Why offending Christians is ok

I irritated by the lack of attribution for the photograph. I imagine permission was not sought to use it…but the legal ramifications of that are not the point of this comment. It's rude, at minimum, unethical, and likely illegal to hijack someones work. At least have the decency to credit Jill Greenberg for the photo of the crying baby. I expect more out of atheists, not less.

@cary – Seriously your irritated at the use of a picture that is on my search many different websites already and many many more of her pictures on a lot more other sites and that's what you choose to whine about?

Seriously put in toward the conversation, this is something you could have sent a mail to Adam over, instead of broadcasting it here and pulling a troll…

You're*

that billboard is just a thing, whoever finds offence in a "thing" commits idolatry as what your religion teaches is what is important..

if you're not supposed to have religious icons, then you shouldn't get offended at supposedly anti-religious icons either, because you shouldn't recognise them as symbols opposing your religion in the first place!

in fact, given that Jesus teaches that when you're struck on the cheek, you should offer the other cheek, I would expect true christians to fork out the money to have another atheism billboard put up on the other side of the Lincoln Tunnel…

and if a man steals your cloak, offer him your coat as well.. that's what Jesus taught… none of this crap in getting offended over images, and that goes double for the Muslims and their offence at Muhammad pictures…. they commit idolatry by recognising those alleged images of Muhammad, *as* Muhammad… they should look at Muhammad pics and go "what choo talking about Willis! that's not Mo!" and the chrisitans should look at billboards like that one above and go, "HA!!! crazy atheists! god bless them!"

While I agree that anyone getting offended over a billboard is a little silly and can appreciate the message of letting people know they are not alone I am saddened by the generalizations made about Christians in this article.

As a person of faith and a religious educator who is committed to creating safe spaces for young people to ask questions and develop their spiritual identity (whatever that happens to become, theist or non-theist or atheist) and as a person who is happily married to an atheist (and has no intention of converting him) I found those sections hard to read.

You write, "Christians don't care about your feelings," "Christians want you to be silent," and that all Christians want to do is convert others. As someone who sympathizes with atheists, strives to create space for questions and has no interest in converting anyone all I can say is that I am sorry you have had negative experiences with people who identify as Christian and have acted in a shameful manner towards you.

I would only ask in the spirit of mutually beneficial dialogue that it be remembered that generalizations can often serve as a barrier to our ability to treat one another as human beings as opposed to stereotypes.

@Adam: Thanks for the friendly response =) I understand what you mean about having to write long sentences, we really need to come up with an shorthand description, haha. 20%XIF? Maybe one day everyone will be able to co-exist without quite so much nonsense, though that day happening in either of our lifetimes is unlikely. But we can have hope. Have a good week~

Do not even know what to say here. In my opinion today's trends in the church inevitably decline. The church is becoming less popular. Spirituality is meaningless in an era of technocracy. Sorry …

You make a good case for confronting the falsehoods and failures of Christianity. What about the absurdities among atheists themselves? Decades ago, many atheists were also Communists and Communism turned out to be a complete failure as well as destructive to liberty. Then other atheists went to the opposite extreme and became “Objectivists”, followers of the right-wing extremist bitch Ayn Rand.

My point, of course, is that atheism alone does not make people reasonable or honorable. Sometimes they can fall prey to delusions and corruption, just like religious fanatics.

Glad to hear that Atheist are forming groups in high schools. We need to be out of the closet and be proud to be an Atheist. I mention my belief whenever someone mentions anything about religion. I have had religion crammed down my throat all of my life until I converted to Atheism.

It seems to me it's the atheists who are the real whiners here. Atheists, if you "know" it's a myth then why did you spend~WASTE~ $20K on that billboard? Because you see the truth of Christianity as a threat, that's why, and like a bratty child you had to go out and do something to provide shock value! At least a real Christian would've taken that $20K and then done something with charity to help those less fortunate than themselves. Of course, all the atheists can ever do is pull people down rather than lift anyone up. Tell me, where's the atheist soup kitches, day cares, food banks, homeless shelters, grief counselors etc? What can y'all do but scream infinitum ad nauseum, "it's a myth, it's a myth, it's a myth!" If you really want people to give up God and belief systems, maybe you should consider what do you eally have to offer them in return that's better? and trust me if you think it's better to have the sort of arrogance, bitterness, darkness, hatefulness and cheerlessness that you seem to specialize in instead of having joy, love, peace and assurance that God loves them, and will be with them forever… then who's the one that's believing in a myth? Given the choice of myths, I'll take the more positive one Christianity offers than the negative one y'all want to foist on everyone.