The Atheist Bus

i heard about this a while ago, on a pledge site, I like the idea, will probably chuck a fiver at them seems more anti-christian, than anti any other religion - it's a reaction to christian advertising isn't it?

yeah, the alpha course as i understand it. i don't know much about it, other than there's a big alpha course sign on a church i pass on upper street, islington on the way to work every day. i read somewhere that this is the first fundraiser for atheism specifically. i don't know if it's true, but the reaction has been immense. i like it because it's not as anti-theist as some of the other views that are out there. i don't hate religion and i don't like being thrown in with those that do. this moderate atheism suits me (even if it is diluted by the word 'probably' - they explain why on the site)

I gave £10 as soon as I read the article. One-on-one with religionists I am a tolerant guy, in the world at large I'll take up being a "moderate" atheist when all the hairy fundamentalists and wild-eyed zealots put down their guns, stop threatening people and destroying sites of global cultural significance. The problem with moderation is that anyone who believes that they have the keys to heaven cannot possibly be a moderate themselves.... it doesn't matter how nice they are on the surface, they still think they have the only god and the only way to eternal life.... it's definitely time for atheists to stop being timid and start making the obvious arguments.

they have raised nearly £55000 so far, amazing response. I signed a pledge they started a few months ago, when they had the modest target of persuading 1000 people to pledge a fiver, around 800 odd signed up, and the pledge failed thanks to the publicity, and the dawkins effect, they could branch out into teeshirts and the like now

£77,000 now, money is flooding in!

I don't like the slogan. "Enjoy your lives." ? Meaning to say that those who follow a religion don't enjoy their lives. I don't understand it. I'm an atheist, but it doesn't mean I enjoy my life any more because I've given up on the idea of God. What a load of blox. I won't be subscribing to this with it's poor sweeping generalisations and 'probably'. What a wimpy word..."probably." ! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!

i think "probably" was used so they didn't breach the advertising code, you can't say there is no god, as you would be asked to prove there is no god, and tbf, it's difficult to prove that negative, as it is difficult to prove the positive

There is a reason for the word 'probably': http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/23/atheist-bus-campaign... Someone on the Guaridan site suggested 'You don't need God to be good'. I think that would have been the best choice of slogan.

but then I read that as... 'You don't need God to be good... he could be a nasty bastard.' Mind you, God being a nasty bastard would make sense of many religions. Along with 'God has self-esteem issues so needs constant buttering-up' and 'God is prone to irrational mood swings due to a hormonal imbalance.' ~ www.fabulousmother.co.uk

Personally, I worship Richard Dawkins.

"THERE'S PROBABLY NO GOD." What an absurd slogan. This slogan has exactly the same meaning: "THERE MIGHT BE A GOD." Either have the courage to say there is no God, or don't bother.

The word 'probably' accomodates both the strong and weak atheistic positions which is the difference between believing there is no God and not believing there is a God which are two different things. I just think it's sad that the side of a bus is about as far as the sheeple are going to get to reading any metaphysics. I don't really care what they believe. Which is just as well because having read and studied science and philosophy, for me, deism is the minimum requirement logically. It's hard to be a strong atheist with philosophically tight arguments -Dennett and Grayling make good attempts but nobody has done atheism really well since Anthony Flew and he eventually accepted the deist's position causing a big stir amidst atheists and religionists alike. Even if the association of deists could come up with the cash for a bus ad for the sheeple, and run with "There is a universal creative force greater than that demonstrated by mankind, supported by personal observation of laws and designs in nature and the universe, perpetuated and validated by the innate ability of human reason coupled with the rejection of claims made by individuals and organized religions of having received special divine revelation." then the text would be too small. jude

I truly admire any individual who can go through every event and experience in life - whether happy, ecstatic, awful, horrific - without once sending a silent prayer of either thanks or distress into the great darkness of space and time. Good for you!

The trick is to call on God just before the Soaps start – prevents him getting into the whole, ‘you think you’ve got problems – I remember when…’ thing. ~ www.fabulousmother.co.uk

The problem with "There is no god" on the side of a bus is that some nutter would probably take upon himself to attack the bus or the driver. I mean I can think of a lot of atheist statements I'd like to see on the side of buses..... well on the side of churches actually, but trying to chase the fairies out of other peoples' brains is not worth starting a riot over.