The Badger Herald: News: New billboard warns city ‘Beware of Dogma’

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New billboard warns city ‘Beware of Dogma’

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Also by Cassie Kornblau:

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by Cassie Kornblau

Wednesday, October 3, 2007 00:00

Madison's Freedom From Religion Foundation unveiled its new anti-religion billboard Tuesday in Madison. The billboard, located off the West Beltline near the Todd Drive exit, displays the message "Beware of Dogma" along with the group’s name and web address. Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of FFRF, said the billboard is the first in the nation, after several attempts to buy billboard space and the group being repeatedly turned down. The billboard serves as a kickoff to the group’s national convention next weekend in Madison. "We want to take our message on the road nationally," Gaylor said. "The roadsides are full of crosses and God campaigns, and we want to pose our point of view." Gaylor said their message asks people to use reason when formulating their opinions about religion, rather than the power of the church, which often suppresses freedom of expression. The plan, Gaylor said, is to continue expanding this campaign by advertising their message on more billboards, including a smaller one on West Johnson Street, to mark the convention. Gaylor said the organization is also hoping to work more closely with students at the University of Wisconsin in the future, adding that Richard Dawkins, author of the best selling book, "The God Delusion," will speak as part of the distinguished lecture series on campus next March. University of Wisconsin sophomore Rachel Friedlander-Holm said she does not find the message exceptionally offensive, but understands people could be upset because the idea attacks the validity of faith. "I think religion is something that shouldn't be controlled by anyone except the individual," Friedlander-Holm said. Representatives from UW Roman Catholic Foundation declined to comment and other religious organizations did not return phone calls as of press time. However, Catholic Diocese of Madison spokesperson Brent King of Madison told The Capital Times the diocese does not “want to force religion on anybody” and religious choices “need to be made on a freewill basis."

Feedback

Anonymous (October 3, 2007 @ 7:52am):

This is embarrassing. You don't believe in God, we get it. Now leave the rest of us and our faith alone.

Anonymous (October 3, 2007 @ 8:52am):

Because, 7:52, religious organizations are always sensitive to alternate points of view and are willing to leave the rest of us alone. I mean, I don't think I've EVER seen a billboard with anything about god on it.

Oh, wait...

Anonymous (October 3, 2007 @ 8:53am):

This is not embarrassing,this is precisely what American should be about. If people are allowed to post pro-religious billboards/signs, the opposing viewpoint should be allowed to voice their opinion as well. Just because you may not agree with this point of view, doesn't mean a double standard should be enforced.

Anonymous (October 3, 2007 @ 9:11am):

to 7:52:

You believe in God, we get it. Now leave the rest of us and our rational thought alone.

Mike Pruden (October 3, 2007 @ 9:13am):

If they want to put up billboards, etc., as long as they don't hold a gun to my head demanding I give up my religion, that's fine with me.

Anonymous (October 3, 2007 @ 9:24am):

Kudos to the Freedom from Religion Foundation. Their's is not an anti-religion message, it's a pro-enlightenment, pro-freedom-of-thought message.

The less we let others do our thinking for us, the better off we are. That said, religious study does have a place in society today.

Richard Dawkins, author of a book titled "The God Delusion," draws a tremendously important distinction between culture and indoctrination.

It's important that we teach children about religion, from the scientific viewpoint of the cultural anthropologist. It's equally important that we don't indoctrinate them in "faith," -- an activity Dawkins labels child abuse.

Of course religion should be taught in the schools. It should be taught as a historic artifact to be understood, not as something to be believed in. Learning about Christian and Muslim mythology is certainly as important as learning about Greek or Roman or Norse or Gaelic mythology.

Dawkins aptly described in a public radio interview what happens when a society goes beyond that. He correctly stated that today, in the name of tolerance for divergent religious beliefs, we are going down a treacherous path.

And the consequences ain't pretty.

"For more than two centuries, from the American and French Revolutions to the collapse of Soviet Communism, world politics revolved around eminently political problems," Mark Lilla wrote in the New York Times Magazine in August. "War and revolution, class and social justice, race and national identity -- these were the questions that divided us.

"Today, we have progressed to the point where our problems again resemble those of the 16th century, as we find ourselves entangled in conflicts over competing revelations, dogmatic purity and divine duty. We in the West are disturbed and confused. Though we have our own fundamentalists, we find it incomprehensible that theological ideas still stir up messianic passions, leaving societies in ruin. We had assumed this was no longer possible, that human beings had learned to separate religious questions from political ones, that fanaticism was dead," Lilla wrote. "We were wrong."

And the consequence of failing to attack religion as it seems Dawkins would like to see it attacked is that we now once again experience the phenomenon of mass murder in the name of someone or other's God.

The score is fundamentalists 1, John Locke 0, as Lilla might have put it.

If society had attacked the premise that religion is something to be believed in, maybe we wouldn't be in the sorry state we're in.

Anonymous (October 3, 2007 @ 10:51am):

7:52 - Who's to say they don't believe in God?

According to their website, "The Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., is an educational group working for the separation of state and church."

Just because you don't think religion has any place in the government doesn't mean you don't believe in God. Using the Constitution to prove a point...

who knew.

Anonymous (October 3, 2007 @ 4:38pm):

They have a Constitutional right to do this, however, I think it will backfire on them and show them as the hateful, close-minded group they are. And talk about calling the kettle black; FFRF engages in just as much "dogma" as any religious group, except theirs is based in atheism and hatefulness of all things religious. What a bunch of hypocrites.

Anonymous (October 3, 2007 @ 4:40pm):

This is hate speech toward religions, but do you think the current "hate laws" protect Christians? Hell, no. They are designed to protect homosexuals.

Anonymous (October 3, 2007 @ 7:08pm):

4:40pm has it completely right! Homosexuals have been persecuting Christians for centuries! Those homosexuals have been tearing apart loving Christian families, discriminating against Christians in employment, even going so far as forbidding two faithful, loving Christians from marrying each other! When will it end?!
- Germain Q. Stemme

Anonymous (October 4, 2007 @ 8:31am):

This is perhaps the most honest and forthright atheist group I have ever seen. Usually atheists promote some sort of peace, unity and tolerance message. These people are very honest in saying they want to wipe religion (not just Chrsitianity) out of the public square and ensure that people are not free to believe what they want. Taking an atheist position on whether or not a god exists is dogmatic. So yes, beware of dogma, but what dogma?
I don't like organized atheism, I'd much rather have an organized Christian church combatting sin and making their community a better place, what is this group doing for the people around it? Telling people what to think about God is not enlightment or freethinking or being "Bright". It is just indoctrination.

Anonymous (October 5, 2007 @ 8:10pm):

8:31am,

I'd much rather have an organized Islamic group patrolling your neighborhood and combatting your sin.

dogma - "A religious doctrine that is proclaimed as true without proof."

We will not stop putting up billboards until they outnumber the dogmatic ones.

Anonymous (October 6, 2007 @ 5:54am):

wow, all it says it "Beware of Dogma". so all of these counter-arguements are proving the FFRF's point by assuming that "Dogma" is referring to christianity. Thus im afraid that your counter arguements completely fail. Ha ha ha. It's funny to watch people argue without their heart AND mind backing them up. And i think this homophobic talk is very embarrassing, please do not label an entire sector of the population (i.e. homosexuals) as persecuting christians. Not all christians persecute atheists, but some do. But that does not lead to the assumption that ALL christians persecute atheists. Please could all of you, atheist and theist have the integrity to not label an entire group with the same attributes. The only things that atheists all have in common is that they do not believe in god and the only thing that christians have in common is that they believe in god. So let's not be prejudiced please, thank you.

Anonymous (October 13, 2007 @ 5:43am):

"Beware of Dogma". It is a sign which warns you to be careful not to mindlessly follow dogma without thinking through your actions as well. It's more of a humanistic warning than an antireligious attack.

Anonymous (October 15, 2007 @ 7:58pm):

"This is embarrassing. You don't believe in God, we get it. Now leave the rest of us and our faith alone."

When you people stop trying to convert all of us, and stop persecuting us, and stop teaching your kids to fear us, then we'll leave you alone.

Stephen Voss (October 17, 2007 @ 6:28pm):

When I encountered this sign, I was relieved to see that the mindless Christian Dogmatic and Fundamentally Always Right Mob may have not entirely cornered the roadside garbage monopoly. But as usual the mindless and readily offended can't conceptualize the idea of thinking (for themselves) long enough to understand the statement "Beware of Dogma" is not an attack on God. It isn't an attack at all, just a reminder to think for a change. God didn't create dogma, man did.

Anonymous (October 19, 2007 @ 12:46am):

"These people are very honest in saying they want to wipe religion (not just Chrsitianity) out of the public square and ensure that people are not free to believe what they want."
Huh? This is not what they say. Individuals are free to believe what they want but government should not support any particular religious message. Religion is not to be taken out of the public square... It is to be taken out of the government square (City/State property)

"...what is this group doing for the people around it?"
Promoting rational, critical thinking and skepticism of dogma. That is progressive and that is positive. Way more positive than saying 'Just accept this as true. You have to have faith."

How is athiesm dogma? Not believing in god is no more dogmatic than not believing aliens have visited earth. It's simply lacking the conviction that something is so. It's forming opinions based on evidence and reason and is open to change. Dogma is set, fixed, and immutable.

Beware of Dogma. It's illogical.

Anonymous (October 24, 2007 @ 3:43pm):

Beautifully said.

Anonymous (October 24, 2007 @ 6:56pm):

To the first person who posted: How about "This is embarrassing. You believe in God, we get it. Now leave the rest of us alone."

You don't get it...we atheists feel exactly the same way about all the religious billboards and stuff that people put up. It's imposing, presumptuous, and offensive to many of us, though by and large we have learned to harden ourselves against such things, frequent as they are. It's about time religious people realized that there are people who feel differently, and that those people deserve to be heard as much as anyone else.

Anonymous (October 24, 2007 @ 8:55pm):

We ALL wont progress as human beings until religion ceases to exist on this planet. I read a great quote online; "If it weren't for religion, Columbus may very well have landed on the moon - instead of 'discovering' America!"

Anonymous (November 20, 2007 @ 10:46am):

Why so Fearful of something if you dont believe in it? This urge to attack God, Religions or anything for that matter indicates a fear. There is nothing to Fear if you do not believe its real...right?
Maybe you are all just very confused.

Anonymous (December 31, 2007 @ 12:25pm):

I like it. The church I belong to (zzco.org) posts a lot of stuff that we KNOW is true, like the recipe for 'chrism' being made with pot, and the lineage of the heir to the throne of David is Ethiopian. But that's simple linguistics and DNA checking (science).

But that 'belief' stuff, it's a form of mental illness. Don't do it (it will damage your brain).

At least, that's how our church views it.

And that sign is correct in more ways than one. For example, one needs to be sure that one is holding nothing that will make a mess when viewing 'Dogma' with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and George Carlin (I spewed in places).

writch

Anonymous (August 27, 2008 @ 12:23pm):

Hahahahaha. This is America, where we have the right to believe any kind of stupid nonsense we want. Did you know, for example, that there is a large segment of the population who believes there to be an invisible man in the sky who happens to be King Of The Universe? It is alleged that this invisible man raped a maiden in Palestine roughly 20 centuries ago, and that she gave birth to a demigod who was dead for a while but is now alive again and is the only person who can save all of us from some nebulous concept called "sin." I am skeptical of this version of events, and I'm the intolerant, fearful, crazy one???

Anonymous (October 25, 2008 @ 6:51am):

I don't see what the big deal is, christian organizations can plaster their billboards and signs all over the place but when a group like the Freedom From Religion Foundation does so, all of a sudden that's a problem? And what if Wiccans, or Islamics were to put up their billboards(not that they would, mind you)? You bigots and hypocrites would probably have a problem with that, too, wouldn't you?
In other words, shut the hell up and let it go...

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