Oz Atheist buses kaput?

[Vonnie]

Bravo, HAO!

Vonnie

[DanDare]

5 Months since last asked, any news?

[David Nicholls]

DanDare,

Soon

David

[Iridescence]

One little issue I have with this - I don't see religious advertising on buses now - so if the AFA starts an atheist bus ad campaign, then what is to stop the churches from exploiting the same thing? I think you are opening a big old can of worms.

I don't particularly want to see them (the religious organisations) screaming equal rights to put their messages on buses. Because it will make my morning commute even more annoying and I may burst a vein for real..

Gah, just imagining driving down the road behind a bus declaring I must accept jesus or burn in eternal hell makes my eye twitch.

[SinisterDexter]

Well, that did happen in the UK. But I honestly think it made those religions look like idiots. It was very "Oh, yeah, well God does so too exist! So ner!".

Plus, we have had religious advertising here in Adelaide before. Apparently, so went the ads, "Jesus wept."

WTF?

[David Nicholls]

Iridescence,


Good point. But here is something to consider. The AFA bus adverts are selling the message of reason. Religious adverts will attempt to influence people about a spooky world separate from reality.

Atheism is growing so rapidly in the world because such pubic messages tend to turn people off rather than attract them. I give you the examples of recent muttering from Pell, the Pope and the odd Anglican archbishop. Even religious folk find embarrassment in a lot of those outpouring about abstinence, the climate is OK, no condoms for Africa, same sex relations are less valid than hetero ones etc

Religion perpetuates itself quietly by indoctrination of the young achieved by restrictive parents, schools and peer pressure. Exposing religion in the light of day for all to see is in my opinion, its biggest mistake.

I personally welcome the idea of signs on buses with a religious flavour. They will represent a desperate church in decline, whereas the Atheist message is one of growing awareness that the emperor has no clothes.

David

[Iridescence]

David, I see your point - the long term benefit may be worth the short term irritation.

[Vonnie]

Originally Posted by David Nicholls

...such pubic messages tend to turn people off rather than attract them...

<splork!!!>

Vonnie

[David Nicholls]

David, I see your point - the long term benefit may be worth the short term irritation.

I don’t really see it as an ‘irritation’, Iridescence. I consider it an end example of the moulding capability of the human mind given the correct genetic and nurturing recipe at an early age. It’s all very sad for the folk thus affected and for those lives they inadvertently damage along the way.

I know the negative results of religious faith can be nothing short of disastrous, but imagine believing in spooky stuff for a whole lifetime and never knowing the basic reasons for holding onto this kind of a delusion.

It certainly hits my pity bone in a severe kind of way.

.such pubic messages tend to turn people off rather than attract them...

Bit tired is my excuse. It was pointed out to me by another, Vonnie, but I still didn't twig. I think I'll leave it there for my punishment.


David

[DanDare]

When I lived in Sydney I saw quite a few god botherer adds on buses. They were not on the outside of the bus but on the inside where you had nothing much to do but read all the cramped text of biblical quotes.

Its harder with the more modern buses since they limit internal advertising to that little panel behind the drivers seat but I still saw adds for various religious groups there.

Of course billboards is where a lot of the action is. Drive down the New England highway sometime and cop a geek at the anti abortion billboards. And of course all those pithy little signs outside of churches such as "No God, no life. Know God, know life."

A lot of intellectuals around the traps dislike the Brights movement, largely it seems because of the name. One thing the Brights have that atheists don't is a common positive formalism that you can get behind and promote. I suggested on their website that the movement should have an equivalent to churches which I named (tongue firmly in cheek) "Light Houses". Light Houses would be looked after by a "Beacon". They could then have all the pithy little signs, about a natural world view, that they wanted and they could be centres of reason.

Anyway, the atheist bus campaign seems to be part of an even larger movement than the Brights about reason itself. That is the implication of the Sam Harris Reason Project, although it is a little slow to get off the ground and still tied to the anti-theism project a little too tightly. The atheist bus campaign is certainly one way to go and its good to have a focus. I think we need more campaigns in different avenues promoting reason and tearing down the privilege that has been given to religious world views.

later dudes.