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Donations welcome for atheist bus banners in London

scissorhands said:
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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Every time Dawkins seems to be a fairly reasonable advocate for atheism, he comes up with nonsense like that.
 
Twiler said:
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.
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Why is it a good thing to rile up the fundamentalist community? Would it be a good thing to rile the black community, or the gay community, by putting slogans on a bus to annoy them? If the slogan provoked a violent or silly response, would that prove anything about the argument?

Trying to annoy the other person so he loses his temper is a way to win arguments, but it's not the same thing as making an argument.
 
Freedom of speech is neither here nor there in this case. The advertising spaces on the sides of buses are private property so there's no obligation on the bus company to accept your advert. They are also subject to the strictures of the Advertising Standards Authority - so if enough people complain about them and say they were "offended", then the ASA might well insist on the adverts being removed.
 
Undesired Walrus said:
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.
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I think that the slogan might have been more appropriately phrased as a suggestion or idea rather than an order. Slogans in public places telling people what to do aren't an attractive notion.
 
This is an extremely silly idea. How about "This poster doesn't matter in the least. So stop donating to this nonsensical cause and use your money wisely, instead."
 
westprog said:
Why is it a good thing to rile up the fundamentalist community? Would it be a good thing to rile the black community, or the gay community, by putting slogans on a bus to annoy them? If the slogan provoked a violent or silly response, would that prove anything about the argument?

Trying to annoy the other person so he loses his temper is a way to win arguments, but it's not the same thing as making an argument.
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Actually, what I meant was, any atheist slogan on a bus is going to annoy the fundamentalist community, so it would be better to use a mild one.
 
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There's lots of religious advertising on buses and billboards, so why not something opposite?
I like the statement. It is something I've said to myself or at least words to that effect on plenty of occasions.
 
slingblade said:
Every bit as much as a religious advert would change the average atheist's mind.







...maybe, just maybe, that's not what it's for.
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Yeah but I don't think religious ads target atheists. I think that they are focused on those people who are highly suggestible and have some sort of void in their life.
 
I didn't get the slogan until I learned the buses typically have hellfire threats on them. Then I smiled.
 
The problem of london transport.

The problem of reconciling the existence of london transport in the world with the existence of God.
 
slingblade said:
I'd like to hear how "being religious" is the same as "being black" or "being homosexual."

I perceive differences.
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Clearly there are differences between being black, being gay or being a fundamentalist. What I don't see is that deliberately provoking any of these groups is of any benefit.
 
westprog said:
Why does that make a difference?
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Because, then your analogy fails.

Edited to explain:
Why not rile them up. It shows their hysterics.
Religion should not receive special entitlement just because it's religion.
 
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liverleef said:
Yeah but I don't think religious ads target atheists. I think that they are focused on those people who are highly suggestible and have some sort of void in their life.
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We had (have?) some billboards across at least certain parts of the U.S. that purported to be messages from god himself. A small sample can be found in the article linked below:

http://www.hoosieroutdoor.com/campaign.php

Some of those (and not all of them are shown in that article) definitely target non-believers and/or believers of other faiths. You can see some of the others if you go to google images and plug in "god billboards" without the quote marks.

One that I saw further down the page:

"Will the road you're on get you to my place?"

doesn't seem specifically targeted to believers only, but also to non-believers and members of other faiths.

Church signs often do the same thing. Some messages obviously speak to believers, while others are directed at those who don't.

Just how would an "atheist" message not speak about or target religion?
 
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