Hurray! The Daily Telegraph just reported on our new Atheist Bus Campaign window stickers, which are available here:
Atheist bus campaign launches car bumper stickers
The atheist advert campaign is spreading from buses to cars with the release of a “There’s probably no God” bumper sticker.
The 12in stickers are being sold to raise money for groups including the British Humanist Association [correction: a donation from each sale goes to the Atheist Bus Campaign, not the BHA, and definitely no other groups!] which organised for atheist posters to be displayed on the side of 800 buses around the country.
That campaign attracted complaints from more than 300 people, but the provocative messages now look set to get a wider airing on the windows of non-believing motorists.
The stickers cost £2 each or £12.50 for a packet of ten. Also available from the official Atheist Bus Campaign website are T-shirts and badges bearing the sceptical slogan: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
The campaign was the brainchild of the comedy writer Ariane Sherine who wanted to counter what she saw as the “threatening” adverts bought on the side of buses by some Christian churches. Her unprecedented appeal raised £140,000 after winning the support of prominent atheist including the biologist Professor Richard Dawkins.
She has since been invited to deliver a non-religious version of Thought for the Day on Radio 4, while atheist groups in countries including Canada and Italy have attempted to launch their own bus adverts.
Last month the Advertising Standards Authority said it would not investigate the posters, ruling that they did not breach any part of its code.
Some complainants claimed the adverts were offensive while others said that their central claim about God’s existence could not be substantiated.
As promised (okay, it’s a little late), here’s your weekly ABC news update!
THE MORAL MAZE
ABC supporter Adam Tjaavk helpfully suggested that we let you know that the Radio 4 show The Moral Maze will be broadcast at 8pm on Wednesday February 18 2009, as the question Michael Buerk and the panel will be posing is: “If you don’t believe in a set of divinely inspired moral rules, how do you decide right from wrong in a world with complex and competing interests?” Secularist Of The Year winner Evan Harris MP will be debating from a secularist viewpoint. If you want to hear it using the “Listen Again” facility, a link to the show’s website is here.
ATHEIST VIDEO
This fantastic video has been around for ages, but in the light of the Trinitarian Bible Society double-decker London bus adverts, I thought we should post it (thanks Ben):
THOUGHT FOR THE WORLD
I was lucky enough to be asked to record another secular version of Thought For The Day last week, for a series in conjunction with the Scottish Humanist Society and The Guardian, called Thought For The World. The theme had to be topical and not about atheism or religion (or Radio 4/the BBC), so I chose freedom of speech and belief. You can listen to it and leave a comment here or read the transcript here. Hope you like it.
NUMBER 10 PETITIONS
Lastly, there are two petitions for a more secular UK which you may want to consider signing:
The atheist buses are off the streets now (and not just because of the snow), and we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in the project – and if you’ve ever donated or commented, that means you. We’re very grateful, and while we’re going to take a break now for a little while, we’ve got exciting plans for the future. For now though, here’s all the latest news…
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY AWARDS
I was really happy and surprised to receive the Special Award for the Atheist Bus Campaign at the Secularist of the Year Awards on Saturday, hosted by the National Secular Society. I was only told on the day that I had won an award (so it was excitingly unexpected!) and was presented with this beautiful model bus with an engraved gold plaque:
I took my Dad along to the awards with me. He’s 70 and this is the only picture I have with him:
I’d like to dedicate the award to everyone who has supported the campaign.
UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE
The Atheist Bus Campaign was the subject of a question on University Challenge on Monday February 9 2009! If you missed it, here’s the video:
I can’t quite believe the first bloke thought the “three-word phrase” was “God”!
CHRISTIAN ADVERTS
The Atheist Bus Campaign made the front page of The Guardian on Thursday last week, when the Christian Party, the Trinitarian Bible Society and RussianHour TV decided to launch bus adverts in response to the Atheist Bus Campaign – some of which have been rather “inspired” by ours! The BHA have put out an official statement which you can read here.
SLOGAN GENERATOR
There’s a very funny slogan generator here, which has been created completely independently of the Atheist Bus Campaign. An earlier version of this generator featured a watermark in the lower right-hand corner saying Photo: Jon Worth/AtheistBus.org.uk. Unfortunately, this meant that any slogan created using the generator automatically looked like it was endorsed by the Atheist Bus Campaign and our web manager Jon, and the BHA were getting worried calls from people who thought their names or companies were going to be on our buses!
For legal reasons, we’d like to make it clear that the slogan generator – and any slogans generated by it – have nothing whatsoever to do with the Atheist Bus Campaign, Jon Worth or the BHA. The very talented creator of the generator merely used our original photo, taken from this website, and has kindly now removed the watermark and included a legal disclaimer on the page. The Guardian recently ran a bus slogan competition using the generator, and have published pictures of the best slogans here.
THOUGHT FOR THE WORLD
I was lucky enough to be asked to give a secular Thought For The Afternoon on Radio 4’s iPM Programme on January 10th, but Radio 4’s Today programme is still not open to humanists and atheists. Because of Radio 4’s reluctance to allow secular voices to be heard, the Humanist Society of Scotland and The Guardian have organised a series of podcasts from atheist and humanist thinkers called Thought For The World – and I’m very excited to have been asked to record one. It will be podcast next Monday February 16 here.
ATHEIST BUS CAMPAIGN WINDOW STICKERS NOW AVAILABLE!
Atheist Bus Campaign window stickers with the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” are now available here from our official merchandise partners Blue Apple Music. These are printed on removable, self-adhesive vinyl and are suitable for any kind of clear window. The Atheist Bus Campaign will receive a donation from every sale.
That’s all for now – hope you enjoyed the round-up. We’ll be updating weekly from now on, so please do check back next week for more news.
A week after the Advertising Standards Authority ruled in favour of the Atheist Bus Campaign adverts rather than the complainants (who included Christian Voice), they have stated that Christian Voice is no longer allowed to run adverts making unsubstantiated claims against the HPV vaccine, which protects young girls from cervical cancer.
Here’s the full ruling:
Ad
An advertising feature in the New Statesman, on behalf of a religious group, had the headline “VIOLENT CRIME – SOWING AND REAPING”. Text underneath stated “There is a Biblical principle that we reap what we sow. It applies to nations as well as to individuals. What politicians sow, the people reap. When politicians sow evil, the people reap misery, and the poorest reap it the worst”. The ad went on to describe what the advertisers considered to be the detrimental impact of government policies and various pieces of legislation on society. It included the text “Now we have the disaster of teenage infertility. Every government initiative, including the HPV vaccine, will increase it, but as all the targets revolve around pregnancy, no-one in power knows how many young people they are making sterile and nobody cares”. Text at the bottom of the ad stated “Christian Voice. Working for Godly government; praying for national repentance”.
Issue
One complainant challenged whether the implied claim that the HPV vaccine would result in teenage infertility was misleading and could be substantiated.
The CAP Code: 3.1;7.1;2.2
Response
Christian Voice argued that the claim was an expression of their opinion, and that their right to express that opinion was protected by The Human Rights Act 1998.
Christian Voice provided a link to a page on their website, which they said gave evidence of the failure of the government’s Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. They said it was clear from national statistics that the approach of successive governments on teenage sexuality have preceded, or at least coincided with, growing levels of teenage conceptions, abortions and sexually-transmitted infections.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted Christian Voice’s response. We considered, however, that the claim “Every government initiative, including the HPV vaccine, will increase it [teenage infertility]” was a statement of fact that was a matter open to substantiation. We noted the webpage submitted by Christian Voice, but we did not consider that that webpage in itself was sufficient to support the claim. Because we had not seen robust, scientific evidence that the HPV vaccine caused infertility in teenagers, we concluded that the claim had not been substantiated and was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Principles), 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Christian Voice not to repeat the implied claim that the HPV vaccine would result in teenage infertility.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority has ruled in our favour, decided not to investigate the 326 complaints about the Atheist Bus Campaign adverts, and closed the case. Hurray!
It’s a great day for freedom of speech in Britain. Atheists are officially allowed to be represented in public for the very first time (adverts are not pre-vetted by legal organisations before they go up) and a rational counter-view can now be visible at any point to balance out evangelical advertising.
Most people have recognised that ours is a gentle, philosophical advert aimed at non-believers and fearful agnostics. We’re really pleased that the ASA has recognised this too. At last, we have a truly free voice – and it feels good.
Ron Heather is the Christian bus driver who has refused to drive the UK atheist buses, creating a news story which has been in the press a lot over the past 24 hours. He and I have something in common: we’ve both taken exception to websites promoting belief systems different to our own.
The website I took issue with was JesusSaid.org, advertised on buses and tube cards in June last year, which – as you can read here – promotes the idea of God’s wrath and eternal punishment. It insists:
“God’s wrath includes the prospect of eternal punishment – it is appointed to men to die once and then comes the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). You will rise from the dead and will face the Judge and know that you rejected His kind and merciful answer. You will be condemned to everlasting separation from God and then you spend all eternity in torment in hell. Jesus spoke about this as a lake of fire which was prepared for the devil and all his angels.”
Our adverts were designed to counter these rather alarming ideas.
Conversely, the website Mr Heather didn’t like much was… er… this one. The Guardianrevealed today that “Heather said he had been particularly offended by the name of the website featured on the ad, atheistcampaign.org.”
Maybe the words “atheist” and “campaign” unsettled him for some reason, but they really shouldn’t have, because this campaign is as gentle as any. I truly don’t think he’s visited this site, because we’ve taken great care to make it very peaceful and upbeat (as we have with the entire campaign). We wanted to create a calm place where people could talk freely about their beliefs – the very opposite of JesusSaid.org, in fact. We believe in freedom of speech, so we rarely delete comments, but the main content of this site is very mild, friendly and straightforward.
If Ron ever does visit, he’ll be very welcome here. But somehow we don’t think he will.
Here’s the quote I gave to the press yesterday:
“We live in a democratic society, which will only function as such if we are allowed to peacefully express different viewpoints. The bus companies have accepted the adverts, and nobody imagines that bus drivers wholeheartedly endorse everything advertised on the sides of the buses they drive.“
As promised (okay, it’s a little late), here’s your weekly ABC news update!
A week after the Advertising Standards Authority ruled in favour of the Atheist Bus Campaign adverts rather than the complainants (who included Christian Voice), they have stated that Christian Voice is no longer allowed to run adverts making unsubstantiated claims against the HPV vaccine, which protects young girls from cervical cancer.
