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Donations welcome for atheist bus banners in London

scissorhands

Banned
scissorhands
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Jun 7, 2006
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7681914.stm

"The atheist posters are the idea of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and have been supported by prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins."


Actually they are agnostic really, but given some persuasion the message could be changed to remove the "probably" and insert "almost certainly" instead.

The complete slogan reads: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

It is an excellent idea and an antidote for all those religious posters seen on public transport.

You can donate to this worthy cause here.

http://www.justgiving.com/atheistbus

This idea would be worth pursuing right across the UK and abroad also.

As Richard Dawkins says: "This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think - and thinking is anathema to religion."
 
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I have just donated a few pounds. :)

I've read some criticism that this amounts to "evangelising" by atheists, but I think that such criticism is unfounded. If the message was "there is no God, join your local atheist group today!" then perhaps they would have a point, but the message as written seems perfectly reasonable. Indeed, I would support all sorts of messages which were intended to provoke some sort of philosophical introspection:

"free will is just an illusion, you can not do otherwise"

"The only world that exists is inside your head"

And others :)
 
It seems that the campaign has gone internet supersonic, the target was £5,000, and it is currently standing at £40,000 in less than a day. With average donations seemingly running at about £10 each, that amounts to about 4000 donors so far. Over a hundred people have registered since I donated about half an hour ago...... forget the bus adverts, maybe they will be able to afford to buy the buses....

this is possibly my favourite ever quote:

But Stephen Green said: "Bendy-buses, like atheism, are a danger to the public at large.

"I should be surprised if a quasi-religious advertising campaign like this did not attract graffiti.

"People don't like being preached at. Sometimes it does them good, but they still don't like it."
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who is this Stephen Green with his concern that people don't like being preached at? A spokesman for Christian pressure group Christian Voice, who preach to anyone who will listen about the evils of homosexuality, the Holocaust of abortion, the need to re-introduce the death penalty, how all sex education should be banned in schools, how all "real" Muslims believe in jihad, and so much more! Oh, the irony :)
 
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The donations have exceeded expectations over seven fold on the first day.
The coverage on the BBC news site has helped with this, thats why I am encouraging posters here to spread this worldwide, and start up similar schemes.
The power of simple messages like this, using the medium of advertisement, isnt something that should be only available to religious movements.
Its available to the large and often silent mass of people who arent religious and are sick of being preached at by superstitious fools.
Heres hoping this campaign might kick start similar ones globally.
 
The Christian Voice chap said "I should be surprised if a quasi-religious advertising campaign like this did not attract graffiti."

Whatever could he mean? I have seen Christian adverts on buses and felt no compunction to get magic markers out. Why would these be specifically targeted. Come to think of it graffiti on a bus is not a common sight - you do well to get on board before the driver heads off never mind try to be Picasso in the middle of the road with the sodding thing.
 
Nogbad said:
The Christian Voice chap said "I should be surprised if a quasi-religious advertising campaign like this did not attract graffiti."

Whatever could he mean? I have seen Christian adverts on buses and felt no compunction to get magic markers out. Why would these be specifically targeted. Come to think of it graffiti on a bus is not a common sight - you do well to get on board before the driver heads off never mind try to be Picasso in the middle of the road with the sodding thing.
Click to expand...

The entire press release is almost beyond parody:

Dated 19th October 2008 14.00 hrs

Richard Dawkins is so concerned that the atheist message is dying on its feet that he is to fund a humanist evangelistic campaign, Christian Voice has learned.

But in a twist which will have Christians in gales of laughter, the advertising campaign, which will be based on the catchy slogan 'There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and get on with your life,' is to be stuck on bendy-buses.

Apparently, an atheist blogger named Jon Worth came up with the idea, but his fellow humanists, not known for their generosity, wouldn't stump up the cash. Now Richard Dawkins, whose anti-Christian zeal knows little bounds, is to finance the doomed venture.

Should the ads be placed on London 's Bendy-Buses, it would be a highly-appropriate move since these have proved to be a danger to the pubic and are due for the chop under new Mayor Boris Johnson.

Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said today:

'How funny that Richard Dawkins is so scared of the threat which evangelical Christianity poses to atheism and his beloved Darwinism that he has to fund a campaign to attack God. He really is the nearest thing atheists have to an evangelist while his belief in non-belief is held with a fervour which many religious people would do well to emulate, so long as they don't make themselves look as inept as he so often does, poor man.

'I should be surprised if a quasi-religious advertising campaign like this did not attract graffiti. People don't like being preached at. Sometimes it does them good, but they still don't like it. The advertising space on a bendy-bus is just the right height as well. But the graffiti artists, and indeed the atheist advertisers will have to be quick or the bendy-buses will be off the road in Boris's purge, taking the anti-God message with them. Bendy-buses, like atheism, are a danger to the public at large.

'It occurs to me that the addition of just a few words from Psalm 14 would make the entire message Biblical: "The fool hath said in his heart ..." '
Click to expand...
http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/Press/press109.html

not that he is advocating criminal damage or anything :)
 
It's about time that adults stopped arguing about who's got the best imaginary friend (especially when they do it with guns). How much for TV ads?
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Another great comment on the donation page.
 
In my opinion- A waste of money. Out of all the slogans that could have gone on the side of a bus, they choose something like that? Why is there probably no God? How can this make a single theist think, other than 'Well, it's their word against mine'.

For Atheism's first chance at a breakout, I find this a real shame. Why not a slogan that makes you think? For example, A Sagan quote, like: 'If God is an unaswerable question, why not save a step, and deem the Universe an unaswerable question? There is no need for a creator, there never was'.
 
I think a mild slogan is a good idea actually, because it's probably going to rile up the fundamentalist community anyway, and the milder the slogan, the more insane they'll end up looking. It seems to me that the main point of this should be to demonstrate that an atheist community exists, and that the christian moral view is not the only moral view.
 
It's childish and smug though. It's essentially patting a little child (Christian etc) on the head and going 'Don't worry about the bogeyman. Now go back to your sandpit and play with your toys'.

It shows no respect to the person's (And I repeat: the person, not the religion) ability to think for themselves. Non-Theists are supposed to be mature in mind, and this simply shows an immaturity of character. It doesn't provide a probing question that makes people ponder the existence of God, it doesn't even try. It's -and I'm sorry to say this for those who have already donated- a waste of money.
 
Im not sure that its christian fundamentalists that the organisers need to be concerned about riling up.

Also, I dont think anyone is suggesting that fundamentalist religious zealots are the target for this message.

Young people being religiously brainwashed from an early age are likely to be more receptive though.

As for the slogan itself, I agree it could be worded better and since the campaign doesnt start till April, there is plenty of time for suggestions to be sent to the BHA.
 
It shows no respect to the person's (And I repeat: the person, not the religion) ability to think for themselves.
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Then they can happily ignore the posters and continue believing in superstitious fairy tales.
Last I checked, there was still at least a concept of free speech in the UK.
 
Do you don't want to see people motivated into thinking for themselves, questioning their faith? What is the point of these banners otherwise?

I'm baffled what free speech has to do with the conversation.
 
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On those bendy buses a more useful poster would be 'There are probably no ticket inspectors'.
 
Do you don't want to see people motivated into thinking for themselves, questioning their faith? What is the point of these banners otherwise?
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Im of the impression that, even in the slogans present form, this will help people get motivated into thinking for themselves.

It is your right to disagree, but introducing such concepts as "disrespect" is one step away from describing the posters of "causing offence".
And what a slippery slope that is.

Luckily thousands of people are donating money in a concerted effort to put the atheist point of view out in public.
 
scissorhands said:
It is your right to disagree, but introducing such concepts as "disrespect" is one step away from describing the posters of "causing offence".
And what a slippery slope that is.
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Disprespect for the capacity of the Human mind to question will never compell those who do not question to do the opposite.

I assure you that I am not sliding down a slope into respecting the religous concept.
 
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