December 5, 2008 7:34 AM
Humanist Metro ads spark believers' campaign: "I Believe Too"
Isn't that inspirational? Sometimes the most beautiful things come about because of the pressure of the unbeautiful. Like a light shining in darkness. Keep this image in mind as you read how it came about that this divinely-inspired detail from Michelangelos' The Creation of Adam - painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1510 - would find its way onto the DC Metro buses this year at Christmas:
Obama's election has emboldened the forces of aggressive atheism, as witnessed by the ad campaign recently launched by the American Humanist Association on D. C. Metro buses:
Timed to counter the Christmas spirit - already under tremendous assault in the public square, the workplace, and the marketplace - this campaign cost the AHA only $12,000.
Like other DC Metro area believers, I found it ironic, mildly annoying, sad - as well as a portent of things to come. Just one of a deluge of stories on the political/cultural/social revolution - the concerted and well-financed effort to kill traditional American conservative values - that readers send me every day.
But in a story based on the power of one person to make a difference, a McLean mother of four began a campaign to raise ad money to give Metro riders the other side of the story to ponder - summed up in the beautiful ad above.
The story was picked up in yesterday's Washington Examiner:
Pro-God messages to counter atheist bus ads
By Kytja WeirA stay-at-home mother of four is poised to start a Metrobus ad campaign to counter ads from the American Humanist Association that question a belief in God.
JoEllen Murphy, a 39-year-old Catholic who lives in McLean, started a grassroots Internet campaign after hearing about the humanist ads that started appearing last month on Metrobuses.
Murphy's ad shows an image from Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" on the Sistine Chapel ceiling with the slogan: "Why believe? I created you and I love you, for goodness' sake. - God."
As of Thursday evening, 557 people had joined Murphy's "I Believe Too" Facebook page and 120 donors had contributed more than $5,700. The ad-hoc group said they sent a check and a signed ad contract to Metro on Thursday for 200 ads to go behind bus drivers' seats.
Read entire story here.
In 'Why Believe in God?': Metro ads draw scorn, AP reports that Metro has received over 200 complaints. But the ads have been effective for the AHA, bringing in so far 638 new members and thousands of dollars in contributions.
Thank God for the power of the Internet news, blogging, and social networking to help us find and use our voice. While we are called first to be the best parents we can be, we also need to stay informed and to share what we know with friends and neighbors.
If you are moved to help in the I Believe campaign, please visit I Believe Too. Link here, blog your own story, send the I Believe link to your email list. JoEllen is doing her part, now we need to do ours - even if it just means verbal encouragement.
This is also great opening for letters to the editor (Washington Post, Washington Examiner) - not challenging the right of the AHA to advertise - they have that right - but offering the other side: Why we do need God?
And if God ever taps you on the shoulder to begin what may seem a daunting task, think of Moses and Esther - and JoEllen - and anyone who's ever been called by God and who feels inadequate. He will direct your path step by step - while supplying you with everything you need.
One person can make a huge difference.
Posted in Culture, Religion | Permalink
Comments
Barbara,
Thank you for sharing this. Sent my donation this morning. We need to speak up and because you shared this, I can join in. I am grateful. People read words like the AHA ad and it plants a seed of doubt in their minds. Glad to be able to help with the weed eradication.
Posted by: Brenda | December 5, 2008 9:04 AM
I find it slightly abhorrent that you blame Obama for atheists practicing free speech. Where exactly is the correlation? Why shouldn't we? I was unaware we lived in a Theocracy.
I'm glad an open discussion of religion is taking place. Religious ideas should be treated like all other ideas. There is no reason for this ancient Taboo of questioning them. In the arena of rational thought, I think the atheists have a slight edge.
Looking forward to interesting ads from both sides.
Posted by: MD Atheist | December 5, 2008 2:00 PM
MD Atheist -
"abhorrent" is a strong word, don't you think? But then the preceding adjective "slightly" tempers it, I guess. An odd combination . . .
Another bit of illogic: I didn't blame Obama for atheists practicing free speech. I simply noted my opinion that his incipient reign seems to have emboldened them. I actually specifically affirmed their right in the third to last paragraph. Also welcome the opening of the discussion.
That atheists think they have a "slight edge" in the arena of rational thought shows their close-mindedness. As a philosophy major - long before I became a believer - I was privileged to read the works of many great believers.
Your comment reminds me of my sons' classmates. He is a National Merit Scholar. When some friends ask him how he can be a Christian when he is so smart, he says, "How could you not be?"
You must have misread me - I am thankful the AHA opened this up. I look forward to the inspirational ads which will answer :)
Also, if you live nearby, maybe you'd like to come visit my husband who's recuperating and would love some intelligent discussion.
Posted by: barbara | December 5, 2008 2:19 PM
Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.
Blaise Pascal
Posted by: Paula | December 5, 2008 5:00 PM
I,too, am excited about this campaign by the atheists to bring their "views" into the public arena. I agree with Barbara that it comes as sign of the times in which we live. It is no accident that this campaign has come on the heels of a win by such a secular socialist candidate for the leader of America. It reminds me of the culmination of C.S. Lewis's "Out of the Silent Planet" trilogy, in the final book, "That Hideous Strength." If any of you haven't read it, I highly recommend you do so. We are involved in a battle of worldviews and ideas that will determine the future and play into the ultimate culmination of our human history.....
Recently, we watched a terrific film by Ben Stein, "Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed," that I recommend all to see, whether atheist, agnostic, or a believer in God. In the film, among much else to ponder,were a number of interviews with prominent atheists espousing their beliefs. I found it fascinating to realize and recognize that the causes for rejecting God and His message, and his promise of everlasting happiness are the same today as they were for the Scribes and Pharisees of the first century A.D.
I think that Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan in an excerpt from"Sunday Readings" says it best when he wrote concerning them, "It was their stubborn pride and self-centeredness, the exaggerated sense of their own dignity and perfection, which blinded the eyes of their intellects. The result was that they could not see their Messiah, their Savior, in Christ: He had brought himself down to the level of man, by assuming man's human nature. The Son of God assumed our human nature in order to live amongst us, to teach us how valuable God made us. He did so in order to die for us in that nature and to atone for all the sins of the human race.The same stubborn pride, that same exaggerated sense of their own dignity, blinds the intellects of many today who not only refuse to accept Christ and his good tidings, but seem impelled also to prevent others from accepting him. The mad rush for earthly possessions and pleasures, the casting-off of all reasonable restraints and restrictions, which are so necessary for human society to survive, the rejection of all things spiritual in man's make-up and life-purpose, the general incitement to the animal instincts in man — all these, and many more, are the evident signs of the rejection of Christ which are so actively propagated by many in our world now."
What is there to lose by an honest and thorough examination of the facts? Let the public discourse begin, but heed first this admonition from the English philosopher Herbert Spencer,"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance....that principle is contempt prior to investigation."
Posted by: Tripp | December 7, 2008 11:54 AM
