The Atheist Bus Campaign

The Idea.

It all began in June of 2008 with an idea: when comedy writer Ariane Sherine saw an ad on a London bus featuring the Bible quote, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find Faith on this Earth?”. A website was listed underneath, and when Sherine visited the site she learned that, as a non-believer, she would be “condemned to everlasting separation from God and then spend all eternity in torment in hell”.

Sherine was unsettled due to the fact that a religion was able to publicly advertise that non-believers would suffer destruction and eternal torture. This lead her to write in the ‘Comment is Free’ section of the Guardian. As she was writing the article and doing research, she contacted the Advertising Standards Authority inquiring about the ad she had seen but learned that the website wasn’t part of the remit for the advertisement. This sparked an idea.  In her article for the Guardian’s CIF she proposed the following,

“[if all atheists reading this] contribute £5, it’s possible that we can fund a much-needed atheist London bus ad with the slogan: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and [enjoy] your life.”

The result.

Today (January 6, 2009) marks the launch of the Atheist bus campaign in the UK after receiving more than £135000 (the original goal was £5500 and was surpassed in a matter of hours). There will be 200 buses seen throughout London and hundreds more across Europe and as word reaches the rest of us in the west the campaign is going global. A total of 800 buses will sport the campaign ads.

Sherine says that the “rational slogan [There's probably no God] will hopefully reassure anyone who has been scared by this kind of evangelism” referring to the orignial bus ad she saw in the summer of 2008.

The big deal.

In addition to ads on buses, ads will also be present on two large LCD screens in London near the bery busy Bond Street tube station. Because of the enormous show of support from the atheist community, every advertisement will include the words, “This advert was funded by public donations.”

This is perhaps the first time in history when there has been such a visible and highly public show of support for rationality and atheism. This speaks to the fact that atheists are a growing minority and are also growing in strength and influence. The many atheists who have been forced to hide their beliefs from fundamentalist believers such as family members, friends, employers, teachers, and whole communities can take some comfort knowing that a huge leap forward has been made today, a step towards equality for non-believers. Perhaps we’ve inched a little closer to the end of anti-atheist prejudice.

Word of the campaign has spread, causing other organizations (Atheists, Freethinkers, Rationalists, and Humanists) to roll out their own version of the campaign in countries like Spain, Italy and the United States.

A Positive Campaign.

The important thing in my mind is that this is not a malicious attack against religion. Rather, it is an attempt to counter the unsubstantiated position of a fundamental religion that advertises that people will die and suffer if they don’t believe. This is a balancing act which offers the public an opportunity to view more than one perspective. The positions are clear: a warning that if one doesn’t believe a particular ancient text which has been translated and interpreted over the course of centuries but that no one ever agrees on, or the rational views of individuals who observe through science that there are other explanations to our existance that do not require a god.

Sherine says, “The advertisements were designed as a response, an affirmation for people that it’s OK not to be religious; that if you are not religious, there is absolutely no reason to worry about that, and that one can lead a happy, enjoyable and rewarding life without religion.” This is not atheist proselytising or an attack on religion, rather in my opinion it is an exceedingly positive campaign, though I’m sure a deeply religious person would disagree with me.”

The word “probably” is meant to soften the blow of the statement to what is anticipated to be a largely sensitive audience. However, it was also used because it doesn’t imply an absolute. Rationalists, scientists and honest atheists do not presume to imply absolutes, but base their views on observable evidence rather than defaulting to a traditional or simply emotional belief.

This afternoon Richard Dawkins said of the slogan that he would have preferred the term “There Almost Certainly is no God.” and explained that he was, “not going to say there positively isn’t because you can’t say that even about fairies and unicorns.”

There hasn’t been a warm reception everywhere though. The Atheist Foundation of Australia tried to place the slogan “Atheism – celebrate reason” on buses, but were rejected by Australia’s biggest outdoor advertising company.

I hope that we will soon see the Atheist bus driving the streets of Vancouver, Canada.  I would be one of the first in line to help push the campaign forward.

Please visit the official campaign website at www.atheistbus.org.uk

Ariane Sherine and Richard Dawkins at the launch of the Atheist Bus Campaign in London on January 6, 2009. Photo credits: Flickr

A banner at the launch of the Atheist Bus Campaign in London on January 6, 2009. Photo credit: Flickr

Leave a Reply