There’s an early winter solstice surprise coming to a corner near you in Seattle, courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

You know, they’re the folks who want to move the immaculately conceived fable of baby Jesus in the manger back to churches and out of the public square. Somehow, they think, it’s not a good fit with the separation of state and church that America’s founders wrote into the U.S. Constitution.

They also think this surprise is too good to keep under gift wrap, so here it is: Starting this week, the Foundation is sponsoring 100 ads on Seattle buses that say "Yes, Virginia, there is no God." That’s coming straight from the Santa’s mouth on the signs, 100 of which will be king-sized exterior ads, with about 300 smaller ads inside buses.

The interior ads feature six provocative quotations by five famous skeptics of history, plus a quote from perhaps the world’s preeminent atheist, Richard Dawkins, author of the bestselling "The God Delusion." The ad features Dawkin’s comment from the book: "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction."

The ads also feature quotes from Emily Dickinson, Butterfly McQueen, Katharine Hepburn and Clarence Darrow, who famously said, "I don’t believe in God, because I don’t believe in Mother Goose." Actress Butterfly McQueen, who played Prissy in "Gone with the Wind," said: "As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion." McQueen was a nearly lifelong atheist.

Obviously, the "Yes, Virginia" reference is a play on the famous question posed by 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon in 1897 to the New York Sun newspaper: "Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ’If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?"

The rest is history. In an unsigned editorial, the Sun’s Francis P. Church (ouch!) wrote his "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" line, along with, "Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies!"

Freethinkers and skeptics have a hard time with the belief thing, which is what’s behind the ads, said Dan Barker, Foundation co-president. "Most people think December is for Christians and view our solstice signs as an intrusion, when actually it’s the other way around," he said. "People have been celebrating the winter solstice long before Christmas. We see Christianity as the intruder, trying to steal the natural holiday from all of us humans."

The Foundation, which has more than 14,000 members, asks only that reason may prevail, all year round: "There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world," as the Foundation’s sign said last year in the Washington State Capitol (resulting in a moratorium on all inside displays, per the Foundation’s request).

Annie Laurie Gaylor, Foundation co-president, said the winter solstice has been celebrated for thousands of years in the Northern Hemisphere, with festivals of light, evergreen trees, feasts and gift exchanges.

"We nonbelievers don’t mind sharing the season with Christians," Gaylor said, "but we think there should be some acknowledgment that Christians really ’stole’ the trimmings of Christmas, and the sun-god myths, from pagans."

The bus signs are timed to be a "jolly and irreverent" greeting for the 600 Foundation members descending on downtown Seattle for the Foundation’s 32nd annual convention Nov. 6-8, 2009.

Uneducated swine.

That’s funny.

Uneducated....Wotan hung upon the tree Yggdrasil for nine days and endured the loss of an eye to gain the knowledge of rune-writing.

Swine.....Remember to whisper into the boar’s ear before you slaughter him for the solstice holiday feast so that Yngvi-Freyr will hear your supplications.

Wait....are you saying there is no Santa?

Check your spelling. I think he’s saying there’s no Satan.

That is almost as cool as this ad on buses. Pictures if you follow the link.

Even though I am an atheist, I say this whole thing is bullshit. They want to separate religious opinions from the American public, but don’t mind throwing their own out there. Plus, they don’t mind spreading the fact that the winter solstice holidays are inherently pagan. Why should they want a ’secular public’ to acknowledge this? And since when has Christian belief stopped secularists from enjoying and celebrating the holidays in their own way. And why focus only on Christian holidays? There are many others from other religions. And how can we expect to make the American public secular when about 84% of the population is Christian in some form or another?

This is all bullshit for Christian-haters...

Mike Rice [Dionysus] wrote:
And how can we expect to make the American public secular when about 84% of the population is Christian in some form or another?

Put signs on a bus?

Seems like a silly gag to me, more intent on proving that they are able to do it than anything else.

Mike Rice [Dionysus] wrote:
Even though I am an atheist, I say this whole thing is bullshit. They want to separate religious opinions from the American public, but don’t mind throwing their own out there. Plus, they don’t mind spreading the fact that the winter solstice holidays are inherently pagan. Why should they want a ’secular public’ to acknowledge this? And since when has Christian belief stopped secularists from enjoying and celebrating the holidays in their own way. And why focus only on Christian holidays? There are many others from other religions. And how can we expect to make the American public secular when about 84% of the population is Christian in some form or another?



This is all bullshit for Christian-haters...

I’m not as put off as you by this, but you got a point, I did kind of think that this sounded more like something a Wiccan group would do, not a secualr group

dan the buraku wrote:

Mike Rice [Dionysus] wrote:

Even though I am an atheist, I say this whole thing is bullshit. They want to separate religious opinions from the American public, but don’t mind throwing their own out there. Plus, they don’t mind spreading the fact that the winter solstice holidays are inherently pagan. Why should they want a ’secular public’ to acknowledge this? And since when has Christian belief stopped secularists from enjoying and celebrating the holidays in their own way. And why focus only on Christian holidays? There are many others from other religions. And how can we expect to make the American public secular when about 84% of the population is Christian in some form or another?





This is all bullshit for Christian-haters...

I’m not as put off as you by this, but you got a point, I did kind of think that this sounded more like something a Wiccan group would do, not a secualr group

It sounds exactly like something a secular group would do, I think.

They want to erase someone else’s opinion in order to promote their own. In a country like this, everyone should be represented, not just atheists. Or Christians. If a community is mostly Christian, I expect to see Christian signs. If it is most Islamic, I expect to see Muslim signs. If it is mostly secular, I expect to see secular signs.

But signs that say, "THERE IS NO GOD" isn’t secular, it is just a commercialized and propagandistic attempt to tear down the non-secular parties.

Uhh I think the whole thing is just a joke. It’s obviously not meant to change minds. Theres no argument or behind it. More to get people to think and read it and say "darn those atheists!" but legally they can’t do anything about it, or at least they shouldn’t even though they probably will try. Its just a little smack in the face for them, just like they do to us every time they post their own religious props on our courts and city halls.

[Number One] [[R.I.P. SexySindy.<3]] wrote:
Uhh I think the whole thing is just a joke. It’s obviously not meant to change minds. Theres no argument or behind it. More to get people to think and read it and say "darn those atheists!" but legally they can’t do anything about it, or at least they shouldn’t even though they probably will try. Its just a little smack in the face for them, just like they do to us every time they post their own religious props on our courts and city halls.

Only they don’t joke... so why should we?

I like it. If they get offended by it, even better. In fact, until they agree to pull all of their propagandist shit down & stay out of the schools, I’d like to see the country draped in those signs!

Shannon wrote:
I like it. If they get offended by it, even better. In fact, until they agree to pull all of their propagandist shit down & stay out of the schools, I’d like to see the country draped in those signs!

I would tend to agree with you, but we have to remember that whatever damage their propaganda causes, our propaganda could cause equal harm. We must be wary to not become the very thing we seek to defeat.