This one :
I don’t like it. Not at all. I think it’s arrogant, it’s wrong, and it’s design looks like a 5th grader made it on daddy’s laptop before school.
It is arrogant to yell at me through capitalizing, or do they think I’m vision-impaired ? And it is even more arrogant to state something as stupid as “Telling the Truth since 1963″. I have to say, I don’t want AA to represent me if they come across as such a bunch of arrogant sleazebags.
The billboard is also wrong, because demonstrably not all religions are scams, for any definition of “scam”, the most common being that of a fraudulent business scheme. You could argue that 1. most religions did not start out as fraudulent business schemes, even if you might be inclined to call them thusly today, and 2. religions are not so much business, e.g. money making schemes, but “soul” winning schemes, who want to make people believe in superstition and myth without evidence. So even in the most benevolent interpretation, the word “scam” is problematic, and the statement on the billboard is wrong.
The design, well, maybe they wanted to give it this almost symbolic look to keep it simple so that people “get it”. I don’t know. I think it looks pitiful.
This is not a good example of atheist media campaigning. Lose the arrogance, AA, don’t yell at me in capitals, and find a new designer. In the meantime, don’t speak for me.
Would it be better, do you think, to pose a question – something like ‘Ever felt that maybe God didn’t exist? You could be right.’
Telling people flat-out their religion is a scam is a lot more difficult then getting them to work that out for themselves. We’ve got to tell them to think for themselves rather than just think like because we tell them to.
I agree, this kind of dogmatic approach just sucks, “we are right, fullstop”. A better approach would have been to put it in the form of a question, like “Why do churches need your money when they already enjoy tax exemption?” Or a positive message, like on the bus campaigns, “enjoy your life” or something similar.
The last thing atheists in the US want, I think, is to be painting themselves as the arrogant dogmatic ones. The religious folks are doing that for them already.
The design is based on a theme they had running already, with their previous effort being “You know it’s a MYTH” on a blue background.
Personally, I don’t see much problem with it. Sure, it’s going to come across as arrogant and intentionally inflaming, but then what billboard put up by atheists hasn’t been seen that way anyway? Here are examples of “offensive” billboards put up last year:
“You know its a MYTH”
“Millions of Americans are Good without God”
“Be Good for Goodness’ Sake”
“Don’t believe in God? You’re not Alone”
All of these are non-confrontational. Polite, even. And yet Christians see them as offensive, as a threat, and will complain about them, vandalise them, complain about our “tone”, and want us to just shut up, regardless of how polite our message is.
Well, it seems the AA have finally had enough of the Christian tone-trolling are are ready to do something actually controversial.
As to whether it’s a scam, your first point about how it started is beside the point, it’s what it is now that matters. And for 2., it doesn’t matter whether they’re scamming you out of money or your self-esteem, it’s still something taken via dishonest manipulation. I think “scam” describes the actions of the church hierarchy just fine.
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I definitely agree Christian’s consider the very existence of atheists to be an attack on their belief system, and that they cry and wail and moan whenever we do anything to advertise our existence in public. So yeah, they’re going to jump and down no matter what we actually say, and therefore we might as well go for direct aggravation.
I just like being able to challenge them to explain how something like ‘Be good for goodness sake’ can possibly be considered offensive to any rational human being.
But I’m no accomodationist, that’s for sure – so I think the best approach is probably a wide range of slogans, from (somewhat) confrontational to basic thought-provoking.
What might also be good are some that question some of the core tenets of Christianity – something like: ‘Why did Jesus have to die for our sins? Surely an infinitely powerful good could have just forgiven them. Doesn’t make much sense, does it?’
Not much of a billboard slogan though
I suppose it depends on what the billboards are really setting out to achieve. Honestly, I don’t think they’re talking to the believers as much as they are talking to those who are surrounded by the church, may even still go, who’s families might be deeply religious, but who don’t believe and don’t know anybody who openly holds the same opinion.
It is these people who might have come to the conclusion that the whole thing is a scam but have no escape route. The billboards are meant to open a line of enquiry for all those “doubting Thomases” not to convert anybody.
I’m a devout Christian, as many of you know. Far from being “offended” by atheists billboards, I think they’re a very healthy sign (damn, I didn’t intend that pun). And yes, even including this one, although like Martin I think it’s a little inaccurate. Inflammatory, too, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
The unexamined life is not worth living, particularly for religious people. Marching down the common cultural path leads to myopia of the judgment and impairment of the intellect. And sadly, those two flaws lead many religious people to do and say that which sullies the principles they claim to hold most dear.
Is this sign the best possible message? Maybe not; but people who don’t want to think are going to get mad anyway, so you might as well go for the gusto.
I like the “Good Without Gods” and “You Are Not Alone” type billboards. I think using a word like “scam” in a billboard is far more problematic and actually prevent people from self-identifying as atheists. I think I kept claiming a mushy sort of theist status for years just because the 1960s Madelyn Murray O’Hair image seemed pretty humorless and annoying. (Even when I still had the mushy theist status, I didn’t think that Dawkins or Hitchens were humorless – they’re far more amusing ambassadors.)
Theists will always claim they are being attacked or persecuted, even though they do more persecution than anyone else.
In the Nuremberg trials Martin Borman made this statement. “Tell the people they are being attacked. Then you can do anything you want. It works every time with every system.”
This works for religions, which are really just another form of government, as well as fascism, communism, and capitalism.
Well it depends. There is a segment of most religious groups I’ve come across that has begun to resent the constant demand for money, and I can see this almost getting a chuckle out of them.
Aesthetically, I don’t like the font or capitals. The design, to me, feels almost like its referencing kitsch animation tropes for hell or the devil.
I think it’s insultingly ugly, and the capitalisation of single words make it look like … something an angry teenager would write. Whether it’s too confrontational or not … I’m not quite sure really. I think my understanding of the word scam involves something different than religions though. But then again English is not my first language and I may simply misunderstand the word to mean something much more amateurish and mundane, than what religions are able to do.
I thought I’d jump in, seeing as I actually live here.
The news coverage was remarkably calm and even-handed. Blair Scott went through great lengths to explicitly state that the billboard was aimed at atheists, and the media didn’t do any backhanded questioning of that. For the most part, people here don’t seem terribly outraged, and I’ve had several people contact me just to chat about it (I think I may be the Token Atheist™ for a lot of them).
To give it a little context, this town is absolutely crawling with both offensive and mild religious billboards. There are at least 2 on that same stretch of road. So, even my fundie mother said, “Well, I don’t like the message, but I like my church being able to put up billboards that say what they want, so it’s only fair that they get to as well.” That’s pretty much the attitude of your average person here. She’s by no means a beacon of reason amongst the fundies.
For my personal opinion, it’s ugly, and they could’ve done something just as edgy with much more style. I prefer the FFRF slogans and layouts. AA need some serious marketing and design help.
But it’s pretty much a no harm/no foul situation. And it showed at least one fundie (my mom) just how obnoxious the religious extremist billboards are to everyone who isn’t a believer.
If only our goal had been to show that we suck just as much…
I don’t know that “they didn’t start out as scams.” It occurred to me while reading the Old Testament’s descriptions that it was a perfect scam: “I’ve got a big scary god in my inner room. Of course you can’t look at him! The very sight would strike you dead. Just give me a weekly offering of the best of your animals, grain, and oil for my family to present on the altar and then eat. You need me to protect you from God’s wrath.”
You are totally wrong. All religions are scams and they are money-making schemes.
I agree that the billboard is badly done, but the message is correct. Your interpretation of is is what’s arrogant and obnoxious.