{"id":741,"date":"2008-10-21T10:38:43","date_gmt":"2008-10-21T14:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anglicansamizdat.wordpress.com\/?p=741"},"modified":"2008-10-21T10:38:43","modified_gmt":"2008-10-21T14:38:43","slug":"the-promise-of-eternal-nothingness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/the-promise-of-eternal-nothingness\/","title":{"rendered":"The promise of Eternal Nothingness"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Telegraph<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Prof Richard Dawkins drives support for London’s first atheist bus advert <\/strong><\/p>\n

Campaigners believe the messages will provide a “reassuring” antidote to religious adverts that “threaten eternal damnation” to passengers.
\nThe routes on which the atheist buses could be placed have not yet been fixed, but they would travel through the central London borough of Westminster and so could pass close to Westminster Abbey, a Christian place of worship for more than 1,000 years.
\nProf Dawkins, Oxford University’s Professor of the Public Understanding of Science, said: “Religion is accustomed to getting a free ride \u2013 automatic tax breaks, unearned ‘respect’ and the right not to be ‘offended’, the right to brainwash children. Even on the buses, nobody thinks twice when they see a religious slogan plastered across the side.
\n“This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think \u2013 and thinking is anathema to religion.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When was the last time you saw an advertisement on a bus threatening eternal damnation?<\/p>\n

Leaving aside for a moment the question of the truth, or otherwise, of Christianity, how \u2013 I almost said ‘in heaven\u2019s name’ \u2013 can the promise of no eternity be \u2018reassuring\u2019. Without God and life after death, loved ones will be gone forever, morality has no anchor and love itself is a meaningless chemical reaction. If nothingness follows death it makes all that appears before of no consequence \u2013 ‘a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing’. Jesus promises neither eternal nothingness, nor eternal damnation, but eternal life ‘with joys that earth cannot afford’.<\/p>\n

And if Dawkins is suffering under the illusion that ‘thinking is anathema to religion’, clearly he has learned nothing from his encounters with John Lennox.<\/p>\n

In a characteristically western spirit of self-flagellation, the British Methodist Church is welcoming the ad campaign. From Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Rev Jenny Ellis, Spirituality and Discipleship Officer, said, \u201cWe are grateful to Richard for his continued interest in God and for encouraging people to think about these issues. This campaign will be a good thing if it gets people to engage with the deepest questions of life.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bravo, the British Methodist Church, a very Anglican statement; like you, the Anglican church has difficulty distinguishing between loving its enemies and agreeing with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Telegraph Prof Richard Dawkins drives support for London’s first atheist bus advert Campaigners believe the messages will provide a “reassuring” antidote to religious adverts that “threaten eternal damnation” to passengers. The routes on which the atheist buses could … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[2080,2136],"class_list":["post-741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","tag-christianity","tag-evolution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}