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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Atheism on Buses

I don't know whether anyone has seen this or not but I found it interesting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7681914.stm

Apparently the British Humanist Association has raised money to run atheist slogans on buses.

"The BHA planned only to raise £5,500, which was to be matched by Professor Dawkins, but it has now raised more than £36,000 of its own accord. "

"The complete slogan reads: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." As the campaign has raised more than anticipated, it will also have posters on the inside of buses as well. "

26 comments:

  1. From the article: " Bendy-buses, like atheism, are a danger to the public at large"
    -- Stephen Green of pressure group Christian Voice

    Worship the Great Bus, or you will be damned to the Eternal Traffic Jam!

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  2. I need something like this in my neighborhood to combat all the religious posters on the buses.

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  3. I strongly suspect that if this were to happen here in the states that the fundies would go so ape shit that they might turn to violence.

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  4. Bring it on NM!! lol

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  5. Quasar
    Is the great bus anything like The Magic School Bus? If it is I could worship that!!

    Kiwiinoz
    That should be printed on a tee shirt!

    NM and SS
    Agreed! We need more stuff like this here in the states...even though it will probably cause rioting in the streets!

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  6. All hail the yellow school bus!

    On a side note: was anyone else scared by Mrs. Frizzle as a kid??

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  7. Yes...she freaked me out!

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  8. No way! I thought I was the only one, all the other kids thought I was crazy. I wonder what it was about her that was freaky? I think maybe for me it was the fact that she would always force the kids (especially Arnold) to do dangerous stuff they didn't want to do. Like going into a human body or outer space could kill you!!

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  9. I always felt bad for that poor kid, he never wanted to go on any of the crazy trips...other then that it was her voice, IDK why, it just does! Also her crazy outfits!

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  10. Ya know....a group of atheists here in the states should take up a collection and do a bus ad.....

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  11. I've given 'em a fiver; I only wish I still lived in London so I could see it when it happens. As of 8:26 GMT, they've got over £50,000.

    As for Stephen Green and Christian Voice, they make Ray look positively benign by comparison. They're virulently anti-homosexual and regularly harrass Britain's police forces for allowing those evil gays and lesbians to join up. They once successfully bullied a small cancer charity into not accepting a donation from a charity performance of Jerry Springer The Opera because they objected to the content of the show.

    Green attempted to sue the BBC for broadcasting Jerry Springer on grounds of blasphemy, failed and then whined like small children when the judge declared awarded costs against him, saying it might bankrupt him.

    Thugs and bigots, in short, and regularly denounced by mainstream Christian organisations.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Voice_(UK)

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  12. "They once successfully bullied a small cancer charity into not accepting a donation from a charity performance of Jerry Springer The Opera because they objected to the content of the show."

    Oh so they were the group The Non-Prophets talked about a while back?

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  13. My favorite daily site the daily mash has picked it up

    http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/blaspheming-buses-will-burn-in-hell%2c-say-christians-200810221343/

    BLASPHEMING BUSES WILL BURN IN HELL, SAY CHRISTIANS

    Father Joseph McKay, from Clapham, said: "A bus that cannot be cleansed of its demons will be condemned to bus hell where every bus is vandalised and every passenger smells of stale urine.

    "Okay, it's actually Liverpool."

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  14. On a blog i read a comment of a christian who thought that the word "probably" was somehow a bit lame.

    I tried to point out that it showed great intelligence being that it left options for more evidence to be forthcoming and future learning to then be able to take place.

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  15. nonmagic said:

    "I strongly suspect that if this were to happen here in the states that the fundies would go so ape shit that they might turn to violence."

    Sounds like a broad brush stroke to me. I think 'fundies' would have better things to worry about.

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  16. gandolf said:

    "On a blog i read a comment of a christian who thought that the word "probably" was somehow a bit lame.

    I tried to point out that it showed great intelligence being that it left options for more evidence to be forthcoming and future learning to then be able to take place."

    I would agree with you on the major point, there.

    Do you think Dawkins had any trouble with the word 'probably'?

    Did Dawkins carry through his match pledge to the 5,500 point? I didn't see it in the article (but I did only skim through it).

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  17. The best quote from that Stephen Green chap about the godless buses is the Quote of the Day on the BBC Magazine:

    "...people don't like to be preached at."

    Very true, that.

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  18. LOAF,

    I, and several others, said that we did not agree with what Charles said. Whether it's the same or not was never in question. If you want to bring it into question now, then do so.

    Please point out where and how you have dished something out that I can not take. There's not a single thing you got for me that I can not take. Don't kid yourself.

    You came into this thread trying to use words against me that I said to you yesterday. Looks to me like you're still ass hurt over it. Get over it.

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  19. nonmagic said:

    "I strongly suspect that if this were to happen here in the states that the fundies would go so ape shit that they might turn to violence."

    laof said:

    "Sounds like a broad brush stroke to me. I think 'fundies' would have better things to worry about."

    nonmagic replied:

    "We've got fundies in this country saying that gays should be killed and that blowing up a gay highschool would be poetic justice. Yeah, it's not a huge leap to think they would go nuts over bus ads that say there probably is no god."

    laof admitted:

    "Yes..."

    You might not have had your ass handed to you, but it was certainly nudged in that general direction.

    Do you basically just start out with the mindset of 'whatever the atheist says, I must disagree' and then work from there?

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  20. great quotemining expatmatt.

    Don't even have to go to a different thread to find it and assess the true meaning of my answer.

    I could do the same....
    would you like me to show you?

    As far as this (complete) statement by you:
    "Do you basically just start out with the mindset of 'whatever the atheist says, I must disagree' and then work from there?"

    No, and if you bothered to confirm before you made such an accusation, you'd see I agree with quite a few statements made by the regular authors of this blog (and regular contributors).

    As far as nonmagic serving my postior on a platter, that's all subjective. I didn't run with my tail between my legs, but then again neither did she.

    I do feel I'm letting less emotion into my argument, but it's difficult to tell, from the written word.

    I know that nonmagic has her opinions and I have mine. We'll probably rarely agree, but we do have this forum to discuss, debate and probably continue to disagree.

    To clarify my statements (because they may not have been clear before):

    Non magic said 'the fundies will go ape' and they 'they might turn to violence'. She didn't say SOME fundies or 'the fundies I know'. She made a general statement - which I (admittedly, threw back her own words at her) said was using a 'broad brush stroke'. It was a generalization. When she can prove that all fundies WOULD do that, I'll retract my statment.

    I then (and previously) pointed out that 'Charles' (whom I can only assume is a professed non-believer by his posts here and his statements, said (about 'fundies' under the thread about the homeschooling sorta-psycho mom):

    "Hunt them down and kill them in their homes."

    I did not make a blanket statement that I believed this is how ALL atheists believe.

    So, quote mine away if you wish. I know that some people 'on both sides' do it whenever it suits their cause.

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  21. nonmagic -

    1. I'm not hurtin' cause of the statement you made - didn't mean to imply I was.

    2. I'll clarify my last clarification - yes, you DID say you didn't agree with Charles. If my statement (here or otherwise) seemed to include you, then I apologize here.

    3. My intention is NOT to give you 'something you can't take.' But I see that my derisive statement was, itself, childish and that perhaps you CAN take it as well as dish it. If that then warrants an apology (from me), then so be it.

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  22. LOAF,

    In your reply to Matt you said:

    "Non magic said 'the fundies will go ape' and they 'they might turn to violence'. She didn't say SOME fundies or 'the fundies I know'. She made a general statement - which I (admittedly, threw back her own words at her) said was using a 'broad brush stroke'. It was a generalization. When she can prove that all fundies WOULD do that, I'll retract my statment."

    Personally, I'm not interested in having you retract anything. You can go at me all day long if you want, and when I have the chance between other things I'm doing for work, I'll go right back at 'cha.

    No need to apologize for anything on your part, either. I don't get into the whole 'somebody hurt my feelings on the internet so now that have to apologize' deal. Now, if I'm blatantly in the wrong I will apologize to someone, but I'm pretty thick skinned and I don't need much for apologies.



    I also said in my original statement that I suspect fundies would turn violent over the bus ads. I stand by that. There is evidence, as has recently been presented, that there are fundies who would kill a gay person if they could get away with it. They'd even go so far as to say that bombing a highschool where the gays attend is poetic justice. Maybe you do see me as painting with a broad brush on that one, but there's no way I'm gonna retract a word of it.

    Look at it this way, the fundies on Ray's blog (and I've never met one who wasn't just of a like mind) love to tell us atheists how we are all a bunch of liars, murderers, adulterers, ect. and how we are all going to burn forever. That's pretty hate filled and violent if you ask me. So that's where I get my suspicions that they would turn violent of such ads on buses started to appear here in the US.

    When you take something that was said to you yesterday and instead of responding to it then and there, you wait and bring it back up in a totally separate thread on a unrelated matter, then yes, you do make yourself look ass hurt over it, whether you are or not. None of your protesting to the contrary makes it look less like that, either. So whether you are or not, you sure as hell make it look that way.

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  23. laof,

    You said:
    "Would you like me to show you?"

    Quotemine away to your hearts content, it'll be fun.

    All the content I used was available in this very thread for people to see if I manipulated the context or meaning or not. To finish the incomplete quote at the end of my comment....

    You said:

    "Yes, [and you've got Charles saying about 'fundies':
    "Hunt them down and kill them in their homes."]"

    This was in response to nonmagic's reply about the insane home-schooler. I read from that that you agreed with her statement [that knowing how some fundies react to things, it is fair to suspect that they would react violently to the atheist bus] but were qualifying the whole thing by saying that an atheist (Charles) was doing it [saying mean things] too. Correct my interpretation if I'm wrong. I'll thank you for it.

    The bottom line is that nobody thought that when nonmagic said 'fundies' that it meant every single last one of them. Nobody, it appears, but you.

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  24. Matt said:

    "The bottom line is that nobody thought that when nonmagic said 'fundies' that it meant every single last one of them. Nobody, it appears, but you."

    Wow. That was much more concise than I put it. Color me schooled in concision, seriously! Thanks, Matt. That's what I would have said had I thought about it.

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  25. Gandolf said...
    On a blog i read a comment of a christian who thought that the word "probably" was somehow a bit lame.

    I tried to point out that it showed great intelligence being that it left options for more evidence to be forthcoming and future learning to then be able to take place.


    The word "Probably" was used because under British law, you aren't allowed to use offensive advertising.

    Apparently, someone at the Advertising Standards Agency thought that telling people for definate that there are no gods would offend people of faith.

    It's bloody stupid if you ask me. I would bet you could get away with a bus advert that stated Santa didn't exist.

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