...

polygamy.... oh never mind.

[SpartanDem]

24. What's to be gained by being assholes?

Would it be ok to place an attack ad for a Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, etc candidate based on the tenets of their religion or lack thereof? That doesn't seem very progressive to me.

[24601]

26. You're right, it's not progressive/tolerant. It's 100% political. If Obama was Mormon and Romney

a Scientologist, it would have been a rant against Hubbard.

[nolabels]

27. There are ******** in every kind of group

It would be odd if us non-religious people were any different. The best and most interesting thing about being non-religious is having all that extra free time and wondering why others would spend so much time trying to belong to one of those things.

[MADem]

34. If Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, etc., discriminated against blacks and gays within the lifetime of

the candidates, and the candidates, as adults, went along with that shit with a cheery hi-ho, I'd say sure, go for it. I'm not talking about "moral conduct" here, where a church tut-tuts about behavior (and plenty of them do, particularly with regard to gays and of course, that pesky premarital sex by anyone)--I'm talking about the whole attitude that "You cannot come in our doors solely because of your color/orientation."

People play this game that "All religions are created equal" and they take that "No religious test" thing to mean--quite falsely--that people may not ADMIT to having prejudices about people based on their faith group/lack of same. Well, people don't admit to it out loud in the presence of strangers--but you can be damn sure that amongst their buddies, their families, and in the voting booth, religion, like anything else, plays a role.

[defacto7]

40. It doesn't have to be religious inclusively

Any group that undermines the human rights of any being through brainwashing, intimidation or physical force or that demands others to live by their dogma should be challenged, period. I do and will. That does not make me an asshole; it makes me a fighter for freedom and reason in a world full of blinders. It just so happens that these religious organizations we are discussing many times fit that bill.

[hughee99]

29. Does it strike anyone as odd that while Athiests oppose religion

their complaint in the ad is that they discriminate?

to paraphrase:
"Your religion (any religion) poisons peoples minds... why won't you let everyone join?"

[4saken]

30. Preemptive divisiveness and despicable content are two separate but valid complaints.

By the way, the term "atheist" isn't capitalized. It's referring to one not accepting as true the various god claims put forth to them so far.

It's also untrue that all atheists oppose religion. One can not accept any god claims as true, while still not identifying against all forms of religion. There are even atheistic religions like some interpretations of Buddhism.

[hughee99]

33. Yes, they are both valid complaints, but it seems to me that if there were a group

I didn't think ANYONE should join, my big issue with them wouldn't be their lack of inclusiveness. I would count as lucky anyone or any group that would not be allowed to join.

I see it sort of like complaining about the racial makeup of casualties in a war that I don't think ANYONE should be fighting in. Yes, it's an issue, but far from the BIG issue.

[4saken]

35. In an ideal world everyone would be receptive to addressing the core of the problem(the content).

However this is not the case in a world with so many different kinds of believers, with so many different justifications for avoiding thinking about their beliefs. It's best to address every issue independently if one's energy and time will allow it. Many atheists wouldn't make the "poison" analogy. And those that would likely wouldn't use it in every interaction with every kind of believer. So multiple ways of addressing theism and religion are observed. The term "atheist" doesn't define the methods someone will address theism with, how many problems they perceive with theism, and to what degrees.

[MADem]

32. Are they saying anything that's untrue? No? well, fair game, then. nt

[MrSlayer]

42. That might backfire.

They might be converting people over to Mormonism with that theme.

[UTUSN]

47. R#16 & K n/t