The Atheist Blogger

Friendly Atheist has linked to an “atheist bus advert” generator, so I thought I would do my best and tackle an issue that has been with the adverts since the start of the campaign. My advert probably won’t be on buses any time soon though!

THERE IS NO GOD!

Whilst the message isn’t really philosophically accurate (especially given my position as an agnostic atheist), you can’t deny it would turn some heads! For those confused, the ASA is the “Advertising Standards Authority” which determined that a statement like “THERE IS NO GOD” wouldn’t be legal, and Christian Voice are the arses who filed numerous complaints about the adverts.

So I’m back from the USA, have shaken off the jet-lag, and ready to delve back into the world of blogging once again. During my absence in America (which I plan to document in another blog post), the BHA successfully launched the range of atheist adverts on buses, trains, and billboards. I have yet to see one of the buses, but I’m bound to be in London one of these days.

One story that caught my attention was how a Christian bus driver, Ron Heather refused to drive his bus because it had an atheist advert on it. His words were:

I was just about to board and there it was staring me in the face, my first reaction was shock horror.

…

I think it was the starkness of this advert which implied there was no God.

Starkness. Really? So now saying something is more than 50% likely is considered a “stark” proposition? Wow. How stark are Christian adverts that proclaim God does exist then? Having a first reaction of “shock horror” shows that you are someone who has absolutely no understanding of anyone else’s view, and your actions confirm it. Mr Heather, you are a bigot. Thank you for being the reason these adverts need to be shown; the fewer people like you there are, the more healthy society will become. We aren’t asking for dominant views, or for you to succumb to our beliefs. We are asking for equal time to share our opinion.

The real problem I have with this issue though, is that Mr Heather was meant to be providing a service to the community, and he rejected that service in order to feel like he had won some ultimate battle against people who oppose his view. At my first London Atheists Meetup, I met an atheist who was a driver on the London Underground (the subway system). He didn’t mind the number of Christian adverts that are plastered all over the underground network, neither did he refuse to work because of them.

Of course, I think there are probably people behind this entire event. The atheist ads have been on the news for months, and talked about at length by fundamentalist Christians, including Christian Voice. It wouldn’t surprise me if Mr Heather was either asked, or planned to “rebel” against the system, simply to get air time on radio and TV.