there’s a lot of controversy about this ad and why it should and shouldn’t be up because other churches and religious causes are allowed to post ads in public space. well i think the answer is simple.
Whether he is or is not real, he gives “children” hope and faith and you should never bash something that does that. religions cause war because people take it way to serious. just take the messages that religion offers and try to live a less angry life, love your neighbor, don’t steal, etc etc
you don’t have to believe in anything to give people the respect to have their beliefs.
you cant put it in the bus just as much as someone cant put a ad saying Santa is not real, and if he was he’d be a Nazi. it would make a child cry.
if you do make a ad for public viewing it should be on how people don’t need churches/priest to have religion.
how everyone can believe is something better without having someone tell you how.
and to the Mormons:
no one wants your nonsense shoved down there throats so stop knocking at my door you cockroaches.
— let the children believe
This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2009.
That was painful.
Hey let the children believe! We should really hook up! Text me!
Huh? Since when was religion about children?
These bitches have been getting really weird lately.
listen OP, it’s the golden rule, nothing more, nothing less. Live by it and all is good, don’t live by it, then it’s time to pray to whomever you choose.
Let the Candy Asses put up their ads. Hell their not even atheist. They do not have the courage of their convictions. If they did the ad would read “There is no God”. I say let anyone say what they want. At least that way I will know who the real idiots are.
have you ever wanted to stick a fork in your eye more than when you were half-way through this bitch?
believe people…. believe in a higher power or believe there isn’t one, but don’t make children cry and all mormons should leave me alone.
straaaaaange.
iohrf…aoiuhrfh…aourfhaouihrf……..FUCKING CRAZY!!!!!
since we are protecting children’s beliefs, may i suggest the following bus ad … “there’s probably no santa, but enjoy the presents anyway.”
(Good) parents monitor and censor what our children watch on TV and browse on the internet. We all agree on curriculum for our schools. What gives these people or Metro Transit the right to spread what is potentially a seriously damaging message to the youth (and everyone else) in our community? We cannot censor what traffic they see go by in public. We can opt to have our children learn in religion or culture based institutions because we, as parents, CARE what beliefs our children learn just like we CARE what violence they witness, news, fiction, real or not. Not only do we care, it is a parent’s RESPONSIBILITY to see the child “become”. It’s certainly not the responsibility of the state or the transit company or even the advertising company to SABOTAGE our efforts at raising our children how we see fit.
I saw a church sign that read something along the line of “there probably is a god so stop worrying and enjoy life”
Kay are you saying that only the CARING parents will enroll their kids in a religious school??
If so you are narrow minded and lost as a human. If this is not what you are saying then disregard last!
Consider yourself disregarded, kilo
I’m not saying ONLY caring parents enroll their children outside of the public school system. I’m saying parents care what messages their children get, take steps to mitigate competing messages from society-at-large and that as a society we agree upon a certain curriculum for public education. You’ll notice Darwinism is a ‘touchy’ subject for the public school. You’ll notice (despite the education to be had) there is no ‘religion’ class included in the public school curriculum. This approach caters to our Canadian mosaic. The proposed advertising sabotages the effort.
Gosh, IF I was a parent, I MIGHT be a little offended by all of the religious FREAKS who told my children they were going to go to HELL because of what we as a family, believe. Is that, “SABOTAGE of my efforts at raising my children how I see fit.”?
Also, it must be said that I, and MANY other members of this society, don’t agree with a large percentage of the public school curriculum and policy…
BSB, be grateful you don’t see such messages printed on the sides of buses nor imposed on the public school curriculum. You wrote that you and many others don’t agree with a “large percentage” of the public school curriculum. Would that be the reading, writing, arithmetic, science or social studies imposed on our kids or are you more offended by the public education offered in music, art, french studies or gym class? I’m dying to know how public education is failing you and your… ooops, you don’t even have kids!
Personally, I’d like religion to be taught on a broad scale in public schools so our children have some appreciation for the beliefs 99% of the world population hold dear (important enough to die for in some cases) as well as the many roles religions have had on the history of mankind and, subsequently, our future.
Now where did I leave that hypocrisy? God I’ve been looking for it everywhere, it’s bound to have ended up somewhere… Oh! Shit! There it is! It’s right there in the OP.
“try to live a less angry life, love your neighbor… to the Mormons: no one wants your nonsense shoved down there throats so stop knocking at my door you cockroaches.”
Kay, there is no reason for religion to be taught in public school. They have catholocism classes for that and bible study and whatnot. I don’t want my child going to a class for something that I don’t agree with and don’t want pushed down his throat. The day he comes to me and says “momma I want to go to Sunday school” I’ll take him, until then, keep it out of the school system!
There is nothing wrong with the current public education curriculum when it comes to religion. There was no religious studies, other than what was in History and Mi’kmaq studies. Even the religious events such as the Christmas concerts were more geared towards celebration and included Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
I should mention that is from my experience in rural Nova Scotia and I can’t speak from all experiences, obviously.
Worship and education are two very different things, country_girl (so is a sign on the side of a bus.) It’s not like we don’t educate children about communism. We’re NOT communists. We don’t WANT our children to be. We teach it to them in SOCIAL studies though. Why? We’re a democracy, not a monarchy, yet our children are educated as to who Queen Elizabeth is and to respect her… religion is also a “social study” worth having, no?
I fail to understand why parents would want their children ignorant of things/events/concepts that have shaped humanity (Darwinism included). An understanding of so many different ideologies, including atheism, is important, is it not? Or does keeping our children in the dark give them some advantage? Timing is everything.
How about letting the children choosing what they want to follow? Maybe educating our children about religion is the right thing to do. Education is a lot different than preaching, as long as it’s done in the right way.
Fever hit it….
If children want to engage in religious studies, they need not have a class. They will look into it themselves (think The Simpson “She of little faith”)
Really, should a kid not willing or have the drive to learn about faith really be associated with one?
4-10 year olds are practically robotisized into religion if forced to attend every week of their young life. There’s no way they could have an informed decision on which they would have chosen, if given the opportunity.
This is what I’m saying though. And to you Kay, I actually WASN’T taught about communism in social studies, nor was I taught to respect the Queen. Why would I respect someone who has nothing to do with my country nay longer? That was in the past. The Monarchy hasn’t run things in a long time, although I’m sure that they would do a better job than Steve-o.
Regardless of that, I believe that if my child wants to learn about religion he’ll choose to do so on his own time. I don’t believe that he should be forced to. Nor do I believe that children should be forced to take classes that they don’t want to. I believe that as long as the proposed number of credits to graduate high school is achieved it shouldn’t matter what classes are taken as long as they aren’t all electives. I think that everyone should have the choice.
country_girl. You worship her… gotta penny? Just dig in your pocket and Queen Elizabeth’s likeness is shining back at you. Maybe you should go back and get junior level social studies under your belt for real. You’ll find education about communism and the World Wars in that class too. Dimwit, stay in school AND pay attention. You might find the education useful once you grow up.
Children do not question what they do not learn. This is called ignorance and you expect a choice at the end? Give your head a shake. It has fuck all to do with high school credits and everything to do with a comprehensive and practical eduction. (duh, what’s that for? I got credits man, duhaha)
Kay– that’s the thing though, it’s up to the parents to buffer what is learned. I’m sure you ask your kid what he/she learned in school that day. Oh, and by the way, communism is taught in Jr. High as far as the Russian variant of it (which is far different from the teachings of Marx) and the brief history of the USSR, and the same goes with high school. Communism proper isn’t taught until UNIVERSITY in an intro Philosophy class. CG–To your Queen point; we still respect the Queen because she’s technically our head of state. That’s a result of being a Constitutional Monarchy (a system I would take over a Republic, any day). We don’t worship her per se, but we do need to be aware of her.
Communism is taught while studying the World Wars, Fever. What the hell were we fighting for if not to rid the planet of communist control, huh?
Is it up to parents to teach their children the Holocaust didn’t happen? No. It’s a historical fact and our children have the right to know so they can, indeed, chose for themselves.
Like I said, there’s a big difference between worship and education. Hey, if there was a religion class taught in school students could learn why there’s an issue posting the “there’s probably no God” advertisement issue. They might understand why abortion and gay marriage are such hot topics. Without an understanding of how a society shapes itself our children understand nothing useful for history repeats itself again and again and again.
Kay, first of all, calling someone a dimwit doesn’t make you or your argument any more logical or right, quite the opposite, really.
“Children do not question what they do not learn”?
Now that’s just crazy talk, kids question everything.
School in it’s current form is full of misinformation, designed to dumb students down, and is in reality, nowhere near, “a comprehensive and practical education”… It has fuck-all to do with “the real world”. Honestly. Nice job completely derailing a thread again too, stunned as the OP sounds…
Remember, God and those who would be trying to force a white, male version upon the rest of us non-believing heathens? *Yawn*I can’t believe I even bothered…
Actually the world wars were fought to rid the world of German influence. WW I was over a an assassination, alliances and age-old treaties, and WW II was over the Holocaust and the Nazis. In fact, the Russian military was instrumental in winning both Wars and they were under Communist control (Lenin and Stalin) at both points. The Cold War was fought against the Russians, whose political system was far from Communism, it had degenerated to a form of Totalitarianism. Maybe you should go back and read a history book not written by Americans. To your school point, okay, there maybe should be a class, but it should be equal representation. Islam should be taught equally as Christianity. Also, it should be taught in general terms, no divisions (so not going into the differences of Lutherans and Calvinists/Presbyterian) but you’ll never see it happen.
As long as there are religious nutjobs out there trying to convert an innocent public… then atheists should be allowed a voice as well. I don’t chase down people telling me about the benefits of Jesus, so you shouldn’t begudge me sharing my opinion. I do not believe in religion, but I also don’t begrudge someone their right to believe in it… just don’t shove it down my throat. If you want a public forum (i.e. schools, television shows, chirstmas specials, nut jobs on the boardwalk etc.) to try and convert or “educate” the public then don’t throw a hissy fit when someone with an opposing viewpoint wants to use the same mediums. Religion has played an important part of our country’s past but the past is what it is… in the last few decades religion has caused more problems than it has solved. I also don’t want my children influenced by christian culture anymore than you want your kids influenced by my beliefs. The point I’m trying to make is, if you bring religion into the public spectrum… don’t be offended when people want to challenge it in the public spectrum.
I can’t believe how daft you people are.
BSB writes, “‘Children do not question what they do not learn'”? Now that’s just crazy talk, kids question everything.”
BSB, do children normally question things they’ve never been exposed to? Have you ever heard a child ask about z-theory or an equally complex subject? No. Why? They’ve never heard of it so they have no questions and no opinions. Do they use their imaginations to discover what 99% of the population believes and then ask questions and form opinions about it? No! You present a concept and THEN they question it.
And I remember in school I thought I’d have no use for algebra as it had no bearing on the “real world” from my immature point of view. BSB grow up and figure out what they teach in school before making sweeping statements like “[public education] has fuck-all to do with ‘the real world’.” What planet are you from anyway? Never mind.
Oh and Fever, do you really think those German Nazi’s were spreading an “influence” of democracy and free thinking? YOU should pay better attention in class.
Our children would benefit with an understanding of how religion (or lack of it) has shaped mankind. Wouldn’t it be nice to know the future leaders of this country could spell atheism, define it AND contrast it to what isn’t atheism? Should the future of mankind have some inclination on the difference between Islam and Christianity? I feel strongly about this. Ignorance benefits nobody.
Science H Logic,
you just don’t quit, do ya?
If they want to put up the billboard saying there’s no god, so what? who’s it hurting?
and wouldn’t an atheist child who hasn’t heard of god then as their parents the question “Who’s God, mommy/daddy?” at which point they will have been exposed to the concept. Isn’t that what you sound like you’re wanting anyways?
It’s one thing to present a concept/issue for comprehensive discussion in a classroom environment. It’s quite another to advertise said concept in a public forum like on the side of a bus. We don’t paint “death to the infidels” on the side of our buses in this country either. Ever wonder why not?