Portland Atheist Bus Ads Go Up

As a Portlander, I find it ironic that I learned about PortlandCoR from this post, not from the ad campaign being discussed here, nor from the member org that I did know about.

As a resident of the ORIGINAL portland, It always irritates me how people hear “portland” and think “oh, portland oregon”. I mean, it is the largest city in the state of maine.

When I hear “portland,” I think of cement.

How do we get this moving with DART in Dallas?

SAN DIEGO- ads went up! Its the same billboard, I saw it yesterday while driving on the East bound I-8. Made my day. Great placement too! SD is actually pretty conservative, with the military presence and all, I wonder if anyone will vandalize it?
Stacejw

I live in the Portland area and, like Sanguinity, I hadn’t heard about this at all until I read Friendly Atheist. (Maybe I need to get out more?) I am a daily rider of Tri-Met, though, so I’ll be sure to see if I can spot the ad. 🙂

I can’t imagine there being too much protest over the ad. The recent Ava Worthington case aside, the Pacific Northwest is one of the least religious parts of the U.S., and most folks here just don’t seem to get up in arms about it they way they do in other parts of the country (e.g., as in parts of the Midwest, where I’m from originally). I’ll be curious, though, to hear if there is any significant negative response.

The question is: “Are you good without God?” First, to ask such a question is at least saying there is a possibility that there is a god somewhere? Second, I would have to break down the word “good” and ask, what is good? Third, without a certral point of referance of what is good and what is bad, nothing is good and nothing is bad. But at the same time, everything is good and everything is bad, depending upon your point of view. For instance, smoking pot, is it good to do? Some say yes, others no. Whom is correct? And if we say that person is correct, then we have to ask, “Where do they get their moral stance on pot?”
I guess what I’m really saying is, sex with ones’ family member is okay, as long as morals don’t play a point in it, right? (Given that the female doesn’t get pregnant, and a doctor can take care of that with no problem, right? So the female giving birth would be out, right? And then you’re just left with two people just enjoying each other’s body, right?) But even if morals are there, without a central point, morals are only what one would want them to be, if no central point is given. So, where is the central point of view on what is good, and what is bad? And one final thought, people say “prove god is real.” Well, I would have to say, prove God is not real. To have a strong point of view, one must look from both angles before they can argue their side, right? (from a person that believes in God, Jesus and the bible. But notice, I didn’t use the bible to argue my point. Why? Because people have used the bible and that just pushes people away. But please, if you talk about this feed back, don’t refer to me as “a christian”. For I AM NOT!!!. )

Arthur,

First the question does not presuppose god’s existence. It presupposes the assumption that is being made by most religious people, that god is the source of morality?
This is an assumption you too seem to be making when you immediately leap to the old hackneyed assertion that good and bad, without god providing definitions, are all relative. This is not the case. Human ethics can and should be based on compassion and empathy and consciousness of the happiness and suffering of others. I do not need a supreme being or an ancient book to tell me that murder or rape or incest are wrong. What humanist ethics has over imposed morality is an ability to not be absolutist. If god say X is wrong and X happens, those who believe have no qualms in killing the one who committed X even if this person was ignorant of the prohibition or regardless of any circumstance.
To make such claims as these seems to indicate that your belief and fear of god are the only things keeping you from committing horrible acts. When I lost my faith I became a more ethical and moral and less judgemental person. I started living to make a better world for my children and stopped hoping all adherents to other creeds and lifestyles would get killed by god.
As for pot, the moral stance on that is to let leople decide for themselves if they wish to use it. It has medical uses, no known legal dose, is far less dangerous than cigarettes or alcohol and when used in the privacy of ones own home, it hurts no one.