Atheists on the bus

October 22, 2008 at 10:53 am | Posted in Misc. | 11 Comments

Atheist advertising on buses; like all the best ideas, it’s short and irresistibly simple, shouldn’t offend anyone other than the easily-offended and spreads a benign & positive message. Plus, everyone likes pretty flowers, right? Here’s Ariane Sherine on how the campaign started:

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”. When I suggested the atheist counter-slogan (now shortened for readability), the response was extremely positive, and hundreds of you pledged your support after the follow-up article.

As you read this, a new advertising campaign for Alpha Courses is running on London buses. If you attend an Alpha Course, you will again be told that failing to believe in Jesus will condemn you to hell. There’s no doubt that advertising can be effective, and religious advertising works particularly well on those who are vulnerable, frightening them into believing. Religious organisations’ jobs are made easier because there’s no publicly visible counter-view to refute their threats of eternal damnation.

You can donate to the campaign here, and as an added bonus, Richard Dawkins promises to match donations up to £5,500. And who doesn’t want to see Richard Dawkins a little out of pocket?!