More mainstream atheism

March 26, 2012 • 5:50 pm

Maybe freethought really is on a roll after the Reason Rally. Here’s an ad by the Freedom From Religion Foundation that aired on tonight’s CBS Evening News:

The FFRF plans to place the ad on more stations; to help with this endeavor, donate at this link, which also describes more about the ad (the music is, for example, played by Dan Barker).

23 thoughts on “More mainstream atheism”

  1. The next one should have the Ronald Reagan quote supporting the separation of church and state. That will raise eyebrows among Republicans and might even get some of them to think about it for a moment.

    2. Even more effective would be an ad with both JFK and Reagan quotes back to back…

    3. Given the current political climate in the US, putting the words “Republicans” and “think” in the same sentence is oxymoronic.

  2. How shrill.
    And militant.

    Now watch the faithful start to work themselves into a frenzy about the need to put out a ‘rebuttal’ … because it’s time that the public had a chance to hear the religious side for a change.

  3. Wow… Billboards in NYC are one thing, but I’m actually surprised this was aired on a mainstream network. I’m sure it infuriated many viewers, but hopefully it also struck a chord with some.

    1. I’d be concerned that it would backfire. I know many who will see it as yet more evidence of the desperate state this once great Christian Nation is in. Now, you can’t even turn on the news any more without worrying about your children hearing Atheists openly spreading their propaganda. I guess you have to start somewhere, but there is every chance an ad like this could motivate the opposition more than it motivates people sympathetic to the ad.

      On the other hand, I expect that most who would be alarmed by this ad are watching Fox News and won’t see it unless Fox does a story on it.

      1. I can’t pull the generic religious out from behind the curtain (I won’t touch that!), but I always pull Rosenhouse’s comments on this:

        Other psychologists do basic research on social marketing. Curtis Haugtvedt hopes social marketers in the field will use what he’s learned about persuasion as a result of his laboratory experiments on recycling. So far, he’s found that emotional appeals–like the famous ad showing an American Indian with a tear rolling down his face as he confronts pollution–work better than cognitive ones when it comes to persuading people to recycle. Emphasizing that “everyone else is doing it” also helps. (Emphasis Added)

        And this:

        Repetition is one way to increase visual fluency and hence appeal. The more people see something, the more they like it. “Advertisers intuitively know that exposing people repetitively to the same stimulus increases liking,” says Winkielman. “That’s one of the reasons they show the same ad over and over again.”

        It seems to me FFRF hits all the right notes. And if not, it is still beautiful to hear.

  5. The American constitution was written to emancipate citizens. It was never one nation under anything least of all God. Maybe one day the American people will learn about their constitution in its proper form.

  6. Other adds with quotations about the separation of state and church from Jefferson and Madison would be lovely. I have been a long-time member of FFRF. Its Newsletter is brilliant. If you have not read it you are really missing the best anti-religion opinions and facts available.

  7. Santorum being elected is one of the more frightening semi-plausible things I can imagine. We need to reinforce a separation of church and state.

  8. I wonder if atheists could advance their cause by doing a series of ads just like the ones the Mormons have been doing of late. You know the ones that present a very likable personable portrait of a person that end with the tag line “and I am a Mormon.”

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