For Radar:P

[DanaC]

Don't know if anybody picked up on this yet and I don't have time to go on a search...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/wo...n.html?_r=1&em

I saw something about this awhile ago in the Metro (freebie paper left on buses and trains) and thought, oh I should tell Radar! Then forgot about it. Have just seen a link to the same story as covered by NY Times via another forum.

I particularly love the response from the Methodist Church.

[Radar]

Very nice. If I tried to pull this off in America, I'd be attacked both in person and in the media.

[Pico and ME]

Thats way cool! I especially like the idea of putting famous peoples quotes in the ad. Its about time too.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Not always positively. “I think it’s dreadful,” said Sandra Lafaire, 76, a tourist from Los Angeles, who said she believed in God and still enjoyed her life, thank you very much. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I don’t like it in my face.”

I'd say the same for the other side. I find the religious billboards and post-bills annoying.

[Pie]

An interesting element of the bus slogan is the word “probably,” which would seem to be more suited to an Agnostic Bus Campaign than to an atheist one. Mr. Dawkins, for one, argued that the word should not be there at all.
But the element of doubt was necessary to meet British advertising guidelines, said Tim Bleakley, managing director for sales and marketing at CBS Outdoor in London, which handles advertising for the bus system.
For religious people, advertisements saying there is no God “would have been misleading,” Mr. Bleakley said.

Why "for religious people"? Is there one truth for them and a different one for me?

[dar512]

I agree Bruce. I'm Christian, but I still think it's pretty presumptuous to think/tell people that they're going to hell if they're not.

[HungLikeJesus]

There were atheist billboards in Colorado during December.

One said, "Don't Believe in God? You are not alone."

Here's an article about it.

DENVER -- A controversial billboard will likely be popping up in a neighborhood near you, just in time for the holidays.The billboard is paid for by a Colorado atheist group. The message sits against a blue sky backdrop and says, "Don't believe in God? You're not alone."

Ten billboards will pepper metro Denver, while one will be put up in Colorado Springs.

"And we're putting them up in November and December because of the holidays, when church and state issues tend to come up a lot," said Joel Guttormson, with Metro State Atheists. "To let non-believers, free-thinkers and atheists know that they are not alone, especially in a country like ours that is predominantly Christian."

Pastor Willard Johnson of Denver's Macedonia Baptist Church called the billboards a desperate effort to discredit Christianity. "The Bible is being fulfilled. It says that in latter days, you have all these kinds of things coming up, trying to disrupt the validity of Christianity," Johnson said. "If they don't believe in God, how do they believe they came about? We denounce what they are doing. But we do it with love, with gentleness, with decency and with compassion."

Bob Enyart, a Christian radio host and spokesman for American Right to Life, said it's hard to ignore the evidence.

"The Bible says that faith is the evidence of things not seen. Evidence. If we ignore the evidence for gravity or the Creator, that's really dangerous," said Enyart. "Income tax doesn't not exist because somebody doesn't believe in it. And the same is true with our Creator."

The billboards will go up Nov. 17. The atheist group, called Colorado Coalition of Reason or COCORE, also wanted to put up signs in Fort Collins and Greeley, but a billboard company there refused to carry the message.

Johnson said atheism is a rebellion against Biblical principals and the billboard will likely offend many Christians.

COCORE said this is about First Amendment rights."And I've read the First Amendment up and down and nowhere does it say that I have to care about your feelings. We're either 10 to 16 percent of the population, and the reason we don't really know is because people are scared to come out because they're ostracized by the people around them," said Guttormson.

The quoted arguments against the billboards seem weak and ridiculous.

[Pie]

Yeah, there was one of those billboards somewhere near Philly once upon a time. Ah, here's the link, and quote:

Interstates are an unlikely forum for theological debate. Some might even point to the modern commute, with its chaotic swirl of traffic and exhaust, as proof that God, if he ever existed, has absconded, leaving us alone with our dirty world.

And yet, on I-95 (as on other highways across the country), God himself has taken to the road. There, a billboard offers a chance to "Experience God" on a Web site. But God may need to up his game. Because several weeks ago, his competitor bought a billboard, too. Just a short distance away, another sign reads: "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."

The "Experience God" billboard was put up by the Light Houses of Oxford Valley, a church with relaxed worship procedures — wear what you want, feel free to eat and drink. The other billboard was crafted by the Greater Philadelphia Coalition of Reason, or PhillyCoR, an alliance of groups whose members "do not believe in supernatural powers," according to their phone message.

The churchgoers were the first to notice the proximity of the billboards. In a post on the church's blog, Pastor Bob Jones challenged the atheists: "I am not asking you to believe, but simply open your eyes and minds and see if there is something more."

Martha Knox, coordinator of PhillyCoR, read the blog and saw a chance to advance her organization's mission. "We want those who disagree with us to understand that we share the same secular values," she said. Because she believes that "charity is a secular, human value, not a religious one," she called the church to organize a joint day of service.

[DanaC]

In the linked story it talks about some similar things in the States.

Personally I think the Advertising Standards Board should have kept out of this one and declined to arbitrate on the provability of either side's claims. The word 'probably' was out of place with the overall sentiment of the advert.

[Radar]

I don't think so. If there is absolutely no physical evidence that something exists, it probably doesn't.

[monster]

Love it, Dana. I think the "probably" is just fine ....to me it gave the message that it's Ok to be pretty sure it's all bollox and be happy with your decision -you don't have to be an atheist warrior. Over here, there are many atheists, but the majority of them keep quiet not only for political reasons, but because they don't want the atheist warriors to harrangue them to "join the movement" -they just want to non-believe in peace.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by monster

Over here, there are many atheists, but the majority of them keep quiet not only for political reasons, but because they don't want the atheist warriors to harrangue them to "join the movement" -they just want to non-believe in peace.

I think you've nailed it. They probably take more heat from the warriors than from religious folks.

[TheMercenary]

We have religious billboards all over the South. I don't even notice them anymore.

[Radar]

Maybe you do, but you don't know it. Our subconscious picks up everything.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Radar

Maybe you do, but you don't know it. Our subconscious picks up everything.

Wrong.