This entry is inspired by the bus advertisements I have seen recently on my commute sponsored by the "Freedom From Religion Foundation." It has a picture of Santa Claus saying, "Yes Virginia, there is no God." While I had to acknowledge the cleverness of the idea, I found myself emotionally incensed as well, to a degree I found surprising.
The sign mocks the idea of a belief in God as childish. It implies that it is more foolish than a belief in Santa Claus (since Santa is delivering the "truth" that has been repressed for so many years).
After calming myself, I took the time this morning to read about the FFRF on wikipedia. The organization is based in Wisconsin but also has a stronghold in Washington. Coincidentally, the FFRF's annual conference for its 13,000 members will be held soon and so apparently the ads serve double-duty as publicity for this, too.
Everyone has a story and I was intrigued to learn about the people behind this ad. Turns out that a talented married couple (Dan Barker and Anne Gaylor) head up this organization. Gaylor helped start the organization in 1978, but at that time Barker was a "Christian" minister believer who did not disavow his belief in God until 1984. Barker has written tons of materials, largely aimed to help people make atheism a normal way of life in a society that still believes. As a member of the Prometheus society, his IQ is at least in the 99.997 percentile.
But I wonder what Dan and Anne's real story is? Humans are emotional creatures. What did they experience in their church? How did Dan's relationship with God evolve over the years before he drew this intellectual conclusion? My hunch is that this information would be very telling.
Personally, 10 years ago, I was headed in a direction where I had already stopped believing the Bible was true. My conclusions were a wild mix of life and political and relational experiences in the church I attended along with my own decisions on what topics I wanted to explore as well as being in relationships and having dialogue with people who had already made similar decisions. We are inevitably impacted by our interactions with others, though ultimately we are all free agents.
Of course, this advertisement is rather polarizing. It is highly unlikely to cause any person to change their convictions because convictions arise from deep thought, research, and conscious decision. At a certain level, I too want America to be free from the powerless, impoverished version of "Christianity" that is far from what Jesus taught and more closely resembles the Phariseeism that he preached against. Though 2 Tim 3:5 was written 2000 years ago, it is very descriptive of what we see today in American religion: "having a form of godliness but denying its power."
I will post now and tomorrow discuss what I consider true freedom and true power from the Bible's perspective. I will also contrast this freedom with the enslavement offered by the FFRF despite its surface claim to the contrary.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting you bring this advertisement up. It incensed me too, also to a surprising degree. I think what bothered me was that it caught me off guard. From the look it has a nostalgic holiday look, very pleasing. Then the words are painful. I felt duped. Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or a Trojan horse. Then I wondered how the conversation with Ivy would go when she asked me about it. I guess it gets people talking, so that's good. This would be a good topic for bible talk! Ultimately, I think you're right - this type of thing more often than not has its very deep roots in emotional experiences.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way at first, mostly because I thought of what children would think when reading it.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to part two.