What good is atheism without faith?

There are some billboards around sponsored by one of the local medical centers. They say "What good is medicine without faith?" Really? Pretty damn handy, I'd say. Much more effective than faith in improving quality and length of life. If I have the misfortune to wind up at one of those hospitals, please tell them I'll take the medicine, anyway!

It got me to thinking again about how Christians seem to include God in everything, and I mused about how they could include God in atheism. That kind of ironic or impossible humor is my style. Then I recall how I've seen Christians argue against atheists as if they accept the existence of God but choose to reject him. Perhaps that really is what is happening in their heads? Are they so stuck with God-is-in-everything that they can't comprehend that someone else simply doesn't believe in invisible omnipotent people that refuse to prove they exist? (But they love us!) Do they morph the idea into atheism being a rebellion against an acknowledged God? That would explain some of the attitude.

Another billboard I've seen a lot says "Nothing is too hard for God." Well then he must be one lazy bastard, eh? Or a dick. People give him credit for saving people from disasters. Doesn't he know that preventing the disaster in the first place would save a lot more people? What an asshole! Given the timing of these billboards I presume they are a response to the bad economy. (I guess I could go to the website advertised on them and check...nah.) Again, instead of helping people through the bad economy, why not just prevent it from going bad, mr. invisible love-us guy?

Santa Claus. Tooth fairy. Easter bunny. They love us, give us presents and want us to be good and happy. As we get older we are told that they don't really exist. I keep thinking parents used to tell their kids that God is also a tale and doesn't exist, but somewhere along the way somebody couldn't let go of the last comfy blanket, and now we're stuck with an imaginary friend that will only do good things for us if we obey him. And then only if he feels like it.

What good is faith without a rational approach to the world?

Jesus and Porn

I saw a sort of homemade billboard recently that said

Please stop the porn and be reborn, jesus. John 3 3

John 3:3 actually says "In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'"

Were I Jesus, not only would it piss me off that I'm so often misquoted, but also that people make me sound like Muhammad Ali. "Float like a butterfly, sting like the fires of everlasting damnation..."