London buses directing passers-by to a website that told those who did not accept Christianity that they would suffer for eternity in Hell were countered with this Atheist bus message. It says "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."*
Cop out. A real Atheist wouldn't have included the word "probably." But, I understand their anger. Who tells someone where to go on the side of a bus? Now the God lovers and God haters are fighting to see who can raise the most money to advertise their afterlife choices on public transit. May the best whore win.
24 comments:
It's just a cheerful antidote to the authoritarian doom of Christianity.
What kind of stark arrogance would it be to state that there IS no God? Whoever posted it is obviously not that arrogant.
Actually you are wrong. There are different degrees of belief, agnosticism and atheism. These people are obviously de facto atheists, or agnostic atheists. Just a lesson for you.
i never thought it was very 'christian' of people or churches to scream and preach that if you don't believe you're going to hell....
They're gonna need to spread pretty wide if they wanna shove that whole bus.
they weren't legally allowed to simply put "there is no god" because it's a statement of fact that can't be proven, or something. i read an article about it, lots of people didn't like the inclusion of the "probably," but they couldn't do anything else. anyway, atheists that are so sure of themselves make atheism just as dogmatic as religion. as an atheist, i'm totally fine with the inclusion of a "probably."
An interesting element of the bus slogan is the word “probably,” which would seem to be more suited to an Agnostic Bus Campaign than to an atheist one. Mr. Dawkins, for one, argued that the word should not be there at all.
from a nytimes article
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/world/europe/07london.html
But the element of doubt was necessary to meet British advertising guidelines, said Tim Bleakley, managing director for sales and marketing at CBS Outdoor in London, which handles advertising for the bus system.
For religious people, advertisements saying there is no God “would have been misleading,” Mr. Bleakley said.
ack! i managed to put the link in the middle of the text. i'm an idiot, sorry
That bus is so powerful that it just
is.
its nice to see a public advertisement that encourages people to enjoy their lives!
i never thought it was very 'christian' of people or churches to scream and preach that if you don't believe you're going to hell...
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Umm, actually that is the definition of being a Christian. Dumb Fuck.
I can understand someone wanting to share their religious views whatever they are, but if you don't believe in anything in regards to a higher power, isn't trying to convince others of that somewhat pointless?
If you think someone is a fool for what they put stock in, ok fine, why feel the need to rip that away from them, unless your insecure & angry about something yourself. The whole campagin and counter campagins are rather childish.
Something about the British advert forced them to use the word "probably."
Anyway it's about time agnostics and atheists started sticking up for our views. Cuz now matter how you slice it, no-one fucking knows what the truth of the matter is.
What we DO know, however, is that religion has the been the cause of too much suffering for too many years. Fundies of all stripes are scary fuckers, period.
Oops, I meant "something about the British adverts LAWS.." etc.
Corruption has been the reason for the violence; not religion.
Vatican corruption killed more Popes, enriched more families (nepotism; as in "my nephew"), realigned borders in medieval old world, tortured, killed, stole, and misguided money and information to push Christianity worldwide. What is that? Bureaucracy!. Mohammed in te 7th century dreams up Islam and sets up the pre-Brigham Young market of goods and revelations from their version of archangel Gabriel annunciating the "real" religion. People fuck up religion. Turkish muslims take Homer's Oddyssey and turn it into Sinbad's voyages. I believe because it enriches my life.
hey anon 12:03 i am not a dumb fuck....
and it is NOT 'christian' to tell people they are going to hell if they don't believe what you believe...
you must be one of those 'christians'....do unto others....
you're a dumb cunt...
10:19 is dead on right. It's not religion, it's not "God", it's people who twist, contort and do hanious or self serving things in the name of religion.
1:37 you can know forsure, but just like a dessert you've never had placed infront of you, you can't possibly know what it taste's like if you haven't eaten it. Look, smell , poking it, none of it tells you if it's tart or sweet.
I cringe at how so many have behaved in the name of & presented religion, but like 10:19 i've learned thats nothing to do with God.
The Ad wars, someone may have meant well, but it will turn more people off then anything. And many will judge who God might be by those actions, when it's human to the core.
So Atheists can't put "no God" because it's a statement of fact that might be misleading, but, Christians are allowed to say non-believers ARE going to Hell? Fact: I will worry about my own ass. I don't need anything on a bus, from either side.
I think shoving one's beliefs down people's throats is the problem.
I wouldn't like it.
Why are TV pastors so wealthy and ostentatious. They live in the biggest mansions (Rev. Wright, John Hagge, Joel Osteen, Minister Farrakhan, Rev. Al Shaerpton), and then try to preach about humility and charity and avoidance of greed. They corrupted religion like redical imams call for jihad.
Not trying to stir the pot, but I do often wonder why people get so offended over being told they wont get to go somewhere that they dont believe exists anyway. If someone directed me to a website that told me "You cant go to the smurf village if you dont worship papa smurf." Well, hey guess what? No big deal, as I believe the place & being to be fictional. So no offense at the thought of being left out of something I believe to not exist in the first place. It's sort of along the lines of hearing someone who doesnt believe in god, blaming god as soon as something goes wrong. I dont get it.
(And yes, I get there are those that are over zealous or have done wrong in the name of it. I dont agree with that in the slightest.)
It's not a website that you can avoid. It is an insult and an annoyance I can never aviod. There's a big diff. GET IT OUT OF MY FACE.
5:09, imagine that a huge percentage of the country believed in smurf village, and they talked about smurf village and papa smurf all the time. imagine prayers to papa smurf were offered at, oh, say, inaugurations of presidents. image that almost every person in a position of real power in the country believed in papa smurf. that's when it becomes a problem. it's no longer something that's just absurd if everyone else takes it so seriously. and believe me, it can positively feel like a threat of the very earthly kind when people start berating you for not believing in their heaven and hell.
megan, great response!!
Anon 5:09 here...
In response to Anon 6:04 - when I mentioned a website, I was referring to the website, cited in the story. Not the christian faith as a whole.
Thank you for your response Megan. I honestly have never had a chance to ask someone why being told they wont go to heaven is offensive if they dont believe in heaven or god. I know & am friends with several people of different faiths and some that are atheist. They've never expressed offense to my faith and I dont preach to them as I respect they dont believe as I do. I've had the experience with some of them praising things in my presence that they know I dont believe in. I dont say anything negative about it - smile & nod, let them say what they want, offer support as a friend & move on to another topic when they are done. I'm sorry to hear you have dealt with those that are overzealous. Even in my own faith, I too, run into them and I definitely dont agree with that sort of thing.
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