According to at least two billboards placed by an atheist group in Kernersville, North Carolina, Santa Claus thinks it is perfectly alright to skip church on Christmas. The billboards were installed by American Atheists Inc., who posted similar billboards last year, featuring a little girl telling Santa how all she wants for Christmas is to skip church because she is too old for fairy tales.
The billboards that were put up earlier this month, read, “Go ahead and skip church! Just be good for goodness’ sake. Happy Holidays.”
This set of billboards are yet another take off on the famous ‘Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus’ editorial that was published in New York Sun in 1987, as a response to a question asked by an 8-year-old girl about whether Santa really exists.
“We wanted people to do a double take when they looked at the billboard,” Nick Fish, American Atheists’ national program director, said. “Santa is a mostly secular symbol of the holidays.”
Outfront Media, the marketing company for both billboards, was not available for comment.
The billboards are one of the many ways that American Atheists Inc. has chosen to start a conversation about what it is to be “good” with reference to the popular Christmas carol “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” as well as tell local atheists that they are not alone during the holiday season.
“We want people to know that going to church has absolutely nothing to do with being a good person,” David Silverman, president of American Atheists, said in a statement. “The things that are most important during the holiday season — spending time with loved ones, charity and being merry — have nothing to do with religion.”
Certain religious and civic officials in the locality believe that the atheist group is purposely poking, even if not provoking, a response from Christians by dismissing the significance of religious services, particularly during Christmas.
Fish did not say why American Atheists Inc. chose Kernersville as the site for the billboards.
“It is important for these folks who are on the fence about their beliefs to know that they can take that first big step and leave church,” Fish said. “We think it is important for people in Winston-Salem, and in any place we put up billboards or hold events, to know that there are atheists already in your community.”
When he was asked how his group defines “good” and what its definition is based on, Fish said that the billboards were not part of a theological debate.
“There are literally hundreds of other belief structures and moral codes that people can arrive at entirely independent of Biblical standards and influence,” he said. “In general, we would hope that people treat others as they wish to be treated, make the world a better place for future generations, and strive to make this life, the only life we’ve got, the best we can.”
Robert Decker, pastor at Triad Baptist Church, said that the billboards were a blatant and mocking attack on all those who believe in Jesus Christ.
“I would never be so brazen as to advertise that in billboard format. It is clearer than ever today that the chasm between a call to exalt Christ and the call to exalt man himself is widening.”
Ben Cotton, pastor at Kernersville Community Church, however said that the billboards did not offend him.
“The atheist group is right, in a sense, that you don’t have to go to church to be good as some people define good. The Bible teaches there is much more going on when it comes to what is good, that God makes us good through giving us spiritual goodness,” he said while trying to explain how people should take a deeper look at what “good” and “truth” really mean. “To me, truth is something timeless, such as the Ten Commandments, rather than truth and goodness being a matter of each person’s conscience and moral compass that can represent a sliding scale for what is good and not good in society. Churches at large should send out a message that God is real, that he loves us and going to church is our way of showing that love back through worship.”
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