Feel the Christian Love on this Billboard

[Cuthbert Allgood]

But, yeah, "Fake News" billboards are the problem.

[pandr32]

1. Good grief!

[democratisphere]

2. Love the Christ-like hypocracy.

[Igel]

25. Would that be ...

Rule by those below?

[ffr]

3. Talk about a red herring? It's the people who paid for this sign that are hating on America.

Putin dark money or just misdirected idiocy?

[CatMor]

4. I don't hate America

but I hate what it has become.

[Igel]

26. Regression to the mean.

It has become what it mostly was. But less so.

We like it when it's being remade in our image.

Take that into a marriage. We only love our spouses when they act like we want them to, and change those things we dislike. Yes, it's a decent analogy. Humans like validation; we like flattery, and imitation is a good form of it. Bad, when we're spurned.

For most of my lifetime, the US has been moderately racist and misogynistic, with tinges (or more than tinges) of ethnic pride. Yet I recall vestiges of actual Jim Crowe--one of my earliest memories is being told not to use a water fountain near a mall, but to use another, located nearby. There were two. The one that was still there a few years later said "whites only." My (D) mother didn't want me used the _________'s water fountain.

(Match that with my (R) father's response when, in 3rd grade, I heard the n-word for the first time and asked about it that night at dinner. He told me if he ever heard that word again I'd really regret it. Which was confusing, since my mother had qualms over Obama, and only decided he wasn't a __________ when she said he was a widely published college professor. By which she meant "published a lot about the law." Wrong about so many things.)

[Cartoonist]

5. Name one

Small print

Atheist must be a natural born citizen
Quote or action requires link
America is defined as the land, not the government

[dchill]

6. Jesus hates me this I know...

For the billboard tells me so.

[DetlefK]

7. We hate America for their Freedoms.

You know...
The freedom of not having healthcare.
The freedom of getting shot by some wacko who shouldn't own a gun.
The freedom to be shot by a cop with an itchy finger.
The freedom to drink poisoned water.
The freedom to breathe poisoned air.
The freedom to eat processed crap with too much sugar in it.
The freedom to have your vote rendered meaningless by partisan redistricting.
The freedom of having your vote rendered meaningless by legalized bribery from lobbyists.
The freedom of getting demonized for not believing the fairy-tales of illiterate Bronze-Age desert-dwellers.

[Mariana]

8. Has this billboard made national news?

Where are the people who were snarking about "evangelical atheism" over those billboards? Don't they have anything to say about evangelical Christian hatred?

I don't even want to hear that those who put up this billboard aren't real Christians. Of course they are.

[trotsky]

9. Well you know, atheists put one up that said they don't believe religious claims.

So that was probably worse than this. Somehow.

[Act_of_Reparation]

10. It's disrespectful, doncha know.

Saying mean things about an invisible sky wizard is just as bad, if not worse, than accusing people en masse of capital offenses.

[marble falls]

11. Because this bill board represents all Christians?

[Cuthbert Allgood]

12. Don't believe I said that.

*double checks OP*

Nope. Didn't say that.

[marble falls]

13. Just asking, no need to be testy...

"Feel the Christian Love....." "The Christian" as opposed to "Some Christian"s or "Some self recognizing Christians". We woulden't want to broad-brush now would we?

[Cuthbert Allgood]

15. My response was no more testy than yours.

Are the people that put that up Christian? Yes. So my title is just fine. Are you the person that responds to the #metoo movement with "not all men"?

But I am confident that when people make statements about atheists in this group that you will be there to make sure there is no broad brush with as much alacrity as on this OP.

[marble falls]

17. You assume. Thats accurate AND self evident.

[Voltaire2]

23. so you weren't "just asking".

If you were going to pretend that you were "juat askin' a simple question', you probably shouldn't double down on the accusations in the next sentence.

Just sayin'.

[Mariana]

29. Marble Falls apparently still has nothing to say

about the Christian message on the billboard.

[Mariana]

20. See, Cuthbert, you are in the wrong here.

Your post is more offensive, apparently, than the Christian message on that billboard. It's always good to know what's important to whom. Don't you agree?

[Igel]

28. It's like the atheist tolerance here.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1218261342

The problem is one of a double standard.

"I say something, I just mean it to include those, possibly few people, I intend. They say something, it includes everybody, and I'm going to take offense."

Context matters. Yet we insist it mustn't.

Intent matters. Yet it's inconvenient to what *we* want to say and feel and think, so we insist it's only the viewer/hearer (that would be "us&quot that's important.

We shift definitions and contexts as necessary to confirm our bias, yet refuse to not impose our context and bias on others.

In church, I was taught that this is arrogant, and humility is a virtue. In my undergrad chem classes, I was taught that a certain humility is necessary when faced with valid data and opposing views. In this, the two find quite good agreement. Well beyond 5 sigma.

[Act_of_Reparation]

14. We've been through this song and dance more times than any of us could care to remember.

So how about we just skip the foreplay and get right to the part where you chastise the resident atheists for not expressing outrage in a manner sufficiently deferential to the nation's most privileged religious class.

[marble falls]

16. Just asking, no need to be testy...

"Feel the Christian Love....." "The Christian" as opposed to "Some Christian"s or "Some self recognizing Christians". We wouldn't want to broad-brush now would we?

[marylandblue]

18. Well would you agree there is no Christian love in that billboard?

[Mariana]

19. Why jump to the conclusion the poster

meant all Christians in the first place? What's the point of adding unnecessary words? "The trees are tall" doesn't imply that every tree on the face of the earth is tall. Some trees are sad stubby little things, and some Christians don't agree with the Christian message in the OP. And why say they are self-identifying Christians? More unnecessary words. All Christians are self-identifying. Saying that would be redundant, similar to saying "I live in a big house home."

[Lordquinton]

21. And you take more offence to someone not parcing their words out the way you demand

rather than the offencive content. You may as well be posting, as has been pointed out, #notallmen

It's been a while since this method has been tried here. I really didn't miss it

[Mariana]

22. I guess the content is only offensive if all Christians agree with it.

Next, we'll be told the people who put up the billboard aren't Christians.

[Lordquinton]

31. True, haven't seen that one yet

All the classics are coming back into style, just say an "angry atheist" line the other day.

[Mariana]

32. Oh, it's here already, in this thread. Didn't take long. nt.

[Lordquinton]

34. I wonder who got atheist bingo

I'm still missing a few squares

[Act_of_Reparation]

39. Yeah, you're "just asking"...

Asking why a guy who has just been accused of hating his country by a bunch of bigots why he didn't phrase his outrage in a manner more deferential to the delicate feelings of those who hold the lion's share of this country's political capital.

We get it. Really, we do.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. That billboard is intending to represent

all non-believers.

[Mariana]

30. Oh, but that's completely different!

What Cuthbert posted is obviously more offensive. Somehow.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

33. Nope.

If Christians, even just some of them, are willing to paint non-believers with a broad brush, then they'll get it back. Something about doing unto others.

Look, I get it that at best a minority of self-identified Christians will agree with that billboard. But it never feels as if they speak up very strongly, just a weak, "We're not all like that." I want to see a strong condemnation of such bullshit. Another billboard that displays inclusiveness of every possible kind. Cake bakers who understand that baking a cake for someone with a very different way of life in no way endangers theirs. And so on.

And especially when I over and over again see the crap repeated about how if you're not a believer you can't possibly live a good life. You can't feel compassion for others or give to charity. Or the real nonsense about how it's not possible to lead a good and moral life if you don't live in constant fear of punishment.

[uriel1972]

35. minority?... nt

[guillaumeb]

41. #40

Same nonsense, but sponsored in this case by atheists.

Agreed?

[Angry Dragon]

24. fake christians look at China and Russia as atheist countrys so

if these atheist countries hate American all atheists hate America

[uriel1972]

36. Looking at the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church...

I would not be so quick to say Russia is an atheist country... However some people are stuck in the 1950's

on edit: Oh and what makes you say they are fake Christians, where is your proof of apostasy?

[Angry Dragon]

37. I do not say it but fake christians do

I believe I have the right to call anyone a fake christian

Please be so kind to list all the attributes of Jesus??

[Mariana]

38. You certainly have the right to say they are non-Christians.

That doesn't mean anyone is compelled to agree with you. I suspect their faith in Christ is genuine. They don't interpret the book the same way you do, perhaps, and have a different idea of what God expects of them, but I don't think that makes them non-Christians.

I would ask you this: If they aren't Christians, then what are they, exactly? They don't appear to be atheists. Are they followers of some other religion? If so, which one?

[Angry Dragon]

42. It seems the New Testament is full of directions Jesus laid down.

To me this would point to a One True Path
If one does not try to follow this path and says they believe in Jesus would make them a fake christian.
Just believing in Jesus does not make a christian.

answers:
fake christians
yes
their own

[guillaumeb]

40. Just as diplomatic and tolerant as this one?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1218&pid=261342

Yes, that is the problem with intolerance.

[Act_of_Reparation]

43. Right.

Saying you don't believe in an idea, or saying that idea is bunkum is the same as designating an entire demographic enemies of the nation.

Good job.

[guillaumeb]

45. Intolerance.

But if one accepts it when it accords with one's beliefs, that is an acceptance of intolerance.

[Act_of_Reparation]

47. Except it isn't.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

44. Really? You think those are the same?

1. God isn't real
2. Atheists aren't real Americans

Yeah, those are the same. for the impaired.

This might be a new low.

[guillaumeb]

46. A new low is accepting intolerance when the intolerance

accords with a position with which one agrees.

[Act_of_Reparation]

48. Spare us your sanctimony.

It's tiresome.

[guillaumeb]

52. "Tiresome" is exhibiting a consistent double standard.

THAT is tiresome.

[Act_of_Reparation]

55. There is no double standard.

"Religion is fake" is no more intolerant a statement than "Jesus is real". I doubt you'd get yourself worked into an indignant tizzy over the latter statement, so what's your problem with the former? Oh, right.

[guillaumeb]

56. The double standard is quite blatant at times.

Other times, it is exceedingly blatant.

The same is true with the dismissive attitudes and condescension.

[Act_of_Reparation]

57. Yes, you face such persecution.

It must suck sharing the same in-group with 70% of the population and 99% of the country's most powerful people. How do you cope with it? I mean, besides projecting onto atheists.

[guillaumeb]

59. So you admit it?

Good on your part to admit what is easily observable.

[Act_of_Reparation]

60. Good hustle.

Last edited Fri Dec 15, 2017, 10:38 AM - Edit history (1)

But unfortunately I don't think anyone here is actually dumb enough to confuse sarcasm with an admission of guilt.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

58. So you think the movie "God is Real" is an intolerant film?

You rail against it as intolerance? Because that is the EXACT same statement as "God isn't real." And apparently "god isn't real" is as bad and intolerant as "atheists aren't real Americans."

[trotsky]

49. Is it really intolerance to say "I think god is imaginary"?

Is that where you've set the bar?

[guillaumeb]

53. Intolerance is demonstrated in both bill boards.

But some reserve their criticism for only one of the bill boards. Inconsistent and intolerant.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

50. Saying god isn't real is intolerance?

How? It has nothing to do with the person. I has to do with a belief.

And for you to equate that with "atheists are real Americans" is just shameful.

They are nowhere near the same.

[EricMaundry]

51. Maybe that was a reference to this:

[guillaumeb]

54. An interesting graphic, but rated as untrue.

https://www.truthorfiction.com/donald-trump-atheist-business-edge/