posted
Hey all, I'm looking for some suggestions. I'm on the steering committee for a local humanist group and we're getting a grant to put up a billboard in a few months. The organization giving the grant is not dictating what will be put on the billboard in any way, but there are some stipulations. The grant is being given because there are three "freethought" groups in the area, one being us, one being a freethought society, and another being a recovering from religion group.
So while we can decide to put whatever we want on the billboard, the "we" encompasses more than just our own group. The head of the recovering from religion group is part of our group as well, and the freethought group is pretty small, so our organization will probably wield the most influence on what this billboard ends up being. I really don't want to see this billboard go up and be something inflammatory or derogatory towards religion, but it DOES need to be something that catches people's interest and represents broader interests than just a humanist group, and so I'm looking for suggestions.
I know there have been billboard campaigns in other parts of the country. I remember around christmas time they had "Why believe in god? Be good for goodness sake." and I've seen "Don't believe in God? You're not alone."
Anyone have any cool billboard ideas?
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' In 1892, minister Francis Bellamy wrote "One Nation, Indivisible." '
With a tagline along the lines of "X% of Americans do not believe in God" (For some reason the "don't believe in God? You are not alone" version bothers me slightly.)
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posted
"Secular humanism: We believe in people." (Maybe add: "Look what they can do.") with a background of some outstanding examples of human achievement, like maybe the moon landing, DNA, or something.
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Be your own moral compass. Is it better to be good because it is the right thing to do, or because I higher being tells you to?
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"Don't believe in God? You are not alone" bothers me a bit too, sounds similar to a support ad for herpes or something.
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Mucous, I'm not a big fan of of that "there's probably no god" one. Particularly because of the second half.
To give you guys an idea, here's the mission statement of our group:
"Humanism is a non theistic philosophy that affirms our ability and responsibility to lead meaningful and ethical lives. We promote; human rights, civil liberties, the scientific method, and the democratic process in an open secular and humane society. Lehigh Valley Humanists provides education, support, & outreach about Humanism in an effort to build a vibrant community based around a positive ethical lifestance."
Freethought societies seem to be more of an explicitly atheistic group, with a bit more of an anti religion bent.
The recovering from religion group is what it sounds like, a support group.
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posted
I think MrSquicky's is particularly good because it is both positive and a catchy soundbyte. I think the ideal "impressive thing that humans did" would ideally be something genuinely "good" as opposed to just "impressive."
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Strider: The second half? I would have guessed that the first half would be more of an issue. What, are you pro-worry? (j/k)
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posted
If it was near Christmas, you could go with "Be good for goodness sake." I like Mr. Squicky's suggestion. I am not atheist but the message I think atheists most need to inject into American consciousness is the idea that you can be good and an atheist. I think pushing that idea would result in the most positive change in American discourse and in some ways might be the easiest for people to accept. If atheists do want to convince people to stop believing in God, this is also a good first step because if you believe that the only way you can be a good person is to believe in God, you have a lot invested in keeping your faith (at least publically). Getting rid of that idea allows people to more freely question. Maybe something like No religion owns morality.
ETA: oops ScottR beat me to it. Guess I should have refreshed before I posted.
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posted
Mucous, I don't like the idea of an atheistic message to be "atheists don't worry about anything and are hedonistic," which is what I think the second half of your suggestion would be interpreted.
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Mucous, it's funny, because I just recently had a conversation with someone on facebook about that particular billboard. I mostly just think it's worded poorly, as well as missing out on an opportunity to relate a more positive message.
I'm guessing that what it was intending to say was "there's probably no god. Now stop worrying (about things specifically related to god) and enjoy (all the things in) life (that your belief in god has kept you from for no logical reason).
As it is, that billboard strikes me as an "eat, drink, and be merry" proclamation. Though again, even if it isn't, I think it was a missed opportunity to show a more positive method.
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scholarette, not only will it be going up around the holiday season, but it will be going up in the city of Bethlehem, known in these parts as "The Christmas City".
I agree with what you say about the positive message. And though I can only speak for myself, my purpose as an atheist is emphatically not to convince everyone not to believe in god, rather to promote education, the importance of the sciences and rationality in our lives and in our discourse. If atheism follows from that, great. As a member of a humanist group, that purpose is widened to promote the idea that non-believers can and should be ethical, as well as providing a resource/community for other non-believers.
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posted
I would avoid "Be good for goodness' sake."
It conjures up images of an entity, believed in by some by not by others, often artistically represented as a bearded man, all-seeing and all-knowing, who miraculously metes out punishments and rewards.
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quote:Originally posted by The White Whale: Mucous, I don't like the idea of an atheistic message to be "atheists don't worry about anything and are hedonistic," which is what I think the second half of your suggestion would be interpreted.
Hmmm, I never thought of it that way.
Actually, I should elaborate. The ad has been run in multiple cities in Canada and in London but not the US. I can totally see that what works in that less religious context (and less puritanical context) would be different from what works in the US where you have to struggle with more basic perceptions like "can atheists be good."
So, whatever works for you (general you) Posts: 58 | Registered: Apr 2010
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What is important to you? What do you stand for?
Rather than even considering what you stand against, if you list out what you believe in and stand for, you'll probably find what you want to say on that list.
human rights: "We the People Includes All the People"
civil liberties: The text of the first amendment.
the scientific method: Uh...no idea. "Leave the expert testimony to the experts."
democratic process: "Want to make a difference? Then vote."
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posted
He's stated all that pretty explicitly already. The issue is how to consolidate those things into something catchy enough for a billboard to effectively communicate it.
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posted
I've been trying to think of something along the lines of:
What if this life is all we have? Let's be good to each other for our own sakes.
or
What if this life is all we have? Let's be good because it's the right thing to do.
or
Are you good without god? We are too.
or some variation of those.
Squicky, I like your idea, though as I mentioned, we're the only group that are secular humanists, and while we have more influence, I do want to be fair to the other groups.
Katharina, the mission statement i posted above does a fair job of relating what we stand for. The trick is trying to get that across in a billboard, as well as making it something that grabs peoples' attention.
edit: whoops, there was some cross posting while I posted!
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posted
Not that I am the target audience, but I like MrSqicky's suggestion a lot. It is positive amd inspiring.
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What is the goal of getting a billboard. Are you sprinkling some sunshine into the world, or is it also marketing for your groups?
The suggestions in your post above all still seem to be reactions against religion, defining yourself as separate from it and what you are, rather than what you are and what you are for.
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quote: It conjures up images of an entity, believed in by some by not by others, often artistically represented as a bearded man, all-seeing and all-knowing, who miraculously metes out punishments and rewards.
On that note, "God is Santa for adults" would be a billboard I would get a kick out of seeing, though more offensive than you are looking for.
The theistic billboards here in Omaha are often about this offensive to me as an atheist as the above, but I like to think we're better than that.
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posted
The billboard is being given to us, our goal in taking advantage of this opportunity is twofold. Promote Humanism, and grow our group.
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posted
"more offensive"...is it meant to be a little antagonistic and offensive? I mean, is a dig at religion a plus for or distraction from your purpose?
quote:Promote Humanism, and grow our group.
Humanism, or secular humanism in particular? In other words, is your group looking for people who share the mission statement values, or is your group only looking for people who share the mission statement values and don't believe in God.
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posted
Katharina, I don't know that my suggestions are so off the mark. Take the last one.
In eight words it conveys the promotion of morality, the rejection of the supernatural, and the existence of a community. They may not be perfect suggestions, but they certainly get some of the important points across.
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quote:"more offensive"...is it meant to be a little antagonistic and offensive? I mean, is a dig at religion a plus for or distraction from your purpose?
This post seems to be in response to mine but directed at Strider, so I am confused.
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posted
I think that there is value in promoting the idea that atheism has something to offer. Ideally this should come across in a way that showcases that this IS distinct from what religion offers, but not in a way that goes out of its way to detract from religion. I think there is a certain type of religion person who WILL be offended by that message no matter what, but that's an acceptable fallout.
I like Tom's message.
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posted
How about on Mr Squicky's just drop the secular humanists. So it would be "We believe in people, just look what they can do." Nifty pictures and then the three names of your groups. I don't see why the other groups would disagree with that message.
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posted
Katharina, if you want to call a rejection of supernaturalism being "anti-religion", that's your choice, but not our intention. That's like saying that because I don't watch football, I hate football.
Our mission statement clearly defines humanism as a nontheistic philosophy. If someone with supernatural beliefs wants to join because they embrace the rest of our mission and vision, that's wonderful, as long as they understand the organization espouses a non-theistic philosophy.
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posted
In general, I think people respond to positive messages over negative ones, especially when you want their active involvement. Going negative might tarnish what you are anti in someone's mind, but that's not the same thing as nudging them towards positive action in a different direction.
quote:So it would be "We believe in people, just look what they can do." Nifty pictures and then the three names of your groups. I don't see why the other groups would disagree with that message.
I think this definitely fulfills the sprinkling sunshine goal, but not the "join our atheistic group" goal.
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quote: think that there is value in promoting the idea that atheism has something to offer.
I'm not sure that atheism in and of itself has something to offer; it's just a functional truth, like 2+2 = 4. If you're trying to add 2 plus 2, I suppose that fact is of value -- but it's not like you can hang a philosophy on it.
Secular humanism might have something to offer, though. After all, they're a club that asks, "Given that God doesn't exist, what other reasons do we have for being good people?"
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quote:What if this life is all we have? Let's be good to each other for our own sakes.
or
What if this life is all we have? Let's be good because it's the right thing to do.
These two are fine. I agree with them both and I think they are positive, if slightly vague on specifics. (Define "good.")
quote:Are you good without god? We are too.
This one has a double meaning. The first one is fine. The second meaning is staking a claim on goodness, which is....hmmm...maybe I'm American enough or modern enough that when someone is literally self-righteous, I raise my eyebrows at their lack of humility and possible lack of self-insight. It's a heck of a claim.
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posted
"We are good." As in, we are good people. We are the very models of the modern righteous citizens.
Modern Westerners don't make those claims - they claim to be trying to be good, they claim to want to be good, they claim to be striving to be good, they claim to be following the good, but they don't flat out claim to be good. They claim to be on the journey and the right path to goodness. That slogan means you are claiming to already be there.
Such claims to be there come off, to my ears, as either hubristic or comical (hence the Gilbert and Sullivan song - the model of a modern major general is a comic character). If we were in ancient Rome, you could totally say it and be taken seriously - Cicero did it all the time. But I don't think it works for modern ears.
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posted
Also, I'll point out that the problem you had with one out of my three suggestions was one of perceived hubris, not negativity.
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Biblical: An angry Jehovah figure with lightning bolts in each hand. Caption: "He can only smite you if you believe in him."
Sad: An arab and a Jew aiming weapons at each other. Caption: "Ever consider that having a god could be a curse and not a blessing?"
In-your-face: A simple to-do list, reading "To do today: 1)Fire my God. 2) Leave the position vacant."
Whimsical: Two people looking down at a third in a coffin. One whispering to the other: "If he were an atheist he'd be finished already."
Cerebral: A split illustration with a pocketwatch on one side, the world as seen from space on the other. Caption: "Logically, one had to have a creator, the other didn't."
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: "Atheists believe in you."
I like this one the best. Implies some kind of faith in humanity that you don't necessarily see from coming from religion.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
For most people I know, you say atheist, they think God hater. It isn't someone who doesn't believe in God, it is someone who is specifically antagonistic to them and their beliefs. It is someone who hates and generally someone smug and condescending. It is not a good person because for most Americans (there are studies that back this up) you cannot be good without God. This billboard could be a chance to show a different side to the atheist movement- the belief in the greatness of people, regardless of their faith. People are very touchy already regarding atheists and believe they are out to destroy, so any hint at arrogance and hatred is going to be magnified. That is why I personally would try to limit the anti-religion, rejection of supernatural if I was doing a billboard. It is kinda like are you pro-choice or anti-life?
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posted
How about simply putting up a sympathetic definition of humanism and a website or some way of contacting your organization?
Not many people are going to change their religion because of a billboard, but there may be plenty of people out there who share your basic beliefs but don't know what to call themselves and don't know where to go to meet people who believe similarly.
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quote:Originally posted by Strider: So if I reworded that to:
Do you believe you can be good without god? We do to.
you would not have these same problems with it?
Yeah, except now it isn't arresting marketing. It no longer has a double meaning and it isn't as snappy.
I'm not trying to be difficult. If we were in my office developing the language, this is what I'd say.
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