GENERAL DESIGN GUIDELINES

We are looking for designs that capture our theme for 2011: “Atheists coming out.” We know this is challenging, so here are some things to consider:

Our mission is to make atheism a viable alternative in the Puget Sound. So, you could reflect on the positive aspects of atheism, and focus on ideas if inclusion, community, freedom, knowledge, evolution, science, etc.

You could also focus on specific aspects of atheism in the Puget Sound (but remember, the Space Needle is a trademarked building, so must be used in the context of a cityscape, and not alone).

Our vision is:

• A Puget Sound that accepts atheism as a viable alternative in all areas of public and private life.

Our mission is to:

• Grow, support, and provide community for atheists in the Puget Sound.
• Educate the public about atheism and present it as positive and legitimate.
• Provide information and encourage education in science and critical thought.
• Encourage the public to look for credible evidence rather than superstition, dogma, and the supernatural.
• Support the Constitution of the United States, defend the wall of separation between church and state, and inform the public about policy that infringes on that separation.

We strongly encourage you to use all the humor and creativity you can muster. Rock our world. Be funny. Be clever. Be creative. Most of all, have fun!

DEADLINE: Designs must be submitted by 12:00 AM PST, October 15, 2010

Some of the previous designs:

HOW IT WORKS

1. Create your T-shirt design.
2. Submit your design to the Flickr design pool for review.*
3. An internal panel of Seattle Atheists committee members will conduct the first round of judging to select the top five designs.
4. These designs will be posted on SeattleAtheists.org for public voting — you tell us who wins!
5. The winning design will be featured in the Seattle Atheists fair booths throughout 2011 as an exclusive item!

*Flickr is a photo sharing website. Tagging allows you to group similar photos for viewing, Groups are created to form communities of shared interest and goals. Creating an account is free. For more information please visit: www.Flickr.com and make sure to check out the Flickr FAQ if you have more questions.

PRIZES

There will be one first place winner, who will receive intergalactic acclaim for their design of the official Seattle Atheists 2011 T-shirt, two T-shirts with the winning design, and a $50 gift certificate. Four runners-up will receive a free Seattle Atheists T-shirt with the winning design.

DESIGN RULES

• Your design must be created in a Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) program, such as Adobe Illustrator. If your design is selected, you will be asked to submit your print-ready design file via e-mail to qualify for the second round.
• You can submit more than one design, but only one of your designs may qualify for the second round.
• Your design will be printed on the front of the t-shirt only and must fit within a 10″ x 10″ area. It should not cover the sleeves or any seams.
• Be sure to include the color of the shirt in your design (please, no white shirts!)

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

• Save your file as a JPG or PNG image format and upload it into your Flickr account.
• Join the Seattle Atheists T-Shirt Design Contest Flickr group and add your image to the pool.
• Tag your photo with the phrase “Seattle Atheists t-shirt contest”. This will allow us to search for and pull your photo into a public image
  gallery.
• Make sure your Flickr account has a valid e-mail address, or we won’t be able to contact you! You will have 5 days from the date of first-round selection notification to get back to us so that we can get you moved onto the next round.

JUDGING

First round
Designs will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• Concept and originality
• Effective communication of the theme (“Atheists coming out”)
• Completeness of design (must be ready to send to the printers)
• Must be visible and eye-catching from a distance.
• Must not contain more than three colors, and cannot contain gradients.

Second round

• The top five designers will be contacted through Flickr to submit their high-resolution design files via e-mail.
• The top five designs will be posted on SeattleAtheists.org for public voting.
• The winner and runners-up will be notified by e-mail

GENERAL RULES

• Since this is a fundraiser for Seattle Atheists, the winning artist design will become the exclusive property of Seattle Atheists, and 100% of the proceeds of the sales of the t-shirts will go to Seattle Atheists.
• You can collaborate with a design group, but one person must represent the group in the contest and only one person may submit the design to the Flickr photo pool.
• You may submit more than one design, but only one design per person or group may advance to the second round of judging.
• Designs which attack religion; contain copyrighted material or images, trademarks, or intellectual property; contain explicitly profane or obscene material; endorsement or encouragement of illegal drug use, alcohol abuse or other illegal activity; contain nudity, profanity, violence; any derogatory characterization of any person or group based on religion, political affiliation, or other ethical or unlawful factors will be rejected.
• Anyone in Washington or Oregon, including college students who attend college in Washington or Oregon. The contest is only open to entrants over the age of 18 in the Pacific Northwest.

FAQ

Q: Can I make a new Seattle Atheists logo?
A: No.

Q: Can I include logos from other organizations/companies/entities/people in my design?
A: No (see General Rules).

Q: How are winners notified? How can I claim my prize?
A: First-round winners will be notified via Flickr mail. You have 5 days from the date of notification to respond with the print-ready SVG design file in order to qualify for round two. The second-round winner and the four runners-up will be notified via email with instructions on how to claim their prize.

Q: Will I get credit for my design?
A: Yes! Your name will be displayed with the t-shirts at the street fairs throughout 2011, and on our website! Of course, if you want to stay sooper-seekrit, we can do that too, and give you your kudos in seekrit.

Due to budget cuts at libraries, we’ve had to make changes to the format and location of our bi-monthly membership meetings.

First, we will no longer meet at the Greenlake Library, which is now closed on Sundays. We’ll be holding out meetings in a variety of places, throughout the greater Seattle area. This allows our members who have limited transportation options to get the chance to attend occasionally.

Since we’ve grown so much in the past two years, membership meetings are typically packed. We’re looking for larger venues.

Finally, we’ll be serving snacks and light refreshments after the speakers, so that you will have an opportunity to network with other atheists and agnostics.

We hope you will like the changes, and ask that you bear with us as we try to communicate those changes with you. We will post the most current meeting information here on this website, so stay tuned.

Thanks for your continued support as we try to better serve you!

You do not, under any kind of decent moral standing have the right to target children with your ads. The idea of using a child fantasy such as Santa Claus to attract their attention is just as moral as Camel cigarettes using Joe the Camel to sell their garbage.

I am all for your free rights of speech. You have a right to push your ideas. Just as I have a right to push what I believe in. But, SHOVING your NON beliefs down the throats of children that have other cultures is unacceptable.

I just read your news release. Using the founding fathers as you are, if you have legitimate proof of their religious standings is one thing. But having a giant Santa Claus to get little childrens attention is very immoral. What were you thinking?

Then again, religion is often the foundation of teaching morals, so maybe that is what has happened with your decision making ability?

How would you like me to stand somewhere your child/grand childre, or someone in your organizations young people, and tell them you are a liar? Just as your ad says to our children? Would you like your child to pass such contradiction of what you teach? Maybe I should put some ads out there with, I don’t know, a super hero,with a big ad as ignorant as yours, stating, “I got all my powers from God”

Everyone in this world has a right to believe what they do, and to raise their families the way they find to be the truest in their hearts.
What this ad is trying to accomplish is the very thing you are supposedly fighting!

You attempt to brainwash people! Leave MY children alone.

Any serious problems with the content of the comment will be left as an exercise for the reader. However, I would like to point out a couple of things which might be important to people:

1. The Santa Claus bus signs on the outside were contracted by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and are completely independent of our signs on the inside of the bus.
2. That whole part about “How would you like me to stand somewhere your child/grand childre, or someone in your organizations young people, and tell them you are a liar”? That happens. A lot.
3. Atheism is apparently as bad as smoking.
4. I’m also pretty sure that the whole super hero thing she’s talking about already exists. Just sayin’.

The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs is exactly what it claims to be. I mean this statement in a way that goes beyond the simple aptness of the title. Say what you will about the merits of the project, but this is an excellent proposal for a book, and it is aptly executed by Jacobs. The seemingly simple concept is stretched for over 300 pages. After the first chapter or so, the reader pretty much gets the idea–but the book does remain interesting and entertaining for its entirety.

This journal of Jacobs’s experiences and thoughts are relayed in a blog-like format. Each chapter, which corresponds to a month, consists of multiple sections (“posts”), corresponding to the events and reactions of the day. To ensure a complete experience, Jacobs will often set himself specific rules or behaviors to focus on for a set time. I was a big fan of the Blogging the Bible sereis by David Plotz, but there were several aspects of Old Testament law I was completely unaware (for example: I’d somehow managed to remain unaware of both shofar blowing and various bird egg rituals). Jacobs frequency admits his obsessions with his Amazon.com rankings, and the placement of his previous book at airport stores. There is very clearly defined target audience for this work. Jacobs consistently hits the target dead center, leading to the unsurprising popular success of the novel.

I feel a little odd about this. It is generally advisable to review the book you actually read, not the book you wish the author had written. And like I mentioned, Jacobs succeeded in writing an interesting and readable book. But it is clearly aimed at the airplane-reading/book-of-the-month level. But I am an inherently selfish reader, and this book often was not what I wanted it to be. Whenever there is the opportunity to expand in some detail on the historical basis or philosophical implications of some topic, Jacobs consistently demurs. Instead, a witty declaration is offered, and the narrative amiably advances onward. Two examples stand out, but there are many others.

First, the notion of the relationship between the first commandment and strict monotheism. Part of the goal of the project is for Jacobs to “get into the head” of the ancient Israelites. Here is the entire discussion of how many gods there really are (pg 183 of the paperback, Day 154):

Even more exasperating: If I do get to the bedrock, it may be such a strange bedrock that I won’t be able to process it. In Karen Armstrong’s terrific book A History of God, she says that the ancient Israelites weren’t really monotheists. They believed in the existence of many Gods. Hence, the command “You shall have no other Gods before me.” It doesn’t say “You shall have no other Gods at all.”

Could I ever hope to get into the skull of an ancient Israelite who beleved in several gods? Do I want to?

End chapter. End thought. That’s as deep as we go on this point.

A second example: just who are the Samaritans and what is their religion? Pg 219 (Day 204):

On the cab ride back to the hotel, my mind keeps coming back to the Samaritan Bible. So similar, but so different, too. What if history had taken a left turn? What if the Samaritan Torah had become the standard, and millions of Semitic faithful flooded to Mount Gerizim every year to sacrifice lams, except for a few hundred people called hte Jews, who worshiped at an obscure site known as the Western Wall?

On these points Jacobs does offer some more details in a the appendix. But I would have preferred some more elaboration on the importance of historical contingency in what we now think of as the sacred. That seems like a relevant discussion if one wants to really get a grasp on religion and society.

I would have enjoyed a more fleshed out discussion of points such as these. But, then, those are the types of issues I’d find myself grappling with in such a project. Perhaps Jacobs simply had different concerns. Or, maybe he simply (and probably correctly), had a keener sense for what the audience really wanted.

It’s bad taste for people to flaunt wealth in an economic downturn, whether they be CEOs of major US automakers, executives at AIG, or a church. It’s in even poorer taste to use perceived wealth, and the promise of wealth, to attract followers to a religion. Tax-exemption is best reserved to support non-profit organizations dedicated to the public good. Though there are organizations with religious affiliation that engage in charitable work, the propagation of a religious belief is not charitable in and of itself.

Since the definition of a tax exempt religious organization is very broad and there is little oversight of their activities, many churches continue to maintain tax-exempt status and huge incomes. While it is not the place of government to endorse or oppose religion, this obligation of neutrality does not logically extend to giving religious organizations a special exemption from taxes. Whether a community organization is educational, charitable, or social, its income should be reported and subjected to oversight if it wants to remain tax-free and accept tax-exempt donations—or it should pay taxes like any other private corporation. The Christian Faith Center is spending its money on a helipad, a luxury; other religious organizations have funneled ridiculous sums of money to provide personal luxury (and legal defense) to charismatic preachers or even to provide aid to terrorist organizations, all while remaining tax-free and largely un-scrutinized. Laws prohibit any private individual from benefiting from tax-exempt earnings, but these laws are unenforceable on religious organizations due to other laws limiting civil tax inquiries of churches.

While we don’t wish to interfere with the Christian Faith Center’s community building efforts, we think that their plan for a helicopter pad demonstrates poor taste given the current economic climate, is a misuse of their tax-exempt status, and wastes the hard-earned money of their donors. We would like to encourage the Christian Faith Center to scrap their plan of unneeded air transportation and instead donate the money to a local charitable organization that does not discriminate on the basis of religion, such as Seattle Atheists did when they raised nearly $1000 for Seattle Children’s Hospital by wrapping presents this holiday season.

— Lex Maxwell

Consider the following analogy:
Given world-wide shipping and the tenacity of Arthropods it is entirely possible that no matter where you live and given any typical means of storage there may be highly venomous spiders in your shoes when you go to put them on the in the morning (If this idea doesn’t cause you concern go watch the movie Arachnophobia). For most people the probability is low but the possibility is entirely supported by evidence and you don’t know for sure until you check. Most people do not check their shoes for spiders every morning. If a typical person were to inspect their shoes for spiders every morning we would call them insane for being concerned about something so unlikely to happen. There is infinitely more evidence to suggest there may be spiders in your shoes than that there might be a god. We should worry about the existence of god infinitely less than the existence of venomous spiders in situations known to generally be safe.

Consideration of the existence of a god is not warranted by lack of evidence. Lack of evidence either way being considered evidence in itself is classic self reinforcing delusion, not logic. There is no hard evidence to suggest that it’s even possible for an entity meeting any of the popular meaningful definitions of “God” to exist. Proving that the universe has more than four dimensions, an idea that real science is pursuing, might prove that it’s possible for a god to exist. Even if this possibility were proven, giving us a way to at least look for a god, we would then still have to prove that a god does indeed exist in one of those dimensions (proving that it’s possible that there is a spider in your shoes does not prove that a spider is in your shoes). Should evidence supporting a high possibility of the existence of a god come to light we might need to start checking our shoes for god-spiders waiting to bite our unrepentant feet, but until then it is entirely unnecessary. You can still check if you want. You won’t be a bad atheist; just a little bit paranoid.

The response from Christians (especially Bill O’Reilly!) to the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s Winter Solstice sign in the Washington state capitol in Olympia has been over-the-top negative and intolerant, to the point of theft and vandalism. In addition to recognizing the winter solstice, the real reason for the season, our sign says “There are no gods, no devils, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.” Although a small minority of educated believers, while disagreeing with our message, does support our freedom to express our views, the overwhelming majority considers our message to be an inappropriate affront to their celebration of the holidays and want to see it removed.

It’s almost the opposite with the atheists and agnostics we hear from. Based on the emails and phone calls I receive from nonbelievers, the support for our sign is about 95% positive. Annie Laurie, who sees more responses than I do, says it is 99% positive. Many FFRF members have asked for a replica of the sign that they can frame or display in their own yards. The Foundation has been signing up hundreds of new members as a result of this one controversy alone.

A small minority of atheists and agnostics (not all members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation) think the wording on our sign should be changed. Some think it is too strong. Others think it is not strong enough!

That wording was written by FFRF founder and president emerita Anne Gaylor, which offers a nice balance of celebration and criticism. Any one of the 13,000 members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation might have come up with a different wording, but Anne’s lovely version has stood the test of time. For the 13th year in a row, those exact thoughts have appeared in the Wisconsin capitol building, and although there was some early theft and vandalism, it has stood virtually unmolested for most of that time. We have heard that it has become a tourist attraction!

Our sign is an “equal time” protest. It would not be there if there were not religious signs and symbols in those buildings in the first place. If believers are going to use state property to promote their views, then we nonbelievers insist on a place at the table. We are not destroying their symbols or interfering with their private freedom to worship or express their views. We are simply reminding the country that there are millions of good Americans who do not believe in a god or celebrate Christmas. Christians do not own the month of December. This season of the year is a natural occurrence, the winter solstice being the day of shortest sunlight in the northern hemisphere. Long before Christianity, humans have celebrated this time of year with festivals of light, feasts, evergreens, songs, and family gatherings. Christians don’t own the franchise. We are happy to share it with them.

Some people think our sign is an insult, and that we should avoid hurting feelings this time of the year. But if our measured criticism of religion is inappropriate, then certainly the Nativity Scene, which suggests that we are so evil that we need a Savior in order to avoid the tortures of hell, is a much deeper insult to human nature. If they insist on attacking us, we will defend ourselves. If they will remove their creches and religious messages from state property, we will be happy to remove our sign.

Ultimately, what we all want is a world with less violence and more understanding. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking advantage of our wonderful American freedoms to educate the public about how we can achieve that, by resisting religious divisiveness and advising: “At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail.”

The only man never to be redeemed is the man without passion.