Media Monster

When The St. Paul Saints Let An Atheist Group Sponsor Their Game, They Become The “Mr. Paul Aints”

by Glenn Davis | 7:26 pm, July 12th, 2012

We’ve written some before on bizarre minor league promotions, and those of the St. Paul Saints in particular. There was the time they gave out whoopee cushions to commemorate the deflation of the Metrodome. There was the play on Anthony Weiner’s… troubles. And, of course, Zombie Night. But they’ve outdone themselves this time – on August 10, the Saints will have a different name… because they’re being sponsored by an atheist group for a night.

That’s right: the team named the “Saints” playing in a city named after a saint is giving itself over to Minnesota Atheists, “a community for nonbelievers” that includes “mak[ing] atheism part of the mainstream of society” among its stated goals. Of course, as we said, they won’t be the Saints that night: they’ll be the Mr. Paul Aints, and will wear “Mr. Paul Aints” uniforms to boot. Oh, and if that’s not enough, Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists and the guy who inspired Bill O’Reilly to say “You Can’t Explain That,” will throw out the first pitch.

We have to say, despite the Saints obviously being their own entity and obviously not averse to weird promotional stunts, we’re a little surprised they went through with this. They must have a fair number of religious fans, to say nothing of religious players on the team. They wouldn’t be thrilled about this change, no? Or maybe we’re overthinking it, and everybody sees this for the one-night goof that it is.

Still, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a hyper-religious group show up in protest: it’s an atheist takeover of the national pastime, after all. We’d say, “Somewhere, Christopher Hitchens nods in approval,” but something tells us he wouldn’t have wanted us to.

[h/t Uni Watch]

Dvd Bach

”
They wouldn’t be thrilled about this change, no?” Of course not, because they take any statement of non-belief as a personal affront.
Anonymous

Good for the St. Paul Saints. Regardless of the player’s and fan’s personal religious beliefs, they shouldn’t take the mere existance of Atheists as offensive. We have a right to exist too ya know.
http://www.facebook.com/tuibguy Mike Haubrich

I am sure that even the religious players will have fun with it. I have a ticket and will be sitting with the MN Atheists and am excited about this game and thank the Saints for being willing to do this promotion.
http://www.opticalwarehouseny.com/ opticalwarehouseny

Somewhere, Christopher Hitchens nods in approval,” but something tells us he wouldn’t have wanted us to.
Psarcher

Atheists are fools, and I cant prove that either, really funny. Do atheists have a Doubting Tomas?
rozlee

Do you mean Doubting Thomas? Because if you’re going for the Spanish version of his name, it’s Tomas el Incredulo. Honoring unbelievers or skeptics would have been approved by our fore-fathers, considering many of them were skeptics and didn’t believe in our modern interpretation of the bible either. Witness Thomas (or Tomas, if you will) Paine, who debunked the bible in his book, “The Age of Reason.”
Paine referred to the biblical God as “more demon than god,” and urged people to see the bible as a book of evil and moral debauchery. Consider Thomas (or Tomas) Jefferson, who didn’t believe in the divinity of Jesus, not in his virgin birth, miracles, resurrection or ascension, and who wrote a book, “The Jefferson Bible, the Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth,” that describes Jesus as a radical egalitarian human philosopher and not a divine creature. He referred to the Apostles as a “band of dupes and imposters,” and to St. Paul as “the first corrupter of the gospels.” In a letter to John Adams, Thomas Jefferson said that the story of the virgin birth of Jesus would one day be classed along with the fable of the birth of Minerva from the head of Jupiter. You can order both the books I just mentioned on Amazon. Then, you have George Washington, who wrote in Article 11 of the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli, “The government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” Washington wrote the Article and left office before it was signed. John Adams signed it and it was read in the Senate chambers where it was signed unanimously be all sitting Senators.

Unbelievers and skeptics have long lived in American history. As in, many of them created it.
Doktormoo1

Where can one buy a shirt like that?
Viking7686

A one time event is hardly ” a takeover of the National pastime”. If 1 of 6 Americans are non-religious (pew poll) did you ever consider the number of fans at a saint’s game that don’t make a big deal of the name.
http://twitter.com/dhomstad danimal mark

”
We have to say, despite the Saints obviously being their own entity and obviously not averse to weird promotional stunts, we’re a little surprised they went through with this. ”
Perhaps that’s the exact point of this promotional night. To stop the public/media assertion that somehow atheists, believers, and all those others somehow can’t live together. It’s about time we put that idea to rest.
Granted, if some “hyper-religious” aka religious extremist group does show up to protest, I can guarantee we will hear more of this.
Blah

No you don’t.
Tony Jones

St. Paul Saints are getting desperate, they will probably cease to exist within 2 seasons the way its going. Who cares, going to see the saints is no more fun than watching a beer league game for free.
Anonymous

If you don’t believe in religious freedom, then please move to Iran and leave the rest of us alone.