UNITED KINGDOM: Atheists launch advertising campaign on buses across Britain claiming there is no God

Record ID: 345526

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Atheists launch advertising campaign on buses across Britain claiming there is no God
  • Date: 7th January 2009
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY 6, 2009) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF ROYAL ALBERT HALL WITH BUSES GOING PAST / PAN ACROSS THE ROAD TO ONE OF THE LONDON BUSES WITH ATHEIST ADVERTISEMENT ON THE SIDE SIDE CLOSE-UP OF SIGN ON SIDE OF BUS READING 'THERE'S PROBABLY NO GOD. NOW STOP WORRYING AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE' WIDE OF BUS
  • Embargoed: 22nd January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA24GLEXXCBCJY6UINGU7YOTZNR
  • Story Text: British atheists have launched an advertising campaign on buses across the country, telling people not to worry about incurring the wrath of God.
    An atheist advertising campaign on British buses and on the London Underground has been launched with the slogan: "There's probably no God.
    Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
    A total of 200 bendy buses in London and 600 buses across England, Scotland and Wales will carry the slogan from Tuesday (January 6) following a fund-raising drive which raised more than £140,000 ($204,665 US dollars).
    The money raised will also pay for 1,000 advertisements on London Underground from next Monday (January 12).
    The fund-raising drive was prompted by a suggestion from comedy writer Ariane Sherine, who received support from the British Humanist Association (BHA) and atheist campaigner Professor Richard Dawkins.
    Sherine had objected to a set of Christian advertisements running on London buses in a piece written for British daily newspaper The Guardian last June.
    Speaking at the launch of the campaign in central London, Sherine said she had objected to a set of Christian advertisements carrying a website address which when accessed warned that people who reject God are condemned to spend all eternity to "torment in Hell."
    But the comedienne said she hoped her advertisements would put a smile on the face of those who saw them in the street. She said: "I'd like people to look at the buses and smile. I'd like them to brighten people's days on their way to work, and just think 'that's unusual'." She added: "It's a very light-hearted and gentle philosophical campaign, and I hope it will be taken as such."
    The buses that will carry the slogan outside London will run in a variety of cities, including Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Liverpool, in a four week campaign.
    The four London Underground adverts will feature quotations from figures such as Douglas Adams, Albert Einstein and Katharine Hepburn.
    Professor Dawkins, who wrote the best-selling atheist book 'The God Delusion', donated £5,500 ($8,046 US dollars) to the campaign, and was on hand to unveil one of the London Underground advertisements.
    He said: "It really shows that there's a mood in this country of getting fed up with being dominated by religious interests and so I wanted to support that and I did support it and that's how I got involved."
    The author and academic defended the slogan, which some have argued was too weak. He said: "We atheists are always being accused of being strident and shrill and things like that and of course we're not. We're just ordinary, perfectly nice people, and this 'probably ' in the slogan kind of says that. It's gentle, cautious. Nobody could really object to it. I don't think they will."
    Martin Casson, an advertising director for the Churches Advertising Network, said the Church of England welcomed the campaign because they would stimulate much-needed debate among Britons, although he argued that the slogan itself was "selfish".
    He said: "The line 'probably', 'There's probably no God, so stop worrying about it', is a very selfish line, actually, in a time of credit crunch, in a time of people tightening their belt buckles and makingmeet. I think it's a time for people to be open, and it's a time for people to be generous, and for people actually to look out for their neighbours. After all, that's the Christian message."
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