Atheists hope (don't pray) to bring ads to Toronto (G&M)

[Prometheus The Supremo]

But here in Ontario we have our own faith-based legacy (thanks Bill Davis) with full provincial funding for the separate school system, a system where non-Catholic teachers have a much harder time getting into the system than Catholics unless they have a pastoral letter handy.

i'd love to see atheists teach religion classes in catholic schools. maybe that's what i should do. become a religion teacher in a catholic school. serve them right for fugging me up the way they did.

"okay students, lets turn our bibles to revelation 14 and read why we're better off being gay"

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

wow!

Anti-atheist bus campaign launched in London


Who apart from Transport for London is benefiting from this influx of cash into advertising for or against the existence of God? The churches might not be able to compete individually with Richard Dawkins' £150,00 atheist bus campaign running across several cities in the UK but between them they are putting up a pretty good show. I wouldn't cite any of it as proof or otherwise for the existence of God, even given the laws of probability. But if there is a God, He or She must be having quite a laugh.

The latest to hit the streets with pro-God buses are The Christian Party, the Trinitarian Bible Society and the Russian Orthodox Church. The Christian Party is paying for buses to carry the slogan: 'There definitely is a God. So join the Christian Party and enjoy your life.' The Trinitarian Bible Society has chosen a line from Psalm 53: 'The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.'


Posted by Ruth Gledhill on February 06, 2009 at 09:57 AM

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/02/antiatheist-bus-campaign-launched-in-london.html

 

[Brian69]

If this becomes an arms race of sorts the heretics can't win. But you'd think these believers shouldn't feel particularly threatened by the atheist bus campaign seeing as they have God on their side and free advertising on many a street corner.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

If this becomes an arms race of sorts the heretics can't win. But you'd think these believers shouldn't feel particularly threatened by the atheist bus campaign seeing as they have God on their side and free advertising on many a street corner.

what they should do is advertise the bible quotes that many a time get overlooked and are unknown to alot of believers. this would truly foster some critical thinking. what boggles my mind is that many believers are willing to discard pee wee herman because he masturbated in a theater. all of a sudden everything good he did becomes irrelevant based on one act but if the bible tells you that god drown the earth and committed mass murder, somehow the god of the bible is immune from becoming irrelevant to these people.

pee wee may be weird and even nuts but his crimes are dwarfed in comparison to the god of the bible. but of course, i will be told that god is allowed to commit things that we would consider crimes if we did them our selves.


lets not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

 

[Hydrogen]

Ooh, quoting Psalm. Now that's heavy.

And using the word "definitely." Sounds like someone may actually be ready to provide some evidence to illustrate the definitive quality these ads appear to exclaim.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

And using the word "definitely." Sounds like someone may actually be ready to provide some evidence to illustrate the definitive quality these ads appear to exclaim.

maybe it's a typo. they could be trying to say "there definitely is a dog".


p.s, here's a good advert for husbands trying to have sex with their wives in bed and worrying if the pet dog is nearby:

"there's probably no dog. now stop worrying and enjoy your wife."

 

[kEiThZ]

I bet people will add "Not" on the ads when they see them. CP24 ran a poll and more people said they were offended about the original ad than not offended. Why are people so upset that we don't believe in their God?

Because the ad campaign aims to offend people and to proselytize the faith of 'atheism'. It's no different than the Jehovah's taking out a billboard criticizing Hindus, Muslims, other Christian denominations, etc. I would not find it acceptable for any religion to put up signs that seek to denigrate or challenge the basis of another faith....particularly given the multi-cultural and multi-faith society that we live in today.

And few would doubt where this campaign is directed...If the campaigners really had the cojones, let's see the atheists put up an ad that says 'There probably is no Allah. Now get on with your life' or 'Vishnu was just a regular dude. Get over it.' If they find the campaign so acceptable, then they should be challenging more than one faith. I'll start to deem the campaign acceptable and non-discriminating when they start challenging all faiths everywhere. When they put billboards in Mecca, Bangkok, Mumbai that's when I'll believe this isn't a targeted attack seeking to denigrate the Christian faith.

why is it soo taboo to criticize a religious ideology? imagine if criticizing political ideology was that taboo in canada!

Polls have repeatedly shown that Canadians do not find attack ads acceptable. And as a people we do get offended by them from time to time. Like it or not, the original atheist ad is perceived no differently than an attack ad on another person's faith. The campaign may be well-intentioned but the delivery is lacking. You want to win over more 'converts' why not hand out free copies of Richard Dawkins work to anybody who wants one on the subway? That would be a rather not-in-your-face way of getting your message across and something more compatible with the society we live in.

 

[MisterF]

Because the ads generate controversy. But you knew that already.

If the campaigners really had the cojones, let's see the atheists put up an ad that says 'There probably is no Allah. Now get on with your life'

Why would they use the Arabic word for God?

 

[kEiThZ]

Why would they use the Arabic word for God?

Because Muslims don't equate God and Allah.

 

[theman23]

Because the ad campaign aims to offend people and to proselytize the faith of 'atheism'. It's no different than the Jehovah's taking out a billboard criticizing Hindus, Muslims, other Christian denominations, etc. I would not find it acceptable for any religion to put up signs that seek to denigrate or challenge the basis of another faith....particularly given the multi-cultural and multi-faith society that we live in today.

And few would doubt where this campaign is directed...If the campaigners really had the cojones, let's see the atheists put up an ad that says 'There probably is no Allah. Now get on with your life' or 'Vishnu was just a regular dude. Get over it.' If they find the campaign so acceptable, then they should be challenging more than one faith. I'll start to deem the campaign acceptable and non-discriminating when they start challenging all faiths everywhere. When they put billboards in Mecca, Bangkok, Mumbai that's when I'll believe this isn't a targeted attack seeking to denigrate the Christian faith.

Since when did the concept of "God" become exclusive to Christians? Talk about hubris. You're way off base with your claims of these people only targeting Christians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Secular_Alliance

When they put billboards in Mecca, Bangkok, Mumbai that's when I'll believe this isn't a targeted attack seeking to denigrate the Christian faith.

Why would the Toronto Secular Alliance be putting up billboards in these cities?

Because Muslims don't equate God and Allah.

This is completely false. What the heck else do they equate him with?

 

[qwerty]

agnostic&atheist

(i'l keep this simple, considering some of the audience)

Agnosticism i accept/undestand -they dont know, they're not sure.

Atheism seems silly. Basically, they think (Christians, etc.) are foolish for believing in an old guy,beard, robe,sandles, the deep voice, bunch of rules, up in the heavens... on(blind)faith -no proof. Fine.

But how then, would the atheist prove nonexistence of a God? Have they looked everywhere? Understand everything? "Like the ant high atop the ant hill deep in the jungle, looking all around..."
Untenable position really.

 

[MisterF]

^You can't prove the nonexistence of god any more than you can prove the nonexistence of Zeus or first nations animal spirits. Your question has been explored repeatedly in this thread.

Because Muslims don't equate God and Allah.

Of course they do. That's like saying the French don't equate cities with villes. They're the same thing, just different languages. Christians and Muslims worship the same god.

 

[Hydrogen]

Because the ad campaign aims to offend people and to proselytize the faith of 'atheism'.

Atheists merely point out the absence of proof with respect to the existence of god. As a result, there is no "faith" to speak of when considering atheists. Also, atheists (and agnostics) are hardly organized groups like a religions.

The ad in question employs the word "probably" which suggests no absolute knowledge. This is quite different from numerous religious faiths that proclaim special and superior knowledge of god - but can't prove it.

It's no different than the Jehovah's taking out a billboard criticizing Hindus, Muslims, other Christian denominations, etc. I would not find it acceptable for any religion to put up signs that seek to denigrate or challenge the basis of another faith....particularly given the multi-cultural and multi-faith society that we live in today.

As indicated above, atheists don't believe in god (allah, etc), so it's hard to see them competing on par with organized religions. As for differing faiths, there is always competition with respect to points of view regarding other religions. There are efforts to attract new adherents, and to maintain membership. That is often achieved through differentiation and a questioning of the faith of others. This does not happen as a matter of public discourse, but is often a conversation that takes place within religious circles as a matter of maintaining group membership.

Because Muslims don't equate God and Allah.

Which would be one of those differentiations mentioned above. Neither has actual proof to back up the superiority of their assertion. There would a appear to be a competition as to who's god is the real god.

And few would doubt where this campaign is directed...If the campaigners really had the cojones, let's see the atheists put up an ad that says 'There probably is no Allah. Now get on with your life' or 'Vishnu was just a regular dude. Get over it.' If they find the campaign so acceptable, then they should be challenging more than one faith.

That's funny. You suggest that atheists have no balls when having to contend with the potential intolerance within religious groups or societies that your post insinuates. That's hardly a positive pro-religion stance.

Remember, the ad in questions states that there is "probably" no god. The idea that members of different religions - all purporting to have special knowledge of god - find such a tentative statement so offensive is laughable (to me at least). All the more so as different religions so often find disagreement between one and other with respect to the particulars of their faiths.

 

[Hydrogen]

But how then, would the atheist prove nonexistence of a God? Have they looked everywhere? Understand everything? "Like the ant high atop the ant hill deep in the jungle, looking all around..."
Untenable position really.

You've got things backwards. Believers are not operating on proof, they are operating on faith (thoughts, beliefs, opinions). No proof has been offered to examine or test. If there is no tangible proof, there is nothing to disprove. It's not up to non-believers to provide evidence.

As to the failure of atheists to locate god, how about believers providing the coordinates finally? Of course, if god is not "here" or "everywhere," or located elsewhere near here, then we can presume that god is not omniscient, eternal, infinite or any of those qualities. In the end, what we have is a large number of people stating differing opinions about what god thinks, how he (she, them) acts, and why he (she, them) does so. This is not proof of existence, but subjective conjecture.

Believers tend to neglect the many philosophical failings of statements of personal faith as a stand-in for proof.

 

[qwerty]

Al Einstein believed that there had to be something/one responsible(dare i say God) given the 'harmonious perfection' in which the universe -and laws of physics operate. The more he understood , the more he believed.
Silly physicist.