Posts with the tag 'Atheism'
An Atheist Ad In A Hong Kong Newspaper
Firstly: lots of you have been asking when the atheist buses will roll out onto the streets. We can’t give you a date yet I’m afraid, but it will definitely be in January – so not long to wait now! We’re very grateful for all your support – and with the help of the fantastic Simon Bishop, we’ve just broken the £130,000 mark, which is amazing when you remember that our original target was just £5,500.
Secondly: the American Humanist Association’s ABC-inspired bus campaign has been running across Washington DC for over a month now, and though it hasn’t met with approval across the whole of the US, it’s a big step forward. For more on the AHA campaign, please visit its official website.
Lastly: an atheist has taken out a quarter-page advert in a Hong Kong newspaper, saying “Consider – you don’t need to believe in a god or have any religion, just take a break, celebrate and enjoy the holidays with your loved ones – that’s the reason we need holidays, and that is all we need!”
Anonymous atheist of Hong Kong – we salute you!
Tags: AHA, America, Atheism, Atheist, Campaign, Date, Hong Kong, January, Launch
13.12.08
A number of people have concerns about the slogan containing the word ‘probably‘. There’s also a lively debate about this at our Facebook Group Discussion Board. I’ll quote what Ariane wrote there:
…transport advertising regulations are more stringent than normal advertising regulations (for billboards, etc) and the decision of whether to run the ad or not is very much at the discretion of the bus companies. It’s their private space, and their criteria for this (I know it’ll make all atheists reading this bang their head against a wall, but here goes) is that the advert “must not offend religious people”.
In their view, the “probably” gets us around this (and even with it, I’m anticipating that the Advertising Standards Authority will receive several dozen complaints from religious people and organisations). Also, as Dawkins writes in The God Delusion, being an absolute “7″ on the faith scale (insisting “there is no God”) doesn’t make sense, as nobody can ever state this as an absolute. The alternative Dawkins proposes is “almost certainly”, but “there’s almost certainly no God” doesn’t make for an overly catchy advertising slogan!
In short our priority is to get these ads out on the buses, to get people thinking about atheism. That’s the major goal. So we hope plenty more people can back our efforts to reach that goal!
Tags: Advertising, Atheism, Bus, Facebook, Probably, Richard Dawkins, Slogan, Transport, Wording
21.10.08
** We reached the total at 1006 BST (GMT+1) on 21st October, just over 10 hours after launch – thank you so much to everyone who contributed! If you haven’t donated yet and would like to then please do – we are now aiming to launch a full advertising campaign across the UK! **
The Atheist Bus Campaign launches today, Tuesday October 21. With your support, we hope to raise £5,500 to run 30 buses across the capital for four weeks with the slogan: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Donate online now!
Professor Richard Dawkins, bestselling author of The God Delusion, is officially supporting the Atheist Bus Campaign, and has generously agreed to match all donations up to a maximum of £5,500, giving us a total of £11,000 if we reach the full amount – enough for a much bigger campaign. Our campaign partner, the British Humanist Association, will be administering all donations.
With your help, we can brighten people’s days on the way to work, help raise awareness of atheism in the UK, and hopefully encourage more people to come out as atheists. We can also counter the religious adverts which are currently running on London buses, and help people think for themselves.
As Richard Dawkins says: “This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think – and thinking is anathema to religion.”
Tags: Atheism, Atheist Bus Campaign, Donation, Donations, Fundraising, Humour, London Buses, Richard Dawkins, Slogan, Thank You
21.10.08
