When I go to Memphis in a few weeks, here’s what I want to visit:

MegaCrosses are popping up everywhere.

Naomi had an interesting post on the matter– describing some of the biggest ones around.

She also writes through email:

Erecting and maintaining the sites can create dangerous situations, especially if it is an accident-prone area already. Rather than put up crosses, I’d rather they erected metal stars on posts, with high reflectability for both day and night. The more stars, the more care should be shown. However, most speeds are too fast to react to dangers, so neither the stars nor the crosses will serve as “danger ahead” warnings…

Has anyone else seen these crosses near them? Are they distracting more than helpful, even to Christians?


[tags]atheist, atheism, Memphis, MegaCrosses, gods4suckers.net, Christianity, Christian[/tags]

The Chicago Tribune Magazine ran a cover story today about various summer camps across the country.

One of the camps they featured was Camp Quest (CQ), the summer camp for children of atheists. (Stephen Colbert poked fun at it last year.) They interviewed my friend August, the director of one of the regional sites. (Strangely enough, his wife Amanda is the president of the national Camp Quest, overseeing all six CQ sites, but she wasn’t mentioned…)

Anyway, here’s the excerpt:

A DECIDEDLY DIFFERENT experience awaits those who enroll at Camp Quest, started in 1996 for the children of “atheists, freethinkers, humanists and brights.”

Last summer, the common theme at the camp’s six locations was “Beyond Belief.”

“We don’t teach the kids that there is no God,” says August E. Brunsman IV, director of the camp’s site in southwestern Ohio.

“We try to promote values of secular humanism, though not everybody at camp wants to call them that. Enlightenment values. A focus on logic and reason and how to learn about the world.”

Besides taking the traditional archery and swim lessons, campers spend a week trying to prove that two invisible unicorns said to be on the campgrounds do not exist. The winner is awarded a “God-less dollar bill.”

Nobody has ever won.

Camp Quest allows kids to fit in without being judged for their religion or lack of it, Brunsman says.

He recalls the time a boy who had been raised Catholic attended camp at the urging of his grandfather, an atheist.

“As far as I know, he was still Catholic at the end of the week,” Brunsman says.

[tags]atheist, atheism, Chicago Tribune, Magazine, summer camp, Camp Quest, CQ, August E. Brunsman IV, Amanda Metskas, Beyond Belief, Ohio, secular humanism, Enlightenment, Catholic[/tags]

Yes, I know.

You’ve been thinking about this for weeks now.

Hemant’s turning 24 today. What should I get him for his birthday?

I’ll help you out.

1. A Plasma TV. To watch Joel Osteen.
2. The Intelligent Design vs. Evolution Board Game.
3. A nun.
4. Thongs. (That’s right. Plural. Only because they’re funny.)
5. Copies of I Sold My Soul on eBay. (Ok, I don’t *need* them, per se… I have the manuscript right next to me. But boosting my Amazon Sales Rank to #1 would be a nice gift. Someone go buy 983812242312 copies of the book. Now!)
6. Ok, fine. Amazon gift certificates are accepted, too.
7. Jesus Dress Up. Final Justice edition.
8. Everything here.
9. Jennifer Garner.
10. Subscriptions to fun Science-y magazines:

[tags]Plasma TV, Joel Osteen, Intelligent Design vs. Evolution Board Game, nun, thong, I Sold My Soul on eBay, Amazon, Sales Rank, Jesus Dress Up, Final Justice, EvolveFISH, Jennifer Garner, Discover, Scientific American, Popular Science[/tags]

This will be shot down quickly, I anticipate.

James Cameron, of Titanic fame, is promoting a documentary he produced. And in New York on Monday, he will hold a press conference where “he will reveal three coffins, supposedly those of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene.”

In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn’t resurrected –the cornerstone of Christian faith– and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene.

Cameron *knows* all this through “DNA tests, archaeological evidence, and Biblical studies.”

Wait a minute. Don’t Christians say Jesus was resurrected? Isn’t that what Christianity hinges on? Is this The Da Vinci Code all over again?

If this is true… well… Wow.

If it’s not… then you’ll still hear about it anyway. According to the Time blog post, one prominent Israeli archaeologist has already said the crypt is not Jesus’. His family couldn’t have afforded the luxuries and the Jewish names on the tombs were common in that region.

The whole story sounds eerily similar to that of the James Ossuary from a few years back.

Maybe James Cameron is just trying to prove once again that he is the real King of the World.


[tags]James Cameron, Titanic, Jesus of Nazareth, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Simcha Jacobovici, Christian, atheist, atheism, Jerusalem, DNA, archaeology, Bible, The Da Vinci Code, Time blog, Israel, Jewish, James Ossuary[/tags]

I’m speaking near the University of Memphis for a secular student group next month.

A student from that school I’ve been in contact with sent me information about what he’s been seeing on campus recently.

There are flyers, posters, and writings-on-chalkboards that say something to the effect of “We’re sorry. Ask us why…”

There’s no reference to who “us” is. There’s just a link to a website: http://imsorryaskwhy.com/.

And if you go to the website (and make your way past two pointless videos), it says:

Why are we sorry? Good question. Obviously the videos have nothing to do with it. But they’re funny. At least we think so. Well honestly, we’d like to tell you in person.

Don’t worry, we don’t want your credit card or for you to signup for anything. We’d just like to explain in person why we’re so sorry as a webpage just won’t do justice.

Either you can flag someone down who you see wearing a bright green T-Shirt that says “I’M SORRY” or you can give us a little contact info for us to contact you and tell you why. Either way, just make sure you find out why!

This is the way that the Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) affiliate at this school is trying to get new recruits. Or create new Christians.

The student group (called Cru.) says this about the project:

We?ll have people all over campus wearing annoyingly-bright green T-Shirts saying ?I?m Sorry, Ask Why.? What are we sorry about? Well, basically we will be apologizing for not reflecting Christ in our own lives and if the person asking has ever been burned by Christianity. If you’ve signed up for the prayer chain, please be sure you pray for the outreach during your allotted time!

(Boldface is mine… and the bad html is directly reprinted from their site.)

If I were at the University of Memphis seeing this, I’d probably be annoyed. But CCC absolutely has a right to do it. As an atheist, there are proper ways to respond to the campaign, and to CCC’s credit, it certainly does provide a starting point for discussions. It’s good marketing in that sense.

My problem is the stealth in which they’re trying to communicate their message.

It’s as if talking about Christianity itself isn’t good enough to get anyone to come to a CCC meeting (or become a Christian). You have to trick people into doing it.

Christian groups have run similar campaigns at other schools. For example, in the “I Agree With” campaign, one week, they’d blitz the school with posters/signs/chalkings that say “Do you agree with Bob?” (or someone else’s name). A week later, group members would wear shirts that say, “I agree with Bob” (or whomever) and Bob would simultaneously publish an article in the school paper stating why he’s a Christian.

Here’s one instruction booklet for the campaign (PDF). One interesting excerpt:

It is the Outreach Coordinator’s responsibility to research the different Christian groups on campus, and who fully believe in the statement of faith… If a group is questionable, or on the verge of being cultish, you need to know specifically why you wouldn’t include them [in the campaign]. For example, you don’t want the International Church of Christ, LDS, Jehovah Witnesses…

And if you read the document, you’ll see there’s a lot more where that came from.

Anyway, the implication to me is that if Bob just published this article on his own, no one would care. The buildup is supposed to provide a backdrop so non-Christians can see that many people agree with (and find important) what Bob is saying.

However, for many outsiders watching all this, the buildup of these events just seem to make them want to distance themselves from Christian groups even more.

Are other people disturbed by this? Did you experience this during college? How do you react?


[tags]atheist, atheism, University of Memphis, We’re sorry, ask us why, Campus Crusade for Christ, CCC, Christian, Christianity, Cru, Christ, I Agree With, International Church of Christ, LDS, Jehovah Witnesses[/tags]

Publishers Weekly has put out a review of Jim and Casper Go to Church!

You can also read the first chapter of the book here (PDF).


[tags]Jim Henderson, Matt Casper, George Barna, Publishers Weekly, Jim and Casper Go to Church[/tags]

Last night, I went to a book signing where Chris Mooney (The Republican War on Science) was one of the speakers.

[Read more...]