It used to be that wearing a shirt with the headline “Atheist” was considered to be the gold standard in testing public reception of the label. Most of us never wore such shirts and assumed that non-atheists would be confrontational or, at the least, expect the shirt-wearer to be confrontational. Living in the bible belt, I get it. Don’t expect to see me wearing such a shirt to a job interview. Still, Americans came close to having our first non-Christian candidate for President this year with Bernie Sanders. This suggests that at least half the population of the US is more receptive than ever. So I made shirts.
They aren’t as explicit as a shirt with the big block letters A-T-H-E-I-S-T. Think of them as part of a campaign. Each shirt displays a passage of the bible, not unlike a Christian wearing John 3:16 across their chest. The primary difference is that the passages available here are the parts of the bible Christians don’t advertise. They are about God commanding the murder of kids, approving the institution of slavery and keeping women down. They highlight why the bible is #notworthfollowing.
Let me know what you think.
My guess is that these will be perceived as even more confrontational than an atheist shirt by many Christians since they indicate that their "holy" book is not worth following. But for those looking to make such a statement, they look like a good option.
ReplyDeletePerhaps. My first instinct was to leave off the #notworthfollowing tag and just let people look up the passages not expecting them to be good or bad. I focus grouped that one and the consensus was that people would assume the wearer is Christian and endorsing these awful messages.
DeleteAn intriguing strategy. It would force people to look up those passages and confront the horrific content of the Bible.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of getting people to look up those verses, and I think the #notworthfollowing tag helps with that. But a t-shirt might be confrontational. I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI drove around Tampa, Florida for years with a bumper sticker that read "Member, American Atheists." I think that sticker is why the cop didn't give me a speeding ticket when I was guilty.
But when I decided to return home to North Carolina, my cousin said "I dare you to leave that sticker on." Well, I would have if I had a death wish. The better part of valor and all that...
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