And in one of San Diegos biggest parks, you can find Christians, Hari Krishnas, and Muslims, handing out pamphlets, defending their religious views, and looking for converts. Recently a group of atheists has set up camp nearby to proselytize as well.
Stroll through the plaza of Balboa Park and youll pass an assortment of musicians, face painters and religious groups spreading their beliefs. But youll also see a table draped with a large blue banner that says: Relax, Hell Does Not Exist. Approach and youll hear conversations like this.
Kid: If youre an atheist, you dont believe in heaven or hell.
Rob Hudson (San Diego Coalition of Reason): That doesnt even make any sense. Who in their right mind would choose to go to hell?
Kid: No one will go to hell unless you choose not to believe in God.
Thats Rob Hudson talking to some kids who strolled by. He spends every Saturday at the booth and seems to thrive on religious arguments.
Woman: The Bible lines up with everything in history perfectly.
Rob: No, it doesnt.
Woman: Yes.
Rob: I studied history.(to reporter) Its actually kind of fun because instead of just giving the same argument back every single time, you like to mix it up a little bit.
San Diego Coalition of Reason opened this booth to support the atheist community and to evangelize non-belief to religious people. Jim Eliason, one of the Coalition of Reason members, says theyve actually had de-conversions at the booth, but with people already questioning their beliefs.
Jim Eliason: Even if they come up to you beforehand and they tell you very stridently that theyre a believer and theyre a Christian, probably what theyre doing is that theyre trying to see if you can give them any new information.
More often, religious people try to convert the atheists. On a recent Saturday, Valentine Ilin was walking by with four of his kids. Ilin is a Baptist and decided to give the atheists a message. So he led his family in a song.
Ilins: (singing) The precious, precious name of Jesus.
Many religions seek converts, but why would atheists care whether other people believe in God? Debbie Allen, the Coalition of Reason director, says they think the world would be better off with less dogma.
Debbie Allen: I think there are some good tenets within some religions that point people in the right direction, but when youre talking about a faith that is unwilling to change or grow, that this is the right way and there is no other way, those people are at risk of continuing practices that are detrimental to other human beings.
She also hopes the booth will break down stereotypes.
Debbie: Atheists are not necessarily strange or bad, but a lot of people of faith never meet someone that would be out about being an atheist.
Allen says everyone, atheists included, can benefit from meeting people with different beliefs or a lack of belief, and shes happy to have that interaction happen at the atheist booth. San Diego is one of several cities with this kind of atheist outreach, but its only one of a few places with a booth thats open every weekend.
在美國圣迭戈市最大的一個公園里,你可以見到基督教教徒、克里須那教派的信奉者和穆斯林在派發(fā)宣傳冊,捍衛(wèi)著各自的宗教信仰,并尋找新皈依者。最近,一群無神論者也在附近設(shè)營扎寨,勸說人們改宗。
你如果在巴爾博亞公園的空地上漫步,你會從各色人物身邊經(jīng)過,音樂人、臉部彩繪師,還有宣傳自身信仰的不同宗教團體。不過,你也會看到這樣一張桌子,掛在桌邊的大張藍(lán)色橫幅上寫著:放輕松,地獄并不存在。如果你走近這張桌子,你會聽到這樣的對話。
小孩:如果你是一名無神論者,你就不會相信有天堂、地獄的存在。
羅布·赫德森(圣迭戈理性聯(lián)盟):那種說法不合情理。哪個腦子正常的人會選擇下地獄呢?
小孩:沒有人會下地獄,除非你選擇不相信上帝。
剛才是羅布·赫德森與路過的小孩子的對話。他每個周六都會在這個宣傳點上度過,關(guān)于宗教的爭論似乎讓他興奮不已。
女:《圣經(jīng)》里的事件與所有歷史事件完全吻合。
羅布:不對,不是這樣的。
女:是的。
羅布:我就是學(xué)歷史的。(對記者)這種討論其實很有意思,因為你不是每次都用相同的論點,我更愿意把不同的論點混在一塊兒。
圣迭戈理性聯(lián)盟設(shè)立這個宣傳點旨在支持無神論者這個群體,并向信教的人進(jìn)行無信仰的宣傳。詹姆·伊萊亞森是這個聯(lián)盟的成員,他說,確實有人就在他們這個宣傳點放棄了自己原來的信仰,不過,那些通常是早已對自己的信仰有所懷疑的人。
吉姆·伊萊亞森:他們可能之前曾經(jīng)來過,他們曾非常堅決地告訴你他們是堅定的信徒,他們信仰基督教,那他們來這里或許只不過是想看看你能給他們提供什么樣的新信息。
更多的時候,信教的人試圖讓這些無神論者皈依他們的信仰。最近有一個周六,瓦倫丁·耶林與自己的四個孩子路過宣傳點。他是一名浸禮會教徒,他決定向這些無神論者傳達(dá)一個信息。于是,他帶著家人一起唱了起來。
耶林和家人:(唱)耶穌,這個非常親愛的名字。許多宗教都會尋求皈依者,可為什么無神論者要介意他人是否相信上帝的存在呢?戴比·艾倫是這個聯(lián)盟的負(fù)責(zé)人,她表示,他們覺得,如果少些教條,這個世界會更美好。
戴比·艾倫:我認(rèn)為,有些宗教也有一些好的教義,把人們往正確的方向上引導(dǎo),但如果一種信仰固執(zhí)地不愿意作出改變或者進(jìn)一步發(fā)展,堅持自己的路就是惟一正確的路,除此之外沒有其他選擇的話,那么,那些繼續(xù)參與相關(guān)宗教活動的人就可能會對他人造成傷害。
她也希望他們設(shè)的這個宣傳點能夠打破一些人們的偏見。
戴比:無神論者并不一定就是怪人或者壞人,但許多有宗教信仰的人并沒有機會認(rèn)識敢于站出來說自己是無神論者的人。
戴比表示,包括無神論者在內(nèi)的所有人都可以從與有信仰或無信仰的人打交道的這個過程受益,她很高興看到在無神論者這個宣傳亭的各種互動。在美國,圣迭戈是有這種無神論者外展活動的城市之一,但像這樣在每個周末都設(shè)立一個宣傳點的就為數(shù)不多了。