Posted on 01/13/2009 10:03:26 AM PST by NYer
.- A campaign promoting atheism through ads on public buses in London has spread to the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Madrid, igniting a controversy among the inhabitants of both cities.
The so-called “atheist buses” in London were inspired by columnist Ariane Sherine of The Guardian and backed by the British Humanistic Association and Professor Richard Dawkins. Soon after philosopher, Anthony Grayling, journalist Polly Toynbee and the British Atheistic Association also voiced their support for the campaign.
The campaign now has some $250,000 in donations and has spread to other British cities, where some 600 buses carry ads that read, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” On Monday 1000 ads will be posted on London’s subway network.
Now, the Spanish media is reporting that “atheist buses” are circulating in Barcelona, and the Madrid city government said it would not oppose the ad campaign as long as it does not violate any advertising norms.
.- Italian atheists, following the lead of atheists in the UK and Spain, announced Monday they will launch an ad campaign February 4 on two public buses in the city of Genoa, with the sponsorship of the Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics of Italy.
“Our campaign is a challenge launched by atheists in Bagnasco’s region,” said Union secretary general Raffaele Carcano, referring to the fact that the Archbishop of Genoa, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, is also president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference.
The campaign’s slogan will be: “The bad news is God does not exist. The good news is you don’t need him.” Archdiocesan officials gave little importance to the ad campaign. “This is a campaign that will lead nowhere. Some methods promote dialogue, others encourage intolerance, and direct opposition is always a manifestation of intolerance,” said Gianfranco Calabrese, Director of Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Genoa.
Link: Italian atheists announce bus ad campaign for Genoa
This is great news! The more they deny God, the more attention they draw towards Him :-)
Social autism is running rampant?
I don’t know why they’d waste their money advertising on buses. They have the schools, entertainment, government, and most of the churches to spread their message, in their countries and ours.
.....lack of heat = cold.....
.....lack of light = dark.....
.....lack of GOD = evil.....
“Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics of Italy”
Buh-bye.
Evangelical atheists. I guess they just feel left out.
“There’s probably no God. So, you know that list you’ve been keeping since Junior High School?”
Wasn’t this in response to some bus ads that quoted scripture?
"This is probably a good hamburger!"
"Bad news is, we sell hamburgers!"
Jesus said, ”I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” John 10:10
I think you are right, you know, all they are acheiving is getting people talking about God. You couldn't make this stuff up.
I don't recall but they did begin this campaign prior to Christmas.
G.K. Chesterton
"Enjoy your life?" OK, how does one do that with debts coming out the wazoo, rebellious children, crazy relatives, no job and a spouse who's a 24/7 headache? If I stop believing in God, will all that suddenly go away? It's my experience that the most neurotic, depressed and lonely individuals in this world are those who have no faith. There's a void in their lives that no earthly distraction can fill. They have no hope and no source of true comfort.
Suffering is a reality for everyone who has ever passed and who ever will pass through this world. There is no escaping it. Only a believer can make sense of this and endure with hope. Without belief in eternal life, nothing on this earth makes sense.
The slogan is utterly ridiculous. As if living by God's law is an obstacle to enjoyment. The truth is that most of what passes for enjoyment in this world, ultimately leads to misery.
OK
Good one!
I think this is a good discussion to have, and ostensibly the reason why they initiated the bus campaigns.
You can't poke holes in faith without having people talk about it.
It's true that some people have a huge amount of negative emotion when they come to terms with the fact that there is no afterlife or celestial deity, especially when they've either been brought up in it, have devout family members, or have devoted a portion of their life to it. Would you expect some people not to be depressed over this realization?
However, it's not true of everyone.
Without belief in eternal life, nothing on this earth makes sense.
What 'makes sense' to you might not make sense to other people. There are countless different ways of looking at the world; yours just happens to be one of many.
A lot of people find the world makes a lot of sense once you come to realization that the universe doesn't revolve around you or any other person, and that there is no divine plan.
Even the Archbishop of Canterbury had a crisis of faith after the tsunami disaster. To a non-believer, the tsunami disaster makes perfect sense; we live on a planet with constant earthquakes that sometimes cause many deaths. There's no mystery to it, and it makes perfect sense in the world we inhabit.
“A lot of people find the world makes a lot of sense once you come to realization that the universe doesn’t revolve around you or any other person, and that there is no divine plan.”
Ah, but the whole point of the Christian life is to come to that realisation that “the universe doesn’t revolve around you”. There’s an old saw that at the center of SIN is “I”. That’s not a bad definition either. Sin is when you see yourself as all that is important, and other people are just objects that exist in your reality. Realising that and at the same time accepting that there is a divine plan is in no way contradictory. After all, to fully understand such a divine plan one would have to BE divine.
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