New American Atheists Billboards Launched!

I'm curious as to why there aren't pictures of the billboards on the article?

The muslims are who kept all of the documentation from the fall of roman. There wouldn't have been a renaissance without them. There were a lot of adequate recordings, and yet all we get about Jesus is hearsay.

kt82,
He was an annoying proselytizer.
My comment was only a logical extension of his opinion that Heaven exists and how wonderful it would be to get there; to be in eternal bliss, what could be better for those whom you love?

I think I also mentioned that he must miss her but...
He then left in a huff, saying, "To Hell with your stupid logic", or some such thing. Hypocrisy is strong in the theist.

I presume that you don't call yourself a christian since you do not believe in the inerrancy of the Buybull.

I use a Firefox add-on called BBCodextra - it gives me a right-click menu that provides me w/blockquotes, italics, underlines, etc.
Block quotes make for better legibility anyways.

Funny thing how people try to prove the existence of Jesus in order to find a foundation for their personal believes while a) blotting out all historical evidence that undermindes them and b) claiming that the belief does not require any evidence whatever and is in itself stronger than all rational knowledgde. That I call slightly inconsistent.
Now, on the other hand, to get things straight: As for the Flood, well that almost certainly didn't happen like the bible says it did. The Jewish bible however recalls a story that was going around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea at the time and that almost certainly has a factual basis (i.e. the waters of the Mediterranean flooding the Black Sea basin, back then a gigantic sweet water lake with lower water levels). This can be said about a number of biblical stories. Does that make the bible correct? No. It just proves that it's a pretty good collection of fairy tales, often based on actual events embellished with imagination. But that goes for pretty much any of the so called holy books.
As for the prophecies: Well, usually when there is a prophecy, somebody will turn up sonner or later and find a way of declaring it to have been accurate - in hindsight to be precise. The older a prophecy is, the more events are claimed to have been predicted by it. (look at Nostradamus)
As for the historical Jesus: Most of the references outside the bible most certainly have been edited into historical texts by Christian transcribers. Very often, as in Josephus's text, the style changes noticeably when the text refers to Jesus. That I call a conincidende.
What we know is that Jeshua (the Jewish original version of the name) was a very popular name back then and that self appointed prophets (but then again, prophets are immutably self appointed) were running around in ancient Israel in large numbers around the 1st century. Probably a few of them claimed to be the Messias and their message was often apocalyptic. Also, miracles were attributed to most of them. Not very suprising, given the state of knowledge an medicine back then. The only sources that survived were those Christians had no access to until modern age - which is basically in the Q'mran caves and similar sites. Also, a few pagan stories survived that contain many elements later attributed to Jesus.
So, there may very well have been a charismatic prophet called Jeshua to whom the gospels refer. What seems more likely is that the stories told about several prophets, maybe even by the same name, have been blended into one by a group of Hellenistic Jewish converts who added some motives from the pagan world around them: The son of a god motive, the immaculate conception and the like.

Now, how would you know I’m not a scientist?…

It shows.

which is why I said that scientistis or paleontologists may one day prove Jesus’ existence

That would be an archeologist.

of which recently they have been finding more and more evidence

Got link?

but by that same token, how can it be proven that he was in fact son of God?

You need to prove this god fellow exists FIRST.

since according to the Gospel of Judas

Maybe you weren't paying attention - I don't accept the bible as an authority on anything, & apocryphal crap like the gospel of Judas, Thomas, Nicodemus, etc. even less so.

So if he had to plan out the events then that discredits the whole story

Yeesh - the secret gospel of Dr. Seuss.

"That would be an archeologist"

Yep- but don't paleontologists study prehistoric life formsand evolution?

"Maybe you weren’t paying attention – I don’t accept the bible as an authority on anything, & apocryphal crap like the gospel of Judas, Thomas, Nicodemus, etc. even less so"

That's kool, I don't really accept it as such neither, 2 me it's a bunch of very old books written a long time ago which have sustained time, and contain the uthor's outlooks and believes. (as per my entry below) just like I respect the wall carvings the ancient aborigenes left behind. But as far as it's credibility, I can also write a Gospel (some day) and leave for future generations.

"Yeesh – the secret gospel of Dr. Seuss"

Hey, can I get a copy?

Your intellectual and word knowledge is refreshing, I must admit I've had to google a couple of the words you've used.

Quick question, are you using html codes in your replies, because they seem different then the rest, but I'm not sure if it's supported

"Maybe, what people saw and deemed as God were really aliens far more technologically advanced than we are, and without knowing how to explain it, our ancestors named them Gods"

This sentence reminded me of Assassins Creed, and for that reason I like it. ^_^

Now, how would you know I'm not a scientist?...

You're right though I'm not, which is why I said that scientistis or paleontologists may one day prove Jesus' existence, of which recently they have been finding more and more evidence, but by that same token, how can it be proven that he was in fact son of God? since according to the Gospel of Judas, Jesus planned the course of events which led to his death in order to fulfill a prophecy, and that Judas was very obediently following orders. So if he had to plan out the events then that discredits the whole story, and if this gospel is true, then how many other acount of events have been discarded?

Skits, so your God inspired and guided the men to copy the copy the bible inerrantly? And you wonder why we use the words brainwashed, delusional and irrational to describe such beliefs. It is amazing how much power and influence God has when it suits your purpose yet how mysterious and weak he is when it does not. This is a God who can come down to the the tower of Babel and create all the known languages in the world to confuse the people who he worried would reach heaven buidling this tower. Yet he can only inspire and guide the writing of said bible in one or two original languages? Seems rather illogical and weak to most rational minded people. Did God not care about those people and their souls who he confounded with his mutlitude od languages who would not be able to receive his true word? Does God play favorites? Sure seems so. Does not the fact that he plays favorites remove the benevolent and merciful moniker from God? Sure seems so.

So reply now with some illogical, supernatural, or mysterious reason for all of this and prove to all here how gullable and naive you and the flock in fact are. Keep reaching for the stars kid.

Buck--- Well the way I sees it, although God only provided the bible in select tounges, he also gave men the knowledge to translate hence making available in many different languages and dialects.

Obeah--- Sorry, I wasn't judging, although I must say I agree, if you are a true hardcore Christian, you know for a fact that when a loved one dies they go on to a everlasting life in eternal bliss and peace, and should be happy (or feel comfort) knowing they are in a better place.. although personally if my child died I would be so devastated I would either be trying to commit suicide or being commited... definately not blogging about it :(

n-e-way, I was raised in a very debout catholic country and attended a very catholic nun run school, and they teach you at a very young age to be afraid (very afraid) of gods wrath, as soon as I could think for myself I left that... ever since I have been on a tiny quest to find some truth, started by attending different churches and learning from different religions, and they all have different interpretations of the bible (boy, was I confused after that, let me tell ya) not to mention the hipocresy so I decided to read, learn, study, etc on my own and reach my own conclusions. One question--- Why did the "back-in-the-days" church allow some books into the bible and others were ommited? or disallowed?

Also, to me everything is Ying and Yang, there has to be a balance in all things- negative, positive, etc, so based on prior replys above--- in order for a balance to exist it's possible that "God" is both loving and vengeful (???)

Also, he's almighty and shouldn't show human emotions, so why does he show to be jealous?

You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, (Exodus 20:5)
for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God-- (Exodus 34:14)
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24)
You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, (Deuteronomy 5:9)
for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off, the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 6:15)

and gets angry? and likes to tempt us with evil? (He controls the devil after all), why would he create an evil being--- if he knows all then he knew what Lucifer was going to become, He should be perfect and not have the emotions which make us unperfect...

Some recent scientific discoveries have in some manner proved the existence of Jesus.

Like I said, seeing is believing.

If we are able to see or prove it someday (by we I mean scientists), everyone would believe, but that’s the point of Faith believing without seeing.

Distinct impression you're not a scientist.

This is always an awkward thing to have to say because it seems like there's no polite way to say it, but this billboard is poorly designed. The font should be changed to a condensed typeface to allow for bigger letters in the same space, so you can start reading it from farther away as you drive down the road. The type should all be aligned and have the same background color, (preferably black because white text on a black background is easiest to read), so as to establish a clear eye path. Also, the images should be on only one side of the text. Putting them on both sides causes the eye to bounce back and forth between the text without ever reading anything. Billboards like this generally go unnoticed because they're too information dense and poorly organized to pass the conscious threshold for drivers. If they were made more brief, throwing out "since 1963," and everything else that is not absolutely essential to the point, they would likely be hundreds of times more effective.

It could be something like, but not necessarily exactly, the following:
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/4660/billboardp.png (I just threw this together in a couple minutes to implement the composition fixes above.)

I recommend for the theists to read the born again skeptic guide to the bible so it can clear your head about myths and for the atheists to confirm your unbelief and so it is.

Nice to think there may be peacemakers trying to end the wars. But, as long as people are legislating from religion, which is still on the rise in the U.S., people of reason must resist or be swept under the rug.

When people legislate against schools teaching science, when people legislate against abortion, when people put religious displays on public property, especially government buildings, when people fight to keep McCarthy's religion on money and in the pledge of allegiance, when people fight to rewrite the history of this once-great nation, people of reason must fight back.

I will not be a peacemaker. I must speak up for my freedom of and from religion. I have the right to choose none of the above. This right must be preserved.

Lets hope this one stays up without being vandalized.