Atheist Bus Campaign (UK) reached funds in 10 hours

An exeptional campaign was launched last week at Tuesday October 21 in London. At that day AtheistCampaign.org started to raise £5,500 to run 30 buses across the capital for four weeks with the slogan: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
They reached the total just over 10 hours after launch!

AtheistCampaign.org began when comedy writer and journalist Ariane Sherine (photo) saw an advert on a London bus featuring the Bible quote, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find Faith on this Earth?”. A website URL ran underneath the quote, 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”.

Unsettled that religious groups were allowed to advertise websites which warned that the non-religious would face torture at the end of their lives, Sherine pitched and began to write a comment piece for The Guardian’s Cif (Comment is free) website, called Atheists - Gimme Five. As part of her research for the piece, she called the Advertising Standards Authority, but was told that the website advertised wasn’t part of their remit. At the end of her article, keen to suggest a solution, she proposed:
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.”

To Sherine’s surprise and excitement, the majority of reader comments under the article were very positive and enthusiastic about the idea, with dozens of commenters offering to contribute to the campaign. Together with Political blogger Jon Worth (photo) she started to develop AtheistCampaign.org and over 1,200 joined the newly set up Atheist Bus Campaign Facebook Group.

As said the fundraising target was £5,500. Within five days AtheistCampaign.org funded over £100,000!
Sherine said she was surprised by the level of support but was pleased with the extra money, which would finance a more ambitious campaign.
“We could go national, we could have tube posters, different slogans, more buses, advertising inside buses. The sky’s the limit - except, of course, there’s nothing up there.”

Churches have responded favourably. The British Methodist church welcomed Dawkins’s “continued interest” in God, encouraging people to think about the issue. The Church of England said it would defend the right of any group representing a religious or philosophical position to promote that view through appropriate channels.
A spokesman added: “Christian belief is not about worrying or not enjoying life. Quite the opposite: our faith liberates us to put this life into a proper perspective.

The shown bus ads are Photoshop mockups. The atheist buses will run from January.

Picture above: © R. Longmuir / atheistcampaign.org
Second picture: © G. Nunn / atheistcampaign.org
Third picture: © Base on Mars / Josh / atheistcampaign.org

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Cool campaign!

Great!
Somebody had to say it!

I really like what they’re doing here.  This only promotes the inspired minds of people who have ever doubted the value of religion/and or god. For that matter… maybe even a few believers who are starting to realize that jeezy is not coming back.

I hate this bus

yes i am an atheist
but i mean wtf?!

The bus says “There’s probably no god”
wtf is “probably” doing in there

its alomst a fucking agnostic bus

"Join the humanist way of life!” - “Humanist believe in Human Rights!” ...
Why not advertising more positive slogans?!

The ‘probably’ is there to avoid criticisms of arrogance which would ultimately detract from the point that is being made.

One thing I wanted to say is how pleased I am that the UK’s church leaders are showing themselves to be tolerant and understanding that not everyone holds the same superstitions as them, and that belief in a deity is not required for happiness and a fulfilling life. I can only shudder at the thought of the response such a campaign would receive in the USA

I’ve seen news about this campaign all over the internet and i’m surprised the church reacted so well. Maybe they still hate it, but the fact they accepted can make one think the fantasy world where everybody is granted freedom of expression is not only a fantasy, but a reality that people can build.
Though, if someone tried to do such a campaign here in Romania, they would be burning on a stake until now, in applause of the good orthodox church and authorities. Still a long way to walk..

I’ll try to be as non biased here as possible…

I understand that atheists were offended by what religious folks say about torture in the afterlife and so and so, but since you don’t believe in the afterlife, why the heck even care about what they say? Of course I’m not saying it’s right to keep telling people they’re going to hell, even if we believe they will. We should know better than to judge others.

However, this Atheist campaign is quiet offensive to believers such as myself. (I showed it to 3 other people and they reacted the same way). There’s freedom of expression, and there’s respect for the people around you. There’s a line that should’ve been drawn there.. You can always be more creative and think of something that has a weaker “in your face you believers” effect..
All I can say is that this is their way of firing back, which I find quiet immature.

Soraya--How would you feel if someone told you that you were immoral, evil scum who should be wiped from the face of the planet, based purely on a philosophical difference? Would you just ignore that kind of bigoted behavior, simply because you don’t believe that the opposition is right? No, you wouldn’t, and you didn’t. In fact, your reaction to the atheist bus slogan proves the point: even if you don’t believe it, it’s still offensive.

So yeah, the bus campaign is offensive to believers. It’s suppose to be. It’s a taste of their own medicine, and I applaud that.

Moo--

If that ever happens, then I would say to the person: “May God forgive you...” Of course I’ll be angry and offended, but my religion says that no one can get our dignity back like God.
Unless of course that person hit me or something- in that case I have every right to report to the authorities…

Anyways, it seems that I haven’t made my point very clear, but it’s ok, I’ll elaborate some more…

I don’t believe it’s right for believers to say such things to non believers. People who do that are just extremists with no people skills whatsoever. What SHOULD be done is that they tell the person about their idea, and they’re welcome to either join or dismiss the idea.
In Islam, we are encouraged to embrace each other’s spiritual/religious differences and live in peace. Anyone who verbally abuses people and judges them is wrong, because we believe only God is the judge. Also, anyone who claims that “Jihad” is murdering non muslims is also very wrong.

Going back to the first line in my reply- how I would’ve responded is completely peaceful and wouldn’t cause any more problems.
However, “giving someone a taste of their own medicine” is only going to lead to more problems and divide us even more. Fighting fire with fire is only going to lead to a bigger fire unfortunately. Now nothing happened from the priests’ side, but this campaign probably divided the community into 2 sides, which shouldn’t happen.

Now I’m saying this from a designer’s point of view: It’s all about the branding. What the atheist organization could’ve done is just focus on giving their organization a positive and appealing image, instead of showing a side of them that just wants to offend believers.

What I believe this campaign is doing- whether intentionally or not- is offending believers, narrow and open minded. The open minded ones are the “victims” here.
When you think about it metaphorically, it’s like 2 countries are fighting, and it’s actually the harmless and peaceful civilians that are getting “wounded”
Know what I mean?

Of course everyone can agree or disagree. I’m just sharing a believer’s perspective with you. Why? because if both parties learn to live together without biting each other all the time, there would be a lot more peace around the world.

It somewhat saddens me to see that people who allege to be totally secure in their faith are ‘offended’ by people declaring to the public that there’s ‘probably no god’. The buses aren’t dealing in absolutes, just offering the alternative possibility.
Agreed, the ‘taste of their own medicine’ take is not constructive, and I don’t believe this is the intent. Just as theists should not be threatened by atheistic messages, atheists should be prepared to accept that many people do believe in god(s), and while free speech remains a fundamental right, both groups will try to spread their message. It’s about giving both sides equal weighting, and letting people decide for themselves.
For the most part, these adverts will only really sway the opinion of people already sceptical about god, letting them know it’s acceptable to live without religion.

Now, let’s stop worrying and enjoy our lives, godless or believing.

Very nice. Just arrived back in the states from London, and I saw a few in the week I was there. What’s wrong with a little atheist representation in society, seeing how much religion appears in daily life?

Atheists and agnostics are right in most of their thinking

It has been common among religious believers to look with misgiving at atheists and agnostics, and to think that they are mistaken; however, in many instances the opposite is the truth; some religious beliefs are not just irrelevant, but baseless. The “God” of main line traditions simply does not exist. I accepted the challenge of finding the One who may be recognized even by agnostics and atheists: the Existence itself. The God of religions may be denied, but nobody can deny that the Existence is. It doesn’t matter how you call it, but “All-That-Is,” is. A book (probably not written for you) “Christianity Reformed From ist Roots” tells all; perhaps its reflections will relieve your friends of the illusion, as they did for me. (Amazon.com).

Jairo Mejia, M. Psych., Santa Clara University
Episcopal Priest, Retired
Carmel Valley, California

http://www.mbay.net/~jmejia/Grudzen.htm
http://www.mbay.net/~jmejia/Churcher.htm

From the Osocio archive

See this campaign from the Osocio archive