Atheist Ads - Look Whose Preaching Now

They are showing up in the news more and more -- the atheists advertising. You might say its their "gospel" (though I would wonder what "good news" is in their message.) And its spreading. The message they proclaim:

"There probably isn't a God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

Or...

"The bad news is that God does not exist. The good news is that we don't need him."

The idea is spreading from England (with Dawkins full support) to the US under the sponsorship of the American Humanist Association.

A new billboard is appearing in South Carolina, "Don't Believe in God. You are not alone!"

Christianity Today has a new article commenting on it. It quotes one of the AHA spokespersons on their effect:

Edwords said the ads are doing what the AHA hoped they would do: increase the group's visibility. "We can't imagine people changing religions after two seconds of reading a bus ad," he said. "But in this culture, we need to be interesting in order for like-minded people to see we are out there." The result: 800 new members in December.

How do you like this? After years of flinching at "Christian bumper stickers" (clever though they may be), I now discover the Atheists have begun to follow suit. Does this mean that Christian marketers are leaders that the skeptics have been looking for all this time?

UnReal TV Spots

Here is a new use of Creative Media for witness:



See more at:

Evoke Ministries

Americans & Eternal Life

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, most "Christian" Americans say non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life.

A majority of all American Christians (52%) think that at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life. Indeed, among Christians who believe many religions can lead to eternal life, 80% name at least one non-Christian faith that can do so.

What do you think of that?

Culture: Humanity's Operating System

Culture, to use a computer analogy, is humanity’s operating system. Without it, there would be no language, no communication, no knowledge, and no meaning. And like a computer operating system, culture gets installed with certain “default” settings that, unless overridden, determine how humans view their world and structure their everyday behavior. In the United States, the current default settings install a popular American moral culture that: celebrates personal effort and individual achievement, demonstrates patriotism, believes in God and a spiritual afterlife, values loyalty to family, friends, and co- workers, expects personal moral freedom, distrusts large organizations and bureaucracies, and conveys that happiness is found primarily in personal relationships and individual consumption. Unless these default settings are altered, typically to install more specific religious or nonreligious sub-cultural settings, this constellation of beliefs and practices is characteristic of most Americans.

Tim Clydesdale, Associate Professor of Sociology, College of New Jersey. Excerpted from "Abandoned, Pursued, or Safely Stowed?"

Thoughts?

Finding Jesus in London

Time has published an intriguing article, "Finding Jesus in London", on the influence of Holy Trinity Brompton, the Anglican Church fueled by Nicky Gumbel and his Alpha Courses. The article highlights:

Long considered an aggressively secular city, London has quietly become one of Britain's most Christian areas, going from the least observant region in Britain in 1979 to the second most observant today.

The church's 4000-strong congregation has almost tripled in the past 15 years, and its average age is 27 years.

Underpinning this success is Holy Trinity Brompton's Alpha course, a 10-week introduction to Christianity aimed at converting young people.

With that kind of impact, it causes you to sit up and take notice of the Alpha Course. The mechanics of this course are simple - 10 weeks, meal and discussion, along with a day/weekend away. But the spiritual dynamics are what is powerful -- on-going, gospel-centered discussions in a relationally comfortable and attractive setting.

Imagine all the ways that could be replicated...