On a bus in Toronto. Posted by theAtheist bus Canada
The campaign urging passersby to "stop worrying" and "enjoy (their) life" instead will appear on 10 Montreal buses until March 10 and head to Toronto as well.
The Humanist Association of Quebec, which masterminded the campaign, explains on its website why "there's probably no God":
"Though there is no scientific proof of the existence of a divine being, it is equally impossible to prove beyond doubt that God does not exist (nor does Father Christmas at that). Hence, to state that God does not exist is a matter of 'faith', whereas humanists/atheists base their conclusions not on faith but on verifiable facts."
The site then goes on to argue that not believing is without doubt the more interesting option: Quebeckers may henceforth enjoy their lives to the fullest without living in fear of the Almighty and of roasting in hell.
The Canadian initiative follows a similar campaign initiated in the United Kingdom by the humorist Ariane Sherine.
"There's probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life". That's the message that 30 London buses will be carrying from January.
Exasperated by the sometimes aggressive Evangelisation campaigns promising to "save" non-Christians from everlasting damnation, the British Humanist Association, an atheist group, decided to confront the adverts with a campaign of their own. The initiative received massive support and funding through an online campaign on the JustGiving website , and was publicly backed by millionaire atheist Richard Dawkins.
Several British religious groups welcomed the project, saying that its message will get people thinking about the existence of god. The campaign hasn't even started yet, but its already sparked a flow of comments and reactions in the English-speaking media and blogosphere. Is this the beginning of "atheist evangelists"?
Hanne Stinson is the chief executive of the British Humanist Association.
"The atheist bus campaign is not ‘atheist
evangelising', as some people have called it. Our goal is not to 'convert'
religious people to atheism. The Christian ads that prompted this response in
the first place were for a group called 'Jesus Said', which posted links to a
very aggressive and worrying website.Our ad is aimed at people who are already non-religious, with the intention of reassuring them that there are plenty of other people who feel the same way, and that it's OK not to believe. This is why the tone of our ad was deliberately light hearted.
I'm surprised that the ad has been seen by some as an attack on religion or faith: it's not. It's just an expression of our belief, which happens to be the belief of thousands of British citizens. We don't to intend to hurt religious people. But frankly, if non-believers were to feel insulted by every Christian ad they saw, we'd spend our lives in a very bad mood!
I find it interesting that several churches have responded positively to the ad, because they say it will prompt believers and non believers alike to discuss the subject of God's existence, and generally provoke personal thought as opposed to blind acceptance of a certain dogma. This fully fits in with our humanist philosophy."
Gustave (not his real name) is a member of a Paris-based Christian mission. He asked us not to reveal his real name.
"I have no problem with the principle of atheist
campaigns, especially as Christian groups also advertise. I support freedom of
expression, everybody should be free to express and advertise their beliefs. However,
even if it's meant to be light hearted, the message actually makes me sad. By
claiming there probably is no God, the ad sends out a negative message to
believers. For me, my faith is a strength, that helps me have confidence and
hope, that helps me not to worry. By
saying that my faith is probably unfounded, the ad's message undermines that
hope. I don't criticise those who don't have faith, why should they tell me
that my faith is wrong?If there's one thing people need today, in particular in big cities like London or Paris where there is so much social exclusion and poverty, it's hope. Many people can agree that faith is a positive thing, that helps people come together. It makes me sad that some want to undermine that faith."
A YouTuber highlights the astounding success of the online fundraising campaign for the atheist bus ads, which collected a whopping £120,734 in individual donations, far beyond the target sum of £5,500.
Comments
God is real. Only in God is genuine joy.
Submitted by Karl (not verified) on Thu, 25/12/2008 - 11:52.It is very sad to hear of this bus ad campaign for the new doubledeckers in England.
It is sad because non believers are putting money behind their non belief in the hope of influencing others. I rarely see a truly joyous atheist. Joy. Real joy. Lasting joy...and peace. Only the God of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, and Daniel offers us this. In times of sorrow, economic woe, betrayal by a work colleague, perhaps a lost job or lost friends, God never turns away. God is always there. As we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating that: God came as His Son Jesus. And what Jesus offers ALL of us is hope and a future. But there will still be tears, hurt, and sadness on this planet. Jesus tells it like it is in the books of John, Matthew, Mark, and Luke of the Bible's New Testament. He tells us that there will always be wars and rumors of wars. He says clearly that we will always have the poor. But He offers the hope and firm promise of life in Him and life everlasting in Heaven. And there -- in Heaven -- will be no tears. Meanwhile, on this earth, each believer in Jesus can know personal peace -- even when there is turmoil like a new sickness, too many bills to pay, rising crime in a neighborhood nearby. Yes our world has many ills. Thesse are of our own making. Don't discount God just because there are troubles around. The Bible tells us of a almighty and all knowing Father in Heaven, but a God who page after page in the Bible very clearly lets us humans have it our own way. Ever since Adam and Eve, we humans have free choice. So the problems of our planet are not to be blamed on God. These bus ads will only serve to make people reflect. And I am convinced that in England, even people who would rarely think of going to church or opening their Bibles, these people would much rather believe and turn toward Jesus.
Unregistered user
The Wrong Focus
Submitted by Ricky Barnes on Fri, 28/11/2008 - 00:56.It is quite unnecessary and even incoherent to say "there is no god". All that is really required of a non-believer is to state that those who make claims of some being which created everything that exists, embodies everything that exists, is everywhere, everywhen, is all-knowing, is all-powerful, etc., make such claims with grossly insufficient fact and no consistently logical reasoning to support them. Considering the nature of these rather boastful claims, one would expect a smorgasbord of support for them. Nevertheless, to date, believers struggle to piece together even the beginnings of a proof of their claims.
The non-believer need make no statements regarding a "god" or, more basically, an alleged "supernatural". It is the responsibility of they who believe to make statements regarding their claims. The non-believer will simply judge the claims made against what can be shown in fact and consistent logic. If the claims are not supported by what is possible from the current all-inclusive state of human knowledge and deduction, the claims are dismissed as unintelligible.
It is more accurate to say, "There is no argument" rather than to say "there is no god". There is such insufficient support for these claims, one cannot rightly point a finger anywhere or anywhen to say "that" does not exist. If there is something at which to point one's finger, i.e., at which to aim one's statement, one's statement is already false. What the believer does is point their finger at nothing and say "That" exists. The non-believer ought not make the very same mistake. What the non-believer must do is point their finger at the claimant and say, "you have an insufficient argument." That is a coherent statement.
Ricky Barnes
The wrong focus
Submitted by shutterbug on Fri, 28/11/2008 - 11:41.I withdraw my earlier remarks. I've re-read your piece and now see the logic of your arguement
shutterbug
RECONSIDERING EVOLUTION AND CONFIRMING BELIEF IN GOD
Submitted by Steven Barlow (not verified) on Thu, 27/11/2008 - 10:13.From an objective - intellectual level - evolution did not happen at all. There is all evidence to show that any graduation, step by step development, mutational progress without any need for intelligence is out of the question.
The reason for the creation/evolution debate is to make people think further and understand the clear evidence with their own hearts. But not with their indoctrinated minds, only with their "open hearts" they can see.
Evolution idea is a Sumerian one, that imagined a scenario where mother nature did everything. Evolution is another version of the mother nature idea.
- Mother nature provided the conditions for the first cell to originate. Nice wind, clear water and rain pouring down, some heat and here you are, the first cell! Do you think this could have been possible? How would the incredibly - wise - cell with its hundreds of mechanisms for production, respiration, translation, selection, etc. This is similar to saying that mother nature invented the Mercedes factory!
Nobody can fool us, not the thousands of indoctrinated scientists who are caught in this trap and forced to think in a certain way. They should have the courage to speak up and say that:
- Natural selection does not have the power to invent new organ systems, new abilities in an organism
- Natural selection cannot add new information into the DNA
- Mutations are 99.9% harmful and they cannot add random information that will benefit the organism
- The fossils unearthed are not freaks, they are complete and functional creatures that show qualities exactly the same with their modern counterparts
- Irreducible complexity is one huge reason why graduation is not possible. Gradually developed hand, not functional. Gradually developed eye, not functional. How would this graduation be reflected on the DNA? Would this imaginary adaptation mechanism change the DNA bit by bit until coding the right eye, the right heart, the right respiratory system for the organism?
- Adaptation to a certain environment does not change the genetic setup on the DNA which means that the following generations will not inherit these qualities.
So many evidence and more to see by examining the immense amount of life all around. Evolution also cannot explain the soul, and that in fact we are living in a metaphysical world.
I am very much convinced that creation is a fact, and I believe there are millions of others who have started thinking clearly and seeing these facts.
We must rejoice that the world is about to get rid of one of the greatest deceptions in its history. The evolution deceit.
Unregistered user
You Aren't Particularly Objective or Intellectual
Submitted by Tom Camfield (not verified) on Fri, 28/11/2008 - 21:08.It takes a closed mind to remain oblivious to the reality of science. Eager to discover an alternative to mortality, the human race has allowed the concept of some form of god or other to be beaten into its minds on the basis of the writings of superstitious ancients. The Bible is a nice book of history, but one has to take it with a grain of salt. Religion also can be the last refuge of fanatics, as illustrated by the sadists of the Inquisition and right now by maddened Muslims in India.--Tom Camfield, Port Townsend, U.S.A.
Unregistered user
Understanding is a function
Submitted by Bob N (not verified) on Fri, 28/11/2008 - 04:25.Understanding is a function of the brain. The heart is a pump. Grow up.
Unregistered user
RECONSIDERING EVOLUTION AND CONFIRMING BELIEF IN GOD
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Thu, 27/11/2008 - 11:12.Okay, seems logical what you are saying. However if the beginning was God where did the intelligence come from to make him/her, or did he/she just appear, with his/her great power and intelligence needed to make all life? Seems a contradiction to your whole argument unless nature took a hand in his/her case.
Unregistered user
All answers are in Bible, in
Submitted by estonian (not verified) on Thu, 27/11/2008 - 13:21.All answers are in Bible, in occasion You believe It. If You believe something different - find answers there.
Evolution of nothing will be also nothing.
Evolution of God's Creature will develope in God's rules, in occasion You believe It.
If You believe something, You can understand people who believe God.
If You don't believe nothing and the onliest belief is God's nonexistence, then You must accept God's placing in Your's belief.
Unregistered user
All answers in bible, hey?
Submitted by shutterbug on Thu, 27/11/2008 - 15:33.When I wake up, I can watch the dawn through my bedroom window, looking over miles of farmland. I've seen the most beautiful sunsets over the Greek islands. I've held the twin babies of a friends daughter, and I watched the birth of my son. I listen to classical music. All of these things make it seem logical that there must be a God. Then I see pictures of people, including children, total innocents blown to bits by people who use the words, 'I do this in the name of God', and see children as young as 5 years dying of cancer and AIDS and wonder, how could there possibly be a God? I was brought up a good catholic boy and remained so until I began to question why. I would suggest that anyone who wants to claim the bible as anything better than a novel should read its history. Look at the depredations committed over the centuries by religion, and in the name of religion and then tell me again about this God of yours. In the 16th century, Pope Leo X said, 'It has served us well, this myth of Christ'. So if even the popes don't believe in God, what hope the rest of us?
shutterbug
Depends on You. You believe
Submitted by estonian (not verified) on Fri, 28/11/2008 - 10:10.Depends on You. You believe - You find aswers. You don't believe - You don't find them out.
Unregistered user
Depends on You. You believe
Submitted by shutterbug on Fri, 28/11/2008 - 11:33.I agree entirely. I believe what I can see, feel and smell. I believe we would be still living in the dark ages if the churches or religionists had retained control throughout the ages. For hundreds of years, progressive intellectuals have been punished by the church, particularly the holy Roman catholic church. The Arab countries produced philosophers, chemists, poets and diverse experts in the sciences. Works concerning medicine were written and were considered the last word in progress for some 600 years, until, would you believe, the 16th century. Good grief, we were still fighting over bits of land at that time. Actually, if you look at the world today, we still are. If scientists created something, or discovered something that was not immediately accepted by the tiny, anal retentive minds of church hierarchy, they would find themselves at best ex-communicated, and at worst burnt burned at the stake as heretics. I honestly believe that religion, not that taught by Jesus Christ, or Ghandi or Mohammed, but as practiced by churches, has been the greatest block to the progress of mankind that ever existed.
I think the motto of the catholic church was, for many years, 'If you're not with us, you're against us'.
I still can't understand how anyone can be tortured into belief. Under torture, you would admit to whatever you're being asked to admit. I would also suggest that even the most religious of people, subjected to torture, would, after a certain amount of pain, refute a belief in any god in their own minds, but express a belief, any belief, to their tormentor.
They've just cut my fingers off - Oh, never mind, God will look after me. Yeah, right
shutterbug
OK, You say there's no God.
Submitted by estonian (not verified) on Thu, 27/11/2008 - 09:36.OK, You say there's no God. But where? Everywhere? Have You been everywhere?
If God is not existing, then what or who is somewhere?
To believe God, it's business between person and God.
To believe nothing and to have faith that there's nobody nowhere is also personal business.
Unregistered user
Godless
Submitted by Unregistered user joseph walker (not verified) on Wed, 26/11/2008 - 21:46.Well nothing surprissing with an ignorant and uneducated english ,and a media which survives by living in a cessspool of garbagge,lets reflect on its godless society,single mothers ,highest number of abortions,highest number of divorce,crime,drugs,murder ..highest number of underage pregnancies.dont know about the other side america,but well a country that lives by the gun dies by the gun.its society isnt any better.never mind the aids virus ,somehow news is less forthcoming.,if that is the result of a godless country,say no more ,except keep the ignorance amongst the cesspool of the media and garbagge trash and its society thier represent.
Unregistered user
Godless?
Submitted by shutterbug on Thu, 27/11/2008 - 14:43.Your opening line criticises the English as ignorant and uneducated, then you go on a semi-literate, badly punctuated, mis-spelt, rambling rampage. I would venture to suggest that you look closer at your own (literary) abilities before even attempting to suggest that anyone is uneducated or ignorant. The last time I read anything so confusing was when I tried to understand Adolph Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'. That was a load of rubbish too.
shutterbug
Spot on
Submitted by aroundtheworld (not verified) on Thu, 27/11/2008 - 16:10.Shutterbug, you're right, Joseph Walker should watch his own language and learn to accept other's opinion instead of insulting British people who are neither better nor worse than any other peoples in this world.
Freedom of speech is a sacred right as long as it doesn't insult others...and saying "there is probably no God" doesn't insult anyone...but Joseph's speech, however, did.
By the way...i do believe in God and will never force my belief on others...(i will express it though), and i am not offended by the advert on the buses.
GO LONDON BUSES :)
Unregistered user
Freedom of speech
Submitted by shutterbug on Fri, 28/11/2008 - 00:33.Many years ago, I wrote an artice on 'Freedom of speech'. It centred around a football person, (at this point I must apologise, as I am not a sports fan, in fact I consider sport as less interesting than watching paint dry. In fact, at a dinner party recently, I remarked to a guest who was a football fanatic that the only thing I found more boring than sport - was sports fans. He was not impressed, and left early: in a huff, poor boy). Anyway, back to the point, the football guy's name, if memory serves, was something like Glenn Hopple, and he had made some remarks about his beliefs, as a Buddist, concerning re-incarnation. He was castigated severly, and friends of mine said that it was not so much his beliefs, as the fact that he was famous, and voiced his beliefs. Had I said what he did, it would not have mattered one iota, but because of his position and fame, he should not have said what he did.
I agree in toto with his right to voice his opinion. I disagree utterly with my friend's conclusion.
A famous man once said, 'I will argue with you - I will agree or disagree with you - but I will fight to the death for your right to have your opinion'.
I brought my children up with the idea that if they were going to have a battle of wits with anyone...never fight without being fully armed.
Hand on heart, despite my up-bringing, I am a Gnostic. I admit, I just don't know. But I am prepared to have an open mind, and listen to opinion, and fact. Convince me that there is a God - or that there is not.
shutterbug
Godless Buses in England
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Wed, 26/11/2008 - 20:53.Perhaps the Humanists have a valid point. Just think that a man who sold idols for living in Ur of the Chaldees, suddenly came up with the idea of an invisible divinity called God, just because his business was not doing too well.
All of mankind followed this piped piper and look where it took us. Abraham was no more a prophet than the religious scam artists that exploit the weak-minded of today. If one watches Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts or any other
religious figures, they will come the the conclusion that these people have created a god, which they use to fill their pockets and have a life of ease. What in gods name make people believe these charlatans? They are the equivalent of the Witch Doctors of Africa, the Vooodoo Priests of Santaria, the Obeahman of the West Indies., and the Imams of the Arab world.
These people are like a room full of salespersons all trying to sell a product they themselves have never seen. That is the REAL joke of those who push religion. But of course, it is through this means that they can exploit and use people for their own gain. Of course these purveyors of religion make in good living through the god they supposedly promote. Thus it is not god that they are promoting but their own survival.
Unregistered user