I can't think of a period of time in "human" history that is more distinguished by the consequences of belief in God or gods. Aside from the fact that their ad is inaccurate, it is slanderous and insulting to all nontheists.
Does anyone think they could get away with saying the the Dark Ages were "600 years of degenerate, gay, inhuman behavior"? Of course not. The "godless" had about as much to do with the Dark Ages as gays did.
As PZ Meyers at Pharyngula points out in his blog:
If you take a look at their timeline, they define the Dark Ages as the period from 410 AD, when Alaric of the Visigoths (Christian) sacked Rome (Christian), to 1095 when Pope Urban II (Christian, probably) sent an armed mob of knights and hangers-on (Christian) to savage the people of the Middle East (Muslim, mainly). In between, we have the Holy Roman Empire (yeah, I know, not Holy, but definitely Christian) and sundry European wars, and Vikings (pagan, but definitely not godless) running about.
It would be more accurate to say the Dark Ages were "600 years of degenerate, religious behavior."
I have written an email to the History Channel complaining, and I think others who feel insulted should as well. Why should nontheists be maligned for the actions of theists? Why should we allow ourselves to be associated with words like "degenerate" and "inhuman" and not respond?
I think that until we don't see this kind of thing popping up from time-to-time, we can't say we are making any progress to be treated respectfully at the table of public discourse.
See the ad HERE .
