Ariane Sherine and Richard Dawkins at the launch of the atheists’ “There probably is no God” bus ad campaign
Published: 7 April 2009(GMT+10)
Out and about on Britain’s roads, you probably wouldn’t expect an atheist to challenge you about your belief in God. But this is currently the case in England, Scotland and Wales1) where what have been dubbed ‘atheist buses’ are currently sporting the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
The initial idea for the advertising campaign came back in June 2008 from an article written by a comedy writer, Ariane Sherine. She was unsettled by an advert that she saw on a London bus with the verse: “When the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8), followed by the Christian organisation’s website. Sherine was able to read there that, as a non-believer, she would be “condemned to everlasting separation from God and then spend all eternity in torment in hell.”
In response to this, Ariane jokingly suggested that if 4,680 atheists read her article and all contributed £5, then they could run their own advert on the London buses. The suggestion was warmly received by the atheist community with over £150,000 raised since October 2008 in support of the idea. Even the ‘evangelical’ atheist and supreme Darwinist Richard Dawkins personally donated £5,500. Due to the vast amount of money which has been donated to the campaign, it was decided to also place slogans inside the buses as well as throughout London’s tube (underground rail network). The advertising campaign was officially put into action on 9th January.
Atheists: “There’s probably no God”
The slogan does not say that there is no God, but rather is qualified by the word “probably” for two reasons: firstly, so that it does not breach the advertising standards in the UK, and secondly because you cannot prove a negative; i.e. lack of positive evidence is insufficient to completely disprove something. For example, just because no-one has ever seen a luminous green elephant wearing a sombrero, this does not necessarily mean that one does not exist, even though it is highly unlikely. To disprove it one would need to be simultaneously observing every part of the world, indeed the universe, which could possibly harbour such an entity. Similarly, to completely disprove God’s existence, one would need to have a near-infinite amount of knowledge.
While an official definition of atheism simply means not believing that there is a God, as defined on the official ‘atheist bus’ website, it has a bigger meaning: “It’s about making sense of the world, thinking freely and feeling liberated because of it. It’s about using your intellect and sense of reason to learn what life is about, and having the courage to think for yourself. It’s about relying on evidence when deciding on your beliefs, and being brave enough to speak the truth.” There is considerable fluff and nonsense in this statement. Let us consider some of these statements...read more
There really is a God and He is coming back. Are you ready?
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