Bus ads

[Bradstreet]

I'm not sure if this belongs in the chat box as an entertaining aside, or here ... but I guess it could spark some debate. I think it's great.

http://www.justgiving.com/atheistbus

 

[waterproofbob]

As a christian I should find this a bad thing, however I'm much more on the freedom of belief and the right to those beliefs side of the line. I don't find it entertaining. I hope the religious side don't get all pathetically offended by this. I also hope it doesn't invoke anybad feeling either way. I believe everyone has the right to believe whatever they want. In the same way an advertisement for a diety I don't believe in wouldn't bother me, neither does this.

I know a lot of atheists who get really annoyed by religious advertisement even on banners outside churches so it will be very interesting to see what their reaction is to this.

Good post.

 

[Nanor]

I think Britain is to secular for this to have a major impact. If this was done over here in the North of Ireland there'd probably be a bit more of an outrage. I'd love to see it done in America.

 

[Taffy]

Hilarious. I love it

Besides, if Religion is allowed to advertise their God, why can't atheists advertise their lack of one?

 

[decky101]

In all honesty, I'm fairly religious, and I have to say, I have no problem with stuff like this, in fact, I welcome people having their own beliefs, it's what makes Britain such a diverse place to live in. I don't really find it funny, but hey, good for you if ya do, everybody finds different things entertaining

EDIT. Just for clarification, I'm christian .

 

[Zooggy]

Ahey,

Personally, I'm deeply non-religious, although I've been searching for a spiritual center for quite some time, now.

However, I found this particular campaign to be entirely banal, no more hilarious or offensive than a campaign for a new brand of yogurt....

Go figure...

Cheers,
J.

 

[Nanor]

Actually, thinking about it, I'm not sure if this is a great idea. I don't like it when people shove their beliefs down my throat so why should we shove our beliefs (Or lack thereof) down theirs?

 

[Cynic-Al]

Does anyone actually read the advertising on buses? Even if I wasn't in a different country to the advertising campaign I'd hardly say I'd pay it much in the way of attention. Otherwise why not? Churches always have posters and adverts for christianity on boards outside. Atheists don't have churches, we have science and technology instead, so we have to stick our adds to the side of the internal combustion engine .

 

[KillCrazy]

A favourite comedian of mine from Glasgow, called Limmy, voiced his views on the topic which I very much agree with.

 

[Bradstreet]

A favourite comedian of mine from Glasgow, called Limmy, voiced his views on the topic which I very much agree with.

Wow, I really hope that guy hasn't given up his day job...

 

[KillCrazy]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that was one of his more serious videos.

 

[Macca]

This reminds me of a good quote I seen on richarddawkin.net once:

They call them militant Muslims when they cut people's heads off and blow buildings up
They call them militant Christians when they bomb abortion clinics
They call them militant atheists when they say unkind things about religion

I really don't see a problem with advertising athiesm. If It get's people thinking about the subject then they might do some research and see the vast amounts of evidence for the fact that there "probably" is no god.

 

[Angelic]

Well, as many have stated this is unlikely to raise any major reaction in such a secular country as UK is (or Czech Republic, for that matter, should I relate to my own country). People just don't care enough to react in a measurable way. Sure, there might be an angry phonecall from some random nutter but hey, you might get an angry phonecall from some random nutter for posting a yoghurt ad promoting calcium.

I vaguely feel that there's a subtle difference between advertising God and advertising no God. If I were to put my finger on it I'd probably reason along the lines of that one is offering people something, whereas the other is taking something from them, but it's mostly just a feeling, really.

Either way, if the ad says PROBABLY, there's absolutely NOTHING ANYONE could have against it. I don't find it funny, I don't find if offensive, it's just an unusual ad, that's about it.

 

[Bradstreet]

I vaguely feel that there's a subtle difference between advertising God and advertising no God. If I were to put my finger on it I'd probably reason along the lines of that one is offering people something, whereas the other is taking something from them, but it's mostly just a feeling, really.

So just to check I've got this straight, the taking away bit would be religious adverts stealing people's freedom of thought, independence of spirit, sense of social duty, and healthy awareness of the finality of death; the giving thing is about atheists offering a sense of individual agency, personal and social responsibility, and the ability to appreciate the beauties of this world in all their immediate, sensual force right?

 

[thatbloke]

so just to check i've got this straight, the taking away bit would be religious adverts stealing people's freedom of thought, independence of spirit, sense of social duty, and healthy awareness of the finality of death; the giving thing is about atheists offering a sense of individual agency, personal and social responsibility, and the ability to appreciate the beauties of this world in all their immediate, sensual force right?

qft

 

[Angelic]

So just to check I've got this straight, the taking away bit would be religious adverts stealing people's freedom of thought, independence of spirit, sense of social duty, and healthy awareness of the finality of death; the giving thing is about atheists offering a sense of individual agency, personal and social responsibility, and the ability to appreciate the beauties of this world in all their immediate, sensual force right?

Heh, not really what I meant but you know that As I've said, it's not a structured argument, just a vague feeling that there's a difference between the two for me.

I in essence agree, that God is a "crutch for the weak" (if I got the phrase right), so advertising God is like offering this help to people who might find it useful and not imposing anything on those, that don't want to believe in Him - after all, they don't believe so they won't get all apprehensive about afterlife and the like.

But I guess you are right. I never thought that advertising God could in any way harm those that chose not to believe in Him, i.e. the atheists. It could, theoretically, implant a sence of impending doom, eternal damnation and unchangable fate in their minds, the same way advertising there ain't no God could implant uncertainty, doubt and feelings of loss of purpose in life in minds of those that believe.

I'm getting slightly confused, so I'll go do some more anatomy studying

 

[Traxata]

I'm pretty certain, you would never get this type of ad in the US, they're all far too religious, even still.

I still think that this ad campaign is more towards Agnostics than Atheists, due to the use of probably, but that's just me.

 

[Angelic]

True, that the word "probably" might seem to point towards agnostism (yay for my favourite and personally adopted POV on the religious matters), but I think you are wrong.

If it was written in agnostic way, it would probably read like "You can neither prove nor disprove God. Now get on with your life etc etc".

The "probably" just means they couldn't afford upset the public by saying "There CERTAINLY is no God". It's a legal loophole, alibistic safety break.

 

[Macca]

Everyone has to write "probably" because the simple fact is no one knows if there is or isn't. Atheists tend to be scientists or people that acknowledge evidence and base their ideas on it. So to say "There certainly is no God" would be false because there is no conclusive evidence to say that there certainly is or isn't a god. What I can say as an athiest is that the amount of evidence in favour of things like Evoloution etc that go against what scripture says, and the idea of a god, is colossal when put against the evidence for their being a god.

Most good athiests will tell you that ultimately they don't know if there "Certainly" is or isn't a god however based on the evidence and research they have done there "Most Probably isn't".

 

[Angelic]

Thing is, we're unclear on the meaning of atheism. Does it mean "knowing" there's no God similar to "knowing" what two plus two are? Or does it mean "believing" there's no God similar to "believing" there's one?

Either way, you mention Scripture and Evolution. Don't. While most religions are scripture-based, not all of them rely on it and not all of them deny evolution. There can quite easily be God AND Evolution.