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Alabama Billboards

SLD

Contributor
Joined
Feb 25, 2001
Messages
6,447
Location
Birmingham, Alabama
Basic Beliefs
Freethinker
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One thing I’ve noticed about Alabama is that it sure has a lot of religious billboards. Driving today down the highway I couldn’t help but notice so many of them. The one above is quite famous. It’s off the interstate just north of Montgomery. Another said, "If my people . . . 2 Chronicles." One said, “I am is coming. Are you ready?” I thought "well, I do have my AR-15.”

There were several from this group that had a phone number 1-83fortruth. They had several different messages on them. One said, “Beyond a reasonable doubt, Jesus Christ is alive.”

I couldn’t help myself, I had to call. After a few tries I actually got through and talked to a real person. I was polite, just asked him why he thought that. He didn’t really have an answer, just his assurances that he was. I asked him how come Jesus called himself god in John, but denied it in Mark. He was familiar with the passages but said he didn’t know and would check with his pastor.

IAE, I ended up being pissed. I think it was the 2 Chronicles billboard. It really rubbed me the wrong way. So many people in Alabama think that god is going to save us or at least themselves. It’s pathetic. Religion really destroys so much. We’re substituting it for dealing with our problems. And so we do nothing. Pathetic. Religion sucks.

SLD
 
I couldn’t help myself, I had to call. After a few tries I actually got through and talked to a real person. I was polite, just asked him why he thought that. He didn’t really have an answer, just his assurances that he was. I asked him how come Jesus called himself god in John, but denied it in Mark. He was familiar with the passages but said he didn’t know and would check with his pastor.

Good for you. That was a good way to respond. As much as we ridicule religion, and particularly Christianity, on this forum, it is important that it gets at least one thing right---the idea of "hate the sin but love the sinner." Religious people are not inherently or even remarkably stupid people, they are just extremely biased people and see no incentive or lack the skill to check their own biases to any significant degree. We humans all have all kinds of biases that influence how our minds function, and religions have evolved to amplify and focus particular biases to an extraordinary degree. At the end of the day though, religious people are victims of their own mental poison of religion, but they are unaware of it. You got that particular person to think about their religion in a little more depth than they had before, and even if they find (what they consider to be) a satisfying answer to your particular question, at least you helped opened up the door for them to doubt in the future. They will be more willing to investigate religious views a little bit further to see if they have merit or not. We need more activism like that in order to make more progress in the culture. Too many other atheists though take an attitude of "as long as they do not enforce their beliefs on me, I do not care what their beliefs are" which requires that we ignore the effects that their own religious beliefs have on their own choices and behaviors, and how their choices and behaviors then influence themselves, ourselves, and others. Instead of that constant defensive posture, we should be more proactive and assertive of our views, and critical of bad beliefs and bad justifications for those bad beliefs when others espouse them. There are some times where it is inappropriate to do so and let people enjoy their mythology (such as at a religious family's funeral for a member), but as an overall approach we should be more proactive in speaking up. A lot of people are in the secular closet and (mistakenly) think they are alone, but when they encounter another encouraged and equipped atheist paving the way for them, they will likewise be more willing to come out of their closet. Domino effect then.
 
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One thing I’ve noticed about Alabama is that it sure has a lot of religious billboards. Driving today down the highway I couldn’t help but notice so many of them. The one above is quite famous. It’s off the interstate just north of Montgomery. Another said, "If my people . . . 2 Chronicles." One said, “I am is coming. Are you ready?” I thought "well, I do have my AR-15.”

There were several from this group that had a phone number 1-83fortruth. They had several different messages on them. One said, “Beyond a reasonable doubt, Jesus Christ is alive.”

I couldn’t help myself, I had to call. After a few tries I actually got through and talked to a real person. I was polite, just asked him why he thought that. He didn’t really have an answer, just his assurances that he was. I asked him how come Jesus called himself god in John, but denied it in Mark. He was familiar with the passages but said he didn’t know and would check with his pastor.

IAE, I ended up being pissed. I think it was the 2 Chronicles billboard. It really rubbed me the wrong way. So many people in Alabama think that god is going to save us or at least themselves. It’s pathetic. Religion really destroys so much. We’re substituting it for dealing with our problems. And so we do nothing. Pathetic. Religion sucks.

SLD

Well, all this godliness is probably the reason why Alabama is so much more successful, with a better quality of life and far higher median income, compared to less devout states, like California and New York.
 
The Bible Belt also overlaps heavily with the Opioid Belt. Jaysus or Oxy...gotta have one or the tuther ta git ya thru the weekend (or the slow part of the month before your next gubmint check.)
 

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Yeah, whenever I think about how good that Sweet Tea is, I look at that map, and go with mint.
 
The Mighty Mississippi = Tornado Alley + Fried-in-a-Skillet Alley or Heart Attack Alley

Down south in New Orleans they cook with the Holy Trinity: green bell pepper, celery, and onion.

Everywhere else it's the unholy trinity: salt, sugar, and fat.
 
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