Jesus Bumper Stickers And Non-Believers

"If you don't believe in God,
Does that make Him
any less real?

Are you a believer in Jesus
or just a fan?"

To answer those particular questions, "No" and "Neither".  My lack of belief does not make your god less real.  It's actually the other way around.  Your god not being real causes my lack of belief.  Regarding Jesus, I am neither a believer in Jesus nor a fan.

Signs & bumper stickers' like this used to bug me.  To me, they're Christians flaunting their religion, saying "Look how Christian I am", as if that makes them right or better than us non-Christians.  But now I like them.  

I've recently noticed a trend in the message involved.  These things very often target non-believers.  If they're so secure in their faith, why are they so threatened by those of us without faith.  Could it be that something inside them knows we're the ones who are right?

They'll continue to focus attention on us unless they somehow figure out how counterproductive to their goal such a tactic would be.  I don't see them figuring that out.  But I do see them hurting their own cause by provoking non-believers to poke more holes in their arguments.

Their fear of us being right will only show people that we are.  Thanks for helping atheism to grow, Christians. 

Invisible Yahweh

Last week, a Hollywood legend spoke to an empty an empty chair in a bizarre, rambling bit for the Republican National Convention.

I've always liked Clint Eastwood.  I liked his acting before he became more famous for directing.  I loved Gran Torino enough that I was surprised and disappointed when it was snubbed by the Oscars.  This  blemish on his legacy certainly doesn't keep me from wanting to see his current film, Trouble with the Curve.  Why wouldn't I want to see it?  It's Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, and baseball.

Perhaps that's why I was hesitant to make fun of him.  It seemed out of character.  It seemed like a joke that seemed like it would work in planning but just fell flat.  Although, I did find the resulting meme amusing enough.

But neither Eastwood nor Eastwooding is my point with this.  This reminds me of something else.  To everyone who saw that speech, it looked like he had lost his mind.  He was talking to an empty chair.  He was talking to no one.

This is how many atheists see the religious.  I don't mean to offend anyone by saying that.  But if a religious person ever wants to know how they are seen by atheists, I cannot think of a better example than Clint Eastwood talking to an empty chair, that everyone involved knew was empty.