Bill Donahue of the Catholic League Launched a Adopt-An-Atheist Campaign. I almost didn’t blog this because I thought it was from The Onion. A h/t to Deacon Greg:
Here’s a snip from his rather hate-filled news release:
Approximately 80 percent of Americans are Christian, and 96 percent celebrate Christmas. Of the 20 percent who are not Christian, non-believers make up the largest segment, though the number of self-identified atheists is tiny. David Silverman, president of American Atheists, knows this to be true, which is why he is frantically trying to inflate his base. “We want people to realize that there may be atheists in their family,” he told the New York Times, “even if those atheists don’t even know they are atheists.”
We think there is some merit in David’s idea, even if he has things backwards, as usual. Today we are launching our “Adopt An Atheist” campaign, the predicate of which is, “We want atheists to realize that there may be Christians in their community, even if those Christians don’t even know they are Christian.”
Here’s what our campaign entails. We are asking everyone to contact the American Atheist affiliate in his area [click here], letting them know of your interest in “adopting” one of them. All it takes is an e-mail. Let them know of your sincere interest in working with them to uncover their inner self. They may be resistant at first, but eventually they may come to understand that they were Christian all along.
If we hurry, these closeted Christians can celebrate Christmas like the rest of us. As an added bonus, they will no longer be looked upon as people who “believe in nothing, stand for nothing and are good for nothing.”
Yeesh! Can’t we all just get along? I’m tempted to walk into the Center for Inquiry and apologize on behalf of non-nutty Catholics. I’m not happy with the atheist sign either but I don’t think it calls for that kind of venomous response.
Perhaps we should leave it at this…
While the atheists don’t believe in God they do believe that the end of the year is a special time of year. And while some atheists make a big deal over calling Christians irrational and their God a myth–that certainly doesn’t represent the majority.
Meanwhile, we Catholics have our own nutters to deal with and they can be just as mean, fighting hate with hate.
Perhaps, we non-nuts with cooler heads might get together this coming year or even now while the Advent Season (better known as most of December to the atheists!) winds down to celebrate peace. Perhaps then, we’ll all be able to truly celebrate what it is that we all want all year long.
Peace. Love. And Good Will Towards Everyone.