Philadelphia atheists have put up an xmas “tree of knowledge,” hanging up atheist/agnostic books as ornaments:
The society’s “Godless Holiday Tree” — decorated entirely with book covers about atheism, religious skepticism and secular philosophy — took its provocative place yesterday alongside West Chester’s Nativity creche and the Chamber of Commerce’s towering artificial Christmas tree….
The “Godless Holiday Tree” will greet — or challenge — passersby with the covers of scores of titles including The Myth of Nazareth by Rene Salam,Why I Am Not a Muslim by Ibn Warraq and Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman. The Bible and the Koran hang there, as well.
Sounds like a great idea to me. I liked the passerby responses:
“Why do they have do that now?” wondered Laura Walsh, 30, of Glenside, who was sitting at the window table with six family members, planning Christmas dinner.
“It’s very stupid,” opined Carolyn Gott, of Wilmington, who was wearing a jeweled cross around her neck.
“It’s terrible. And the tree is ugly,” said Peggy Carroll.
“We should pray for them,” said Marian Feeley of Newark, Del., and the others chuckled in agreement.
“We should tell them that!” said Frances Phaneuf of Downingtown.
But the group chose not to.
Pray all they want, doesn’t work. Glad to hear of the tree!
I applaud the efforts of atheists and freethinkers who are challenging public religious displays. I think that many people are thinking about the fairness of sectarian displays in public buildings for the first time.
The quotes of passers-by reinforces my view that the pro-religionists have gone unchallenged for so long that they have taken for granted their privileged status. The inclusion of non-religious and non-Christian displays alongside sectarian ones points out the absurdity of putting such displays on public property in the first place.
There is no shortage of churches in this country. There is no reason whatsoever that a public entity (city, county, state, Fed, etc.) should sanction religiously-themed holiday displays on public property, especially when the display has a clear sectarian purpose.
Let’s keep our religious beliefs where they belong: in our personal lives. Keep the government out of the discussion entirely. The best solution is to allow NO displays at all.
Hear, hear. I glared at the nativity scene in my local mall every time I passed it.
-”The quotes of passers-by reinforces my view that the pro-religionists have gone unchallenged for so long that they have taken for granted their privileged status.”
Excellent point. Sam Harris brings this up a lot. Their extraordinary claims should not go unchallenged.
The very fact that people get so upset over the secularists/atheists wanting to make sure that they have a place next to a nativity scene on public property, is evidence that they are not 100% secure in their beliefs, and do not want them questioned because they would have to question them themselves.
If they were completely secure, I think they would be more likely to just feel sorry for the atheists, rather than to get upset.
If someone were to try and argue with a mathematician that 2+2 equals 3, the mathematician would not get angry. 2+2=4 is not an extraordinary claim, and does not require defence.
First they would be amused. Then, as they fail to convince that 2+2=4, frustrated. Then, when a law is passed saying that 2+2=4 is “just a theory” and that public schools should teach “alternatives to arithmetic”, I think anger would start to show, yes.
Haha, good point.
I guess I was just thinking of a single isolated discussion rather than a progression of events.
I assume you’re keeping the analogy going with evolution vs. creationism/intelligent design?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t some form of intelligent design what was taught before modern theories on evolution were widely accepted? And since then, some have been trying to re-introduce creation science and things like “flood geology” into the textbooks as alternatives?
So, we somehow went from having a crackpot explanation for things, then progressing to explaining them pretty darn well with evolution and modern geology, and now people that can’t let go of their pseudoscience want to keep their crazy ideas that have no basis alongside proven theories in schools.
Sad, just sad.
I assume the tree was well decorated with apples?