The Athiest bus just drove into town

[Voltaire]

It has been interesting reviewing the news about the current set of athiest bus being rolled out in the UK and recently Spain (with many more countries to follow).

The bus advertising was set up when a religious advert on a bus led to a website which stated that all who did not believe in god (I am athiest so don't use a capital G) will be damned to hell for eternity. Many humanists and athiests got understandably annoyed at what they believe are superstitions being bandied about as truth and so organised their own advertisement on the side of London busses (and other cities in the UK) with the slogan on the bus of "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy life." Some religious leaders has seen this as quite a good advert as it promotes thought about the matter but the spanish, who have a high incidence of Catholic believers have come out attacking the adverts because they believe it attacks faith.

What would your views be of our own busses driving round with this advert on the side of it?

ANYONE who has spent a chilly half-hour in London waiting for a double-decker bus may already have doubted the existence of a deity. But for those who need further proof, a nationwide advertising campaign in Britain, aimed at persuading more people to "come out" as atheists, has been launched with the backing of some of the country's most famous non-believers.

The principal slogan — "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" — can already be seen on four London bus routes.

Now 200 articulated buses in London and 600 others across the country are to carry the advert after a fund-raising drive that brought in more than £140,000 ($A288,000) far exceeded the original target of £5500.

The money will pay for 1000 advertisements on the London Underground train network from Monday and ads on a pair of giant LCD screens opposite Bond Street subway train station in Oxford Street.

Organisers unveiled quotes from public figures — including Albert Einstein, Douglas Adams and Katharine Hepburn — who have endorsed atheism, or at least expressed scepticism about any creator.

The words "That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet" are quoted from the poet Emily Dickinson.

At the launch in a marquee next to the Albert Memorial in west London, the television comedy writer Ariane Sherine, creator of the campaign, said: "You wait ages for an atheist bus and then 800 come along at once.

"I hope they'll brighten people's days and make them smile on their way to work. This is a great day for freedom of speech in Britain. I am very glad that we live in a country where people have the freedom to believe in whatever they want."

Joining Sherine were Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, Hanne Stinson, from the British Humanist Association, the philosopher A. C. Grayling, and Graham Linehan, who wrote the television shows Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd. There were messages of support from actor Stephen Fry and writer Charlie Brooker.

GUARDIAN

http://news.google.com/news?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1287213413

[Terminator 4]

Freedom of speech.  I wouldn't be too bothered if we had buses going around with slogans saying there is no god.  People have obviously done this to wind the religious people up though.

[Chris]

Freedom of speech.  I wouldn't be too bothered if we had buses going around with slogans saying there is no god.  People have obviously done this to wind the religious people up though.

Well they have churches and advertisements, some religions even knock on your door to talk to you about it.

But have athiest sided slogans put on something like a bus? No...no that can't be right.
I hope they do, it'll be a laugh to watch all the religous zealots cry like hypocrites.

[rogueelement]

Bet it won,t be making any stops in the middleeast.

[Ashley]

I think the point is not to wind up religious types at all. Quite the opposite. The point is that they're stating a fact, and that people should spend more time making actual people happy i.e. themselves and those around them, rather than blindly conforming to a completely empty religious ideal that'll ultimately please no one, really.

[White Knight]

I was visiting St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai desert where monks from all religions live together. I asked one of the monks "How come you can all live together in peace, when all religions believe that their's is the only true one?"
Answer-"We may all believe in different Gods but it comes down to looking at it like a bicycle wheel. All the spokes run from the outside to meet in the centre,the spokes are the religions and the centre is God, we all believe in God but in different ways. Like many streams running into making a river, they all come together"
I thought that it explained it very well indeed, even if you do not believe in God. Everybody should be able to live together no matter what their belief is. I do believe that no one should coming knocking on ones door to try to enroll them into their religion. Freedom of all things in life!

[Res Nullius]

We may all believe in different Gods but it comes down to looking at it like a bicycle wheel. All the spokes run from the outside to meet in the centre,the spokes are the religions and the centre is God, we all believe in God but in different ways. Like many streams running into making a river, they all come together"

Scuppers us polytheists.

[Dylan]

monoandrotheists too!

[rogueelement]

I,ve been in the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the range.

[imacrappaud]

I agree with forget religion, lets just learn how to get on with each other but then I am probably deluded as it will never happen while religion abounds

[Durendal]

I,ve been in the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the range.

America great group but
"You see Ive been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain"

[Dylan]

I,ve been in the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the range.

Hey Spartan, I thought he was called "Harley"- or was this another one of your "nags"?

Regarding Bicycle wheels White Knight, - good allegory however, pray did you persevere with your qualitative legal brain to inquire whether there was provision for a flat tyre or a worn bearing? If you take this to its extreme, this is what has happened to religion not only in our society, but others also. "De-fundementalisation" springs to mind vs "agressive fundemantalisation". Although this is presented in the axiom, its self evidence is lobbed at us every day of our waking lives.
Certain religions have their own spin which tailor their product toward the masses (no pun intended but not far off the mark). I'm Biased as a white anglo saxon protestant, shameful that this may appear, yet I am proud of my heritage and saddened by the way it has been undermined by moors etc since the crusades. One of my pregenitors even publicly blamed the Cats for the great fire in 1666 (candles etc)which is why the London monument had half of its latin inscription chiselled off and changed.
The Buddhists have a fantastic approach. With them, it is acceptable to adopt any good bits ( holidays etc) from other religions, this is not frowned on as it represents the acceptance of others, albeit couched in devious ways.

As for our own society? Well I have to agree that there is an undertone of agnosticism, further undermined by "taught by peer" downright hatred of anything religeous, has had its hand in creating social disorder which we witness today.

Atheism? Not new, my lot were thrown out of their home (which they'd had since 1528) in the mid 1600's for not going to church on sunday. In the early 1800's they were frowned on for the same thing until it was recognised that needs must to help the crimea.

I recommend Le Plongeon's "Lost continent of Mu" - written at the beginning of the last century for a comprehensive explanation of the misinterpretation of the bible and all it misleadings which have been the source of so much misery and hatred by the uneducated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(lost_continent)

[mpwpj]

...god (I am athiest so don't use a capital G)...

As an athiest you don't believe in grammar?

...What would your views be of our own busses driving round with this advert on the side of it?...

I can't see any problem with somebody making the suggestion that everyone should enjoy life.  Those that take offence to the suggestion that there is probably no God most likely claim to believe in God, but in fact by taking offence prove that they haven't really understood the message, or the teachings which they claim to believe.  These people are the problem with religion.