I’m an atheist… but I don’t make a big deal about it. I don’t go door-to-door handing out fliers inviting people to not worship with me or attend our semi-annual atheist potluck single-mingles. And while I don’t think it’s necessary to promote atheism as a “thing” (I actually think Christianity should join us in the non-promotion of their beliefs), I certainly don’t mind the new billboard campaign you may have seen around town called, “This is what an atheist looks like.”
It’s a cute idea, showing normal looking folks who are atheists, with the obvious intention of “un-demonizing” them in the eyes of judgmental Christian types. HOWEVER! I have to admit, I got a good guilty laugh out of this bit of spray paint can alteration.
I’m sure he’s a sweet guy and all—but c’mon… you have to admit he makes a great devil! The only thing missing is a word bubble with him saying, “BWAAAA-HAAA-HAAAA!” (And if you want to get technical about it, if Satan really existed, he would totally believe in God. Soooo… never mind?)
That is quality vandalism.
COMMENT DELETED: OFF TOPIC.
He’s very sweet but the devil horns are awesome.
For Pete’s sake, the guy’s last name is HECATE! The goddess of witchcraft and the undead!
I’m all for that ad campaign, but you can’t friggin promote atheism with a spokesperson named Mr. Satan!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecate
HATE CRIME!!!
and agnostics look just like atheists do, only they don’t smile as much.
Haha! I’m an atheist and I approve of this enhancement. =D
FFFFRRRRRFFFFFFFFFFFFF.org
Did you know LOL stands for Lucifer Our Lord? So any time a message is signed LOL you can tell the poster is a Satanist. LOL.
I’m sure this would be a lot different if people were vandalizing a Xtian sign by putting horns on Jesus or imagine if this was a defaced Muslim billboard… I agree with the earlier post, this is a hate crime and a perfect example of a devout follower.
Or it could just be for laughs. While it may be true that if this were a religious billboard there would be a bigger to-do about the whole thing, that doesn’t mean we have to get out panties in a twist over it. Laugh at the sign, laugh at the sentiment. Don’t be a bunch of crybabies over the least little slight like Xians so often are.
I suspect that if a Christian billboard had been vandalised the author of this piece would have been justifiably outraged.
Ha. Ha. If Mr. Humphrey found something equally as funny about a vandalized Christian or Jewish billboard, I doubt that he would have written an article to so blithely laugh about it. If he doesn’t wish to personally “promote atheism as a thing,” that’s his right, but to give his tacit support to suppressing a group’s free speech is unconscionable. Those who think that objecting to this incident reflects atheists being oversensitive don’t seem to realize that this happens constantly all over the country. Ads that merely try to call out to other atheists in the area, or try to show the community that they are good, ordinary people too are vandalized with regularity. Being shunned, despised, slandered, libeled, and even physically attacked gets old after a while. If Mr. Humphrey ever gets a big dose of that kind of treatment, he might not be so glib and dismissive about this issue.
Come on, Rich. This is horns on a guy who looks really good with horns on him. Nobody crossed out his face or drew flames on him or wrote something hateful. It doesn’t even come close to the kind of thing we see elsewhere. And it is kind of funny. Think of it this way: This petty little act takes all that hate and slander and turns it into a cute little caricature. “Oh,” we can say,”THIS is what those silly little people are so afraid of. How ridiculous.” And then we laugh. And call Mark and make witch and devil jokes. 🙂
Clearly Christians need to demonize atheists in order to feel themselves superior. When you lack arguments this is all you have left.
Flex Bullet, I try to face life with courage and a sense of humor, but sometimes there comes a time when something is just not funny any more, and humor is just a cover-up for a lack of courage to stand up and say, “Enough!” You should try selling your idea of laughing this off to my friends, REAL PEOPLE, who have lost their friends, their jobs, and their marriages to this idiotic superstition that atheists are Satanists, or that atheists are intrinsically evil. I don’t think they’ll be interested in buying. They are not rare; they are many, many in number. As I said, if a person hasn’t experienced this crap again and again in very hurtful ways, they can afford to shrug and chuckle. I wouldn’t wish that kind of thing on anybody. I hope you are able to become less insensitive to this by some means other than having to suffer directly from it.