Richard Dawkins launches 'There is no God' adverts on buses across Britain

The Times (U.K.) / Various ^ | January 6, 2009 | Ruth Gledhill

[Stoat]

 

Professor Richard Dawkins told the launch ceremony that the existence of God was as likely as the tooth fairy

 

 

The archsceptic professor Richard Dawkins today launched Britain's first atheist campaign posting the message: "There's probably no God. So stop worrying and enjoy your life" on the side of 800 British buses.

The posters – launched in conditions cold enough to freeze a presumably non-existent hell over – co-incided with the Christian feast of the Epiphany, when according to tradition three magi from the East presented the baby Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Dr Dawkins, speaking at the launch in Central London, said he would have rather not had the word "probably" in the advertisement. He said the existence of God was about as likely as that of the tooth fairy.

Organisers of the four-week campaign said they had included the word "probably" because they did not want to be dogmatic in the way that so many religious leaders are.

The campaign was conceived by Ariane Sherine, a comedy writer who dreamed of just one bus going around London with an atheist slogan after she saw a similar advertisement for Christianity on the back of a bus.

[edge10]

Yet he thinks space aliens might have genetically engineered life on Earth:

Dawkins part starts at about 1:50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o7OSNDqY9g

[Rokurota]

A challenge to Hawkins:

By way of logic, if there is probably no god, then the "prophet" was Mohammed was probably crazy. Hence the next advert should read:

Mohammed was probably crazy. If you follow his words, you probably are too. Now go out and enjoy life.

[weegee]

“THERE IS NO MAN MADE GLOBAL WARMING, NOW GO OUTSIDE AND ENJOY YOURSELF!”

[DrewsDad]

Worry?

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Phil. 4:6-7

[alarm rider]

I am waiting for:

“There is no England, so stop calling yourselves English and enjoy Islam”.

What a bunch of cowardly twits the English have become.

[GL of Sector 2814]

Our nation’s president begs to differ and his voice carries farther than mine. The media won’t pick up on what I’ve stated on FR today.

The president choosing not to say something because he believes (rightly or wrongly) that it would be a bad idea to do so is not the same as not being permitted to say it.

Likewise, the fact that your comments are not being carried on NBC is not the same as not being permitted to say them.

[RichInOC]

Maybe. But as the mob guy in “Casino” said, why take the chance?

[Old Professer]

Makes you wonder what the inspiration for the funding might be...

[dennisw]

godless atheist ping

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

Manson followed his conscience. So did Lenin and Stalin.

So did Nietzsche. How many did he kill?

It's a pity to see you confuse political ambition for atheism.

[brytlea]

Actually, I don’t believe in Richard Dawkins...I think he’s a myth and a fairy tale...

[weegee]

"The president choosing not to say something..."

NO. He doesn't choose NOT to say something. He says an untruth. What I say is made out to be a "divisive lie" (*). His lie is told in the interest of "unity". But it is still a historical falsehood.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1907725/posts Bush: All religions pray to 'same God' WorldNetdaily.com ^ | October 7, 2007

President George Bush has repeated his belief all religions, "whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God" – an assertion that caused outrage among evangelical leaders when he said it in November 2003.

Bush made the statement Friday in an interview with Al Arabiya reporter Elie Nakouzi.

Al Arabiya is Al Jazeerah's top competitor in the Mideast.

Sounds a lot Obama:

2004 Interview: Obama Talks about Jesus, Heaven and Sin
(June 3, 2008)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2111204/posts

“OBAMA: Right. Jesus is a historical figure for me, and he’s also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher. And he’s also a wonderful teacher. I think it’s important for all of us, of whatever faith, to have teachers in the flesh and also teachers in history.”

Obama: “There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior that they're going to hell.”

GG: You don’t believe that?

OBAMA: I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell. I can’t imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity. That’s just not part of my religious makeup.

GG: What is sin?

OBAMA: Being out of alignment with my values.

----

* just as it is an inconvenient truth to point out that Barack Obama is not a Christian and no evidence of a baptism has ever been presented, certainly his agnostic mother and non-practicing muslim fathers would not have had him baptised. Even his grandparents were non-practicising Christians. He went to a Unitarian church for his grandmother's memorial service last month.

[weegee]

How many people did Karl Marx kill and how many have been killed advancing Marxism? Same question for Nietzsche?

[taxesareforever]

“He said the existence of God was about as likely as that of the tooth fairy.”

Can’t bring himself to say “does not exist”. Understandable since everyone is born with the knowledge that there is a God.

[Boston Blackie]

1) You don't really believe that story is true, do you?

Its just a story

2) Committing assault & battery on someone to the point that they're unconscious because you don't like their religious viewpoint is a "happy ending"?

Yes, nobody died.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

If you need to err on one side of the other (of your ‘blind-faith’ argument) isn't it better to live according to a philosophy that says do not harm others and do what you can to help them?
 

 

Who hateth nought
Of all which lives, living himself benign,
Compassionate, from arrogance exempt,
Exempt from love of self, unchangeable	45
By good or ill; patient, contented, firm
In faith, mastering himself, true to his word,
Seeking Me, heart and soul; vowed unto Me,—
That man I love! Who troubleth not his kind,
And is not troubled by them; clear of wrath,	50
Living too high for gladness, grief, or fear,
That man I love! Who, dwelling quiet-eyed,
Stainless, serene, well-balanced, unperplexed,
Working with Me, yet from all works detached,
That man I love! Who, fixed in faith on Me,	55
Dotes upon none, scorns none; rejoices not,
And grieves not, letting good and evil hap
Light when it will, and when it will depart,
That man I love! Who, unto friend and foe
Keeping an equal heart, with equal mind	60
Bears shame and glory, with an equal peace
Takes heat and cold, pleasure and pain; abides
Quit of desires, hears praise or calumny
In passionless restraint, unmoved by each,
Linked by no ties to earth, steadfast in Me,	65
That man I love! But most of all I love
Those happy ones to whom ’tis life to live
In single fervid faith and love unseeing,
Eating the blessèd Amrit of my Being!

- Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita, Chapter 12.

 

 

Your take?

[GL of Sector 2814]

NO. He doesn't choose NOT to say something. He says an untruth. What I say is made out to be a "divisive lie" (*). His lie is told in the interest of "unity". But it is still a historical falsehood.

You're using the word "lie" incorrectly. There are millions of people who believe that the God of Muslims, Christians, and any other religion is ultimately the same God. If he honestly believes it he may or may not be wrong...but that doesn't make it a lie.

[GL of Sector 2814]

2) Committing assault & battery on someone to the point that they're unconscious because you don't like their religious viewpoint is a "happy ending"?

Yes, nobody died.

I'm very glad that you're not in charge of our legal system.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

Why would Karl Marx have to take responsibility for the murders Stalin committed? Both followed idiotic ideologies, no doubt, but the point that Karl Marx could not believe that there could be a God, in no way makes him responsible for the killings that Stalin ordered, to further his political ambitions.

The Conquistadors killed in the name of Christ, too.

It’s like blaming the gun, and not the one who squeezed its trigger.

[weegee]

I didn’t say that he told a lie. I said that he told an untruth. Whether he believes it to be true does not change the fact of falsehood of the statement. Only whether Bush is telling a DELIBERATE falsehood.

My denial of the unity of all of the world’s religions is an uncomfortable statement to make in the politically correct world. All cultures are NOT equal.