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Atheist Tracts?

Mason

Critical Thinker
M
Joined
Jul 23, 2004
Messages
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Has anyone come across any atheist propaganda such as tracts or pamphlets?

Recently I have noticed an intolerable amount of christian propaganda tucked into the window of my car, and today I found that the xians have raided my apartment building and littered the corridors with pamphlets.

I think it's time to start decorating the windshields of the fish-cars with pamphlets dedicated to education and understanding, to at the very least give them a moment to think and, at the best, annoy the hell out of some paper-throwing fundies.

So, any sources of atheist propaganda out there?
 
Mason said:

Has anyone come across any atheist propaganda such as tracts or pamphlets?

Recently I have noticed an intolerable amount of christian propaganda tucked into the window of my car, and today I found that the xians have raided my apartment building and littered the corridors with pamphlets.

I think it's time to start decorating the windshields of the fish-cars with pamphlets dedicated to education and understanding, to at the very least give them a moment to think and, at the best, annoy the hell out of some paper-throwing fundies.

So, any sources of atheist propaganda out there?
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Do you mean like the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx? ;)
 
Do you mean like the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx?

Not precisely, something of just a few paragraphs. Anything longer would have to be incredibly entertaining to keep the attention of the casual reader. I'm also thinking of cost, so something more of the single page folded in thirds would be more appropriate.
 
If all you wanted was to sort of vent a little about windshield spam, then I'm with you; that always chaps me too. If you wanted a more serious answer, I'd say this:

Baiting fundies may seem like cheap entertainment, but it really isn't very sporting, and distributing tracts strikes me as undignified and disrespectful regardless of the content. It is the sort of thing I would expect from someone tormented by his own doubts.

Once a belief system (or the lack thereof) ceases to be the central fact about your life, you move on to other things. What you do with that speaks for itself; the ultimate propaganda does not appear in the form of tracts or pamphlets, but in the way you live your life.
 
Mason said:
and today I found that the xians have raided my apartment building and littered the corridors with pamphlets.
Click to expand...
First order of business: Fire your doorman!
Second order of business: Write a letter of complaint to your landlord.
Third: Consider legal action (something along the lines of littering charges)
 
I remember a while back, some wacko anti-Catholic tracts were being dropped all over Tampa. They at least had an interesting hook - they in part resembled money, so your gut reaction (if you've any greed at all) was to scoop them right up. I remember tossing hundreds of these in the trash out of disappointment before I finally read one - which was largely about the Cult Awareness Network being a Catholic terrorist/brainwashing group.

So remember - if you're going to drop Atheist propaganda, make it look like money! (But not TOO much like Money - the Feds still frown on drawing money... :D)
 
I thought the Cult Awareness Network was snapped up by the Scientologists and used as a front for more evil.

I think some nice atheist propaganda in the style of Chick Tracts would be hilarious. They'd have to stick to Chick's style by attacking all the religions with distortions, slander, stereotypes, and really funny line drawings. Evil people would have to laugh by saying "Haw Haw Haw!"

Here are some ideas: "Poor Forever" would be about a nice Catholic family with eleven children, because they don't believe in birth control. "Second Class Citizen" could be about a traditional Muslim family, where the women have to veil up and walk behind the men. "Mass Marriage Madness" could be about the Mormons, and the title could be reused for the Moonies. We could even go historical, and "Wasted Treasure" could explain that the ancient Egyptians sealed up a vast portion of their national wealth in tombs instead of actually using it to improve the lives of the living.

Since I'm positive no Chick Tract has ever converted anybody, I doubt these would be effective. But can you picture the stink they would cause? Fundies are already convinced that secular education, by simply NOT preaching religion, is trying to convert people to atheism--what would they do if we actively set out to make converts? Maybe they'd actually agree to a mutual hands-off of public education.

edited for spelling.
 
This might make a good tract:


http://www.atheistalliance.org/libr...theist_faq.html
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Excellent! That's right on the line of what I'm thinking of.

Something short enough to hold attention long enough to be read through, yet not hard hitting like Chick's which would turn people off due to the style instead of the message. Thanks!

Dynamic, I'm pretty much in agreement with that, I think you've summed it up nicely. I'm anoyed at the influence religion has in this country, and finding trash stuck to my car or door just rubs the point home with some sand. Half of me wants to respond by annoying the offenders, while the other half wants to find a constructive way to fight the propaganda. I'm really coming up short on ideas, though.


TragicMonkey, Yeah, I think that would satisfy my need to annoy the anoyers. It might even bring some attention to the situation that could cause people to stop and think.

I make a strong policy of not fighting the system on sundays (my only day off), so, how do we get started on Monday? ;)
 
I'd concentrate on secularism rather than atheism.

I'm not sure how atheism could have anything recognisably common between different 'non'-believers, otherwise we'd all have some book on our shelf, like Das Kapital.

Atheism does not and cannot supplant religion, it exists as an alternative.

I personally don't care if people want to hold supernatural and paranormal beliefs (beyond debating it with them for the sheer hell of it), where I do get exciteable is the attempts to suggest my society should be run according to their rules.
 
If you join the InfidelGuy.com website, there is a one page PDF you can download which serves as an atheist 'tract'.
 
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