I have but one thing to say to these foolish, defiant atheists, who dare to   
   mock God openly, and that is this:   
      
   "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of   
   the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the   
   LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder,   
   and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall   
   laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them   
   in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king   
   upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said   
   unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I   
   shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts   
   of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;   
   thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now   
   therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD   
   with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and   
   ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are   
   all they that put their trust in him."   
   Psalms 2:1-12, KJV   
      
   "[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.] The fool hath said in his heart,   
   There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is   
   none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of   
   men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are   
   all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that   
   doeth good, no, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who   
   eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD."   
   Psalms 14:1-4, KJV   
      
   "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men   
   liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."   
   James 1:5, KJV   
      
      
   Atheist Ads on Buses Rattle Fort Worth   
      
   By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.   
      
   December 13, 2010   
      
      
   FORT WORTH -- Stand on a corner in this city and you might get a case of   
   theological whiplash.   
      
   A public bus rolls by with an atheist message on its side: "Millions of   
   people are good without God." Seconds later, a van follows bearing a   
   riposte: "I still love you. -- God," with another line that says, "2.1   
   billion Christians are good with God."   
      
   A clash of beliefs has rattled this city ever since atheists bought ad space   
   on four city buses to reach out to nonbelievers who might feel isolated   
   during the Christmas season. After all, Fort Worth is a place where   
   residents commonly ask people they have just met where they worship and many   
   encounters end with, "Have a blessed day."   
      
   "We want to tell people they are not alone," said Terry McDonald, the   
   chairman of Metroplex Atheists, part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of   
   Reason, which paid for the atheist ads. "People don't realize there are   
   other atheists. All you hear around here is, 'Where do you go to church?' "   
      
   But the reaction from believers has been harsher than anyone in the   
   nonbeliever's club expected. Some ministers organized a boycott of the   
   buses, with limited success. Other clergy members are pressing the Fort   
   Worth Transportation Authority to ban all religious advertising on public   
   buses. And a group of local businessmen paid for the van with the Christian   
   message to follow the atheist-messaged buses around town.   
      
   "We just wanted to reach out to them and let them know about God's love,"   
   said Heath Hill, president of the media company that owns the van and one of   
   the businessmen who arranged for the Christian ads. "We have gotten some   
   pretty nasty e-mails and phone calls from atheists. But it's really just   
   about the love of God."   
      
   The face-off here follows efforts in other cities by several coalitions of   
   atheists -- American Atheists, the United Coalition of Reason and the   
   Freedom From Religion Foundation, to name a few -- that have mounted ad   
   campaigns to encourage nonbelievers to seek out others of like mind. Some   
   have compared their efforts to the struggle of gay men and lesbians to "come   
   out" and win acceptance from society.   
      
   In New York City, a large billboard promoting atheism at the entrance of the   
   Lincoln Tunnel, which a local affiliate of American Atheists paid for, has   
   generated controversy. (The message: "You know it's a myth. This season,   
   celebrate reason!)   
      
   The Fort Worth group is affiliated with the United Coalition of Reason,   
   whose local chapters have bought bus ads in Detroit, northwest Arkansas,   
   Philadelphia and Washington, as well as billboards in more than a dozen   
   cities, among them Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, Seattle and St. Louis.   
   Most show a blue sky with variations on this message: "Don't believe in God?   
   You are not alone."   
      
   The ads have incited anger in some places. Vandals destroyed two bus ads in   
   Detroit, ruined a billboard in Tampa, Fla., and defaced 10 billboards in   
   Sacramento. One billboard in Cincinnati was taken down after the landlord   
   received threats.   
      
   And the local rapid transit authority in Des Moines pulled atheist ads off   
   its buses in August last year because of complaints from local religious   
   leaders. Four days later, however, the authority reversed its position after   
   the local group that had bought the ads threatened legal action on First   
   Amendment grounds.   
      
   But nowhere has the reaction of believers been so forceful as in Fort Worth,   
   to the delight of Fred Edwords, the national director of the United   
   Coalition of Reason.   
      
   The coalition's local chapter spent only $2,400 for four bus ads, which will   
   run through the month in a city with about 200 buses.   
      
   "That's more brouhaha for the buck than we have seen anywhere," Mr. Edwords   
   said.   
      
   Some of the fiercest criticism has come from black religious leaders. The   
   Rev. Kyev Tatum Sr., president of the local Southern Christian Leadership   
   Conference, has called for a boycott of the buses, saying the ads are a   
   direct attack during a sacred time in the Christian calendar.   
      
   "It's a season to share good will toward all men," Mr. Tatum said. "To have   
   this at this time come out with a blatant disrespect of our faith, we think   
   is unconscionable."   
      
   While Mr. Tatum and about 20 other pastors have urged their congregations to   
   avoid the buses, a smaller group met recently with the transportation   
   authority's president to demand that the policy allowing religious   
   advertising on buses be reversed Wednesday at a meeting of the authority's   
   board. The bus system in nearby Dallas bans all religious ads.   
      
   "I'm not against them getting their message out," said the Rev. Julius L.   
   Jackson, pastor at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church. "I just don't think   
   it should be on public transportation."   
      
   Dick Ruddell, the president of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, said   
   churches were free to advertise. The only ads not accepted, Mr. Ruddell   
   said, are those that have to do with a few vices, like cigarettes and   
   alcohol. "There is nothing in the policy about religious content," he said.   
      
   Not all religious leaders are offended by the bus ads.   
      
   "It doesn't seem to me as an in-your-face, God-is-not-good message," said   
   Tim Bruster, the senior pastor at First United Methodist Church, where 3,500   
   families worship. "My very strong opinion is that, as people of faith, the   
   very thing we should not do is lash out and condemn."   
      
   Mr. McDonald, chairman of the local atheist group, said the ad was intended   
   not to insult Christians, but to console atheists. The initial plan, he   
   said, was to run the ad on the Fourth of July, which is why it features   
   dozens of portraits of Texas atheists in an American flag motif.   
      
   But raising money and pulling together photos took longer than expected, he   
   said, and the ad was not ready until last month.   
      
   "It can be pretty lonely for a nonbeliever at Christmastime around here.   
   There is so much religion," Mr. McDonald said. "We thought, 'What the heck?   
   Nobody owns December.' "   
      
      
      
   Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23   
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