wyliepoon
Senior Member
according to the website, the ttc has been allowing religiously motivated ads to be advertised. is this true?
I think everybody has seen the Bus Stop Bible Studies inside TTC vehicles (they can also be seen in Burlington and Calgary).
http://www.busstopbiblestudies.com/
Here's what they have to say about the atheism ads:
We knew it would only be a matter of time. Canadian Press has just announced that the Toronto based Freethought Association of Canada hopes to copycat England's "THERE'S PROBABLY NO GOD" campaign.
Bus Stop Bible Studies has been posting Bible messages inside Toronto's buses and subway cars (also on Burlington, ON and Calgary, AB transit systems) for a little over two-years. The messages, which include more than 300 different designs, have challenged and encouraged millions of transit riders. It is estimated that these displays have been viewed more than 150-million times.
We have received testimonies of changed lives as a result of people reading just one or two verses from God's Word on the different transit systems. Although we see the occasional negative comment on someone's blog, we understand the TTC has received only five expressions of concern (even fewer complaints) since the first 'studies' were posted and none from the other transit companies.
Our position is that we strongly believe in freedom of expression and freedom of religion and commend the Supreme Court of Canada for the positive rulings they have made in this regard thus far. We encourage visitors to view "Religious Advertising in the Public Square" which addresses many of the issues people raise on this matter.
What an opportunity for the Christian community to confront this challenge! If 30,000 people of God donated just $5 per month, this would allow Bus Stop Bible Studies to post a display in virtually every bus and subway car in Canada year-round! Will you help?
Another example of "religiously motivated" ads were those taken out by the Falun Gong (labelled as a subversive cult in China) some years ago. They were big and yellow and read "FALUN DAFA IS GOOD!" with a photo of Falun Gong protesters waving banners in Tiananmen Square. Now they are using TTC to advertise their "Divine" dance show, going as far as getting people dressed up in Chinese costumes to hand out pamphlets in the Finch Station concourse.
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I think the floodgates for religiously motivated ads have been broken wide open by the Bible studies and the Falun Gong. As a Christian, all I can say is that I have to accept a level playing field in terms of religious ads, so there is really nothing I can do about atheist ads. What I can only do is to give a defense of what I believe in.
What I am against is when religious groups proselytize people on TTC property without permission. Jehovah's Witnesses standing at subway station entrances giving out tracts, Falun Gong members standing on the Scarborough Centre RT platform handing out copies of the Epoch Times, Mormons going up and down the aisles of buses talking to people, and, unfortunately, Bible-pounding subway preachers yelling at the top of their lungs in trains during the morning rush hour. Not only are they a nuisance, they are breaking TTC bylaws and they just get in the way of passengers getting from point A to point B.