I recently saw this picture online. After reading the ad on the double-decker I started to wonder about a few things. Is this the first ever ad campaign for a philosophical position? Who's paying for these ads and how widespread are they? How successful can they possibly be? What couldn't that brunette sell me? Is she cold? Is Dawkins' left hand as far down the older woman's backside as his right hand is on hers? This lead naturally to the most obvious question—as believer in God, what worries inhibit my enjoyment of life? The answer was just as obvious. I was worried that I displeased God with my fleeting desire to be Richard's right-hand man. I felt ashamed that I had never confessed and sought forgiveness for my infatuation with thin chicks of Mediterranean heritage. All became clear. God was interfering in my sex life. If I would only lay aside my belief in God and His meddling ways, that brunette—or another like her, or not like her at all, anybody who struck my fancy—would be mine for the taking. Of course she (or he, for who knows where this freedom would lead?) would have to be like-minded and willing; at least initially, until I adjusted to moral autonomy.
Then I tried to think of other ways God hindered my enjoyment of life. None came readily to mind, but then Miss Atheist UK was still floating around my cortex. Could it be that a primary impetus to discard belief in God was sexual freedom? Could famed author Aldous Huxley have hit the nail on the head when he said, "For myself, as, no doubt, for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaningless was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain political and economic system and liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom..." Does famed drunk Christopher Hitchens speak soberly in saying, "Clearly, the human species is designed to experiment with sex."
The sponsors of this advertisement think that belief in God stands in the way of one's enjoyment of life. That raises three questions for my atheist friends:
1. If not unrestricted sexual pleasure, what enjoyment do they mean?
2. Does atheism offer any "benefit" besides sexual freedom?
3. Is sexual freedom the real reason you chose atheism?
The sponsors of this advertisement think that belief in God stands in the way of one's enjoyment of life. That raises three questions for my atheist friends:
1. If not unrestricted sexual pleasure, what enjoyment do they mean?
2. Does atheism offer any "benefit" besides sexual freedom?
3. Is sexual freedom the real reason you chose atheism?
9 comments:
Thanks for the laugh :-)
I'm not a fan of the atheist bus ads. The one positive thing I'll say is they do let atheists know they are not alone.
The sentiment of this one isn't necessarily that there's something you want to do that belief in God is keeping you from, but that too many Christians spend their time worrying about what others do.
Yes, I totally chose atheism so I could sin more. You caught me.
LB - Are you implying that atheism is driven by the desire for guilt free sex?
What a truely bizarre idea. Though come to think of it my sex life has always been pretty much guilt free..... [ponders]
Nice pic, Ewan.
Mike: I'm not sure what the sentiment is. It seems to be about behavior. To me, the ad says, "Stop limiting your behavior over fear of divine punishment."
Yes, I totally chose atheism so I could sin more.
Nobody wants to sin more. Anyway, that would require one to remain in a religion where sin is defined! What we want is an ethical system that classifies our desires as acceptable, natural, and good.
CK: Are you implying that atheism is driven by the desire for guilt free sex?
Yes, that's what I'm implying. Or, rather, I'm implying that to be the unwritten message of the bus ads. If not, then what is it?
What a truely bizarre idea.
Huxley didn't think so, and I can site numerous atheists who thought along those same lines. So even if you personally find it bizarre, in the larger world it's not.
---
Another question: Would you abide by any moral system that put an end to guilt-free sex, even if in all other respects you found it to be ideal?
On a side note, many of the ex-Christians I've run into struggled with a fear of Hell and the infamous unforgivable sin. Those are two things atheism would free one of a fear of.
But isn't Hell the punishment for sinful deeds (at least in the common understanding)? So the atheist rejects God so they can enjoy those deeds without fear of punishment. I don't think that's any different from my original contention.
...a fear of Hell and the infamous unforgivable sin
The true Christian shouldn't fear Hell. Hell is for unbelievers, right? It seems illogical that a believer would decide to become an unbeliever in order to escape the fear of Hell instead of remaining a believer in order to escape Hell itself.
The unforgivable sin is simply unbelief, so what I just said would apply to this too.
For the Christian, atheism doesn't seem to be a rational response to either fear. A better response, it seems to me, would be to improve one's understanding of Christian theology. But they would still have to restrain their sexual desires, and that, I contend (for the sake of argument), is the real deal breaker.
This post and all my comments are somewhat hyperbolic. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in particular or pretending to know your motivations. I'm just trying to understand what those ads are promoting. Please don't take offense.
LB said: Yes, that's what I'm implying. Or, rather, I'm implying that to be the unwritten message of the bus ads. If not, then what is it?
I took it to be saying that we shouldn't waste our time worrying about ancient myths and fantasies and we should concentrate on making a better world here and now rather than looking forward to a better world after we're dead (which I think is completely contradictory). Enjoying your life doesn't just mean having guilt free sex (though that might be a part of it) but being free of nonsensical thinking.
LB said: Huxley didn't think so, and I can site numerous atheists who thought along those same lines.
Really? I never realised so many people became atheists to get laid more often. I don't believe in God because there's no evidence to support that belief and no compelling arguments to point me in that direction - at least none that I know of!
LB said: Would you abide by any moral system that put an end to guilt-free sex, even if in all other respects you found it to be ideal?
I can't think of a moral system that would propose such a thing. Certainly not one I could buy into. I think such a thing would need to be logically inconsisent... [muses] I do struggle with the idea of guilt and sex being associated with each other. Sure you can have inappropriate sex... but I don't think that sex is *generally* inappropriate.
LB said: It seems illogical that a believer would decide to become an unbeliever in order to escape the fear of Hell instead of remaining a believer in order to escape Hell itself.
But an unbeliever (like myself) does not believe in the reality of Hell... therefore (reasonably) cannot fear it. Surely it is only believers in Hell (in other words christians/theists) that would fear it.
LB said: But they would still have to restrain their sexual desires, and that, I contend (for the sake of argument), is the real deal breaker.
Do you think that atheists have *unrestrained* sexual desires? [laughs]
"The true Christian shouldn't fear Hell. Hell is for unbelievers, right?"
According to Evangelical Christian theology hell is for those who reject Christ, so, yes. However too many churches use scare tactics to keep people faithful. No one wants to fall away and some live in fear of doing so.
"It seems illogical that a believer would decide to become an unbeliever in order to escape the fear of Hell instead of remaining a believer in order to escape Hell itself."
I didn't mean that they leave Christianity because of their fear of hell, but leaving freed some of them from the fears I mentioned above. Some still hold onto such fears, irrational though they may be.
CK: I took it to be saying that we shouldn't waste our time worrying about ancient myths and fantasies...
OK, I can see that as a possible interpretation. Though personally I don't find Christianity (including pre-Christian Judaism) particularly worrisome when considered in total, and making the world a better place here and now is a big part of the teaching of Christ and the Apostles. However, it does entail the idea that my life is not my own and I understand how that can be an annoyance.
Do you think that atheists have *unrestrained* sexual desires?
Unrestrained in the sense of my last sentence above. An atheist believes he can decide for himself what is proper sexual behavior (which will likely be whatever he thinks he can get away with) where as the Christian, ideally, must submit to what he understands to be God's authority on the matter.
Mike:...too many churches use scare tactics to keep people faithful...
Perhaps, but I wonder how many Christians are Christians owing to their fear of Hell rather than their love of God? After all, Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart and soul and mind, and after that to love your neighbor as yourself.
I agree that too many church-goers are hounded into compliance with the norms of their religious community with the threat of punishment—temporal or eternal. This is because the Law is so much easier to accept (and to preach) than grace. But, then, the Bible is available for everyone to read for themselves and there are churches in every town where grace is preached. Seek and you will find. Ask and it will be given to you.
Post a Comment