An interesting, freedom of speech idea given Halloween is this week, however, I have a feeling creationists won’t like it.
The atheist bus campaign launches today thanks to Comment is free readers. Because of your enthusiastic response to the idea of a reassuring God-free advert being used to counter religious advertising, the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” could now become an ad campaign on London buses – and leading secularists have jumped on board to help us raise the money.
The British Humanist Association will be administering all donations to the campaign, and Professor Richard Dawkins, bestselling author of The God Delusion, has generously agreed to match all contributions up to a maximum of £5,500, giving us a total of £11,000 if we raise the full amount. This will be enough to fund two sets of atheist adverts on 30 London buses for four weeks.
If the buses hit the road, this will be the UK’s first ever atheist advertising campaign. It’s an exciting development, which I never expected when I first proposed the idea on Cif in June. Back then, I was just keen to counter the religious ads running on public transport, which featured a URL to a website telling non-Christians they would spend “all eternity in torment in hell”, burning in “a lake of fire”.
UPDATE: If these signs make it to buses in the states, this will be at the bus stops.
#20 Mister Mustard,
Haven’t seen you in a while. How are you doing?
#22 – Meister
>>Which version of God is the correct one? The
>>Christian God? The Muslim God? The Hindu Gods?
Aw, grow the eff up, will you?! They’re all metaphors, for the higher power. And you know there is one.
Paddy O’
Been traveling. No time for dvorak dot or slash blog. Now I’m back.
#32 Mustard
“They’re all metaphors, for the higher power.”
Apparently not. Religious differences lead to violence and death every day. You may be idealistic but I don’t think you speak for the majority of religious believers.
#32 – Mister Mustard – They’re all metaphors, for the higher power.
But according to each one of them, you’re screwed if you don’t worship THEIR version of God and donate your cash to them.
And you know there is one.
Nope.
#33 Hope you had a good trip. The weather has been good out West although, I wish it would start cooling off.
#35 I’m with you Jager. Anything is possible, but I’ve never seen a religious argument that I would call the money shot.
QB–you are right. I’ve never seen a money except for those involving nuns. Sometimes 2-3-4 nuns at one time! Never Jesus, God, or the good book.
There are in fact many single statement arguments that shred religion. My favorite is that atheists and religionist are very close together. Religionists reject all gods/religion but one, and and atheists reject all those same gods and then add that last one to the list.
Dawkins main argument can be shrunk to: “You don’t begin with complexity, you have to start simple, and work your way up.” Everything I have seen in science works that way.
Then the shortest one might be, “Where did god come from?”
And from a different perspective: He looks jut like “us” huh? (That old anthropomorphic thing==all so human.)
And th en the historic analysis showing how monotheism got developed very slowly over time.
And th en . . . . and they all go on. Lets see now, any difference between “no money shots” and your simply rejecting them with no good counter?
Maybe I don’t want people pretending to know what I know. Or claim some self-righteous activity as ‘the only way’. Maybe I just want people to look inward and outward at the same time and live in the light. Maybe that doesn’t have to be defined. Maybe you just get there by seeking it in an open and honest way that might be different for every person on the planet. Be open to what you find. Tune in. Peace, god.
It’s a typo. It was supposed to be “There’s probably no God so go ahead and screw people over all you want since it doesn’t matter”.
#34 – Cubie
>>Apparently not. Religious differences lead to >>violence and death every day.
That’s the 0.05% whacko group. Compare that with the 20% whackos in the atheist group. Much lower fatality rate, don’t you think?
#41 No I don’t. When I see a news article that says “a group of atheists attacked…” then I’ll believe it.
#41 – Mister Mustard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T27kB4BjbEg
#42 QB said, “When I see a news article that says “a group of atheists attacked…” then I’ll believe it.”
Hmmm… Tiananmen square comes to mind as a contemporary event…
WHERE’S THE BEEF?
(I don’t think there’s anybody back there.)
I agree 100% with you soundwash. Karma is real. That’s the reason it’s never necessary to ‘get even.’
Paddy-O, the old Communism == Atheism argument. So very, very old.
So let me get this straight the atheist regime in China is suppressing their citizens. They belong to the atheist party? They wear atheist symbols? It’s a pathetic argument.
I see no difference between a totalitarian communist regime in China and the regime in Iran. Peek under the covers and you’ll find race or class. The 300 million relatively rich Chinese want to suppress the 900 million poor Chinese. The radical Arabs running Iran want to suppress the majority Persians in the name of religion.
It is particularly ugly when it’s used for an excuse racism or misogyny. There’s plenty of wonderful religious people out there but it’s used for racial and gender suppression far too easily and often.
Jager, you like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwjlUMoLVvA
#44 – Paddy-O – Tiananmen square comes to mind as a contemporary event…
Now, link to a credible news source which says “a group of atheists attacked…”
And as for Chinese being atheist… some info from Wikipedia:
#48 – QB
What a dumb bitch.
#48 – Oh man she is hideous. I’ll need a gallon of eye bleach. You know her husband was thinking, “can’t you just STFU!?”
Sorry guys, but I’m getting Jager back for yesterday. I may be impotent for a month because of him.
#52 – QB
LOL
Is there any empirical evidence to believe that “believers” worry more or enjoy life less than atheists?
Or is this just another faith-based assumption by atheists?
#54–Greg==thats a good question. Depends a lot on what you would accept as “empirical evidence?” And further, how to define “enjoy life.”
Its further complicated by the fact that many people who are religious have a firm unshakeable faith that removes many conflicts from their appreciation of life–see QB’s Video of the Year above at #48.
If that woman is “happy” then you have won the argument but also convinced me I’d rather have the moral angst caused by being conscious.
Bobbo,
I didn’t see the video but I assume it would be anecdotal evidence, anyway.
I remember, as a kid, that Christians would cite Madalyn Murray O’Hair as evidence that atheists were unhappy nuts, likely to be killed by their own crazed followers.
As for me, I don’t think belief or non-belief is tied to any particular superiority or inferiority.
But, these atheist supremacists give me the creeps.
The last time my people heard such talk of the superiority of atheism, we were slaughtered by the thousands, put in camps, and driven from our homes by people who were supposedly more evolved than we.
Anyone who thinks people would be less bloodthirsty or less likely to kill each other if they didn’t have religion is pretty naive. Humans have used religion as a good excuse for many a war, but there are also many wars (and much killing) that has nothing to do with religion. The war in Iraq has nothing to do with religion. The first and second world wars had nothing to do with religion. Vietnam war had nothing to do with religion. Falklands war was not religious. The American civil war was none-religious. Somalia has gone through civil war after civil war which have nothing to do with religion.
It’d be nice if it was as simple as taking away religion, and we’d all live happily ever after in peace, but I am afraid that just isn’t going to happen. Take away religion and humans will cling to non-God based dogma (Marxism, Fascism, or any other ism) and kill each other over that, or they’ll just kill each other over land, or history or culture.
Humans don’t need war in order to kill other, its just a convenient excuse sometimes.
#42 – Cubie
>>No I don’t. When I see a news article that
>>says “a group of atheists attacked…” then
>>I’ll believe it.
You can’t really be asserting that groups of atheists have never killed innocent victims in cold blood. Can you?
And while we’re at it, show me “a news article that says a group of believers in God attacked…”.
Hm?
@MM
Seen any news from the Middle East recently? Jeez.
Mustard said: “And while we’re at it, show me “a news article that says a group of believers in God attacked…”.”
This took 20 seconds to find particularly ugly.
Like the woman I linked above, it’s racial. Mustard, faith on it’s own is fine. You want to believe what you believe, that’s just ducky. The minute it mixes with politics, race, or class it turns into a nasty, violent mix.