Comments on: Atheist Buses launched

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:51:49 +0000

The buses round my area sometimes have adverts on them for churches. (This does not offend me.) These adverts almost invariably make direct claims about God and Jesus (although they tend to attribute them to a celebrity so they won’t be expected to defend them). They do this so people will join their church, which in turn makes them money — although the convert’s life might be ruined in the process. I don’t know how selfish and cynical their motives are, but the atheist message is pure charity: probably more than 99% of the time, people like the British Humanist Association get nothing at all if someone becomes an atheist, but the new atheist gets a life free of worrying about what God might think of every little thing they do.

This is just part of the wider atheist movement to ensure that people don’t get to make fantastic claims about omnipotent beings, present them as unarguable facts and expect everyone else to act as if that’s somehow reasonable. But when you take away an ill-deserved privilege, people invariably react as if you’ve taken away a fundamental right (as neatly demonstrated by the repeated petitions asking the government to force the FA to sell TV rights to free-to-air channels).

In any case, it’s certainly not worth trying to accommodate people who are offended by somebody disagreeing with them. If we do that, nobody will be allowed to say anything. That’s what would lead to religious talk being restricted to private places. (That, or Matthew 6:5-6.)

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:44:42 +0000

This is a statement of non-belief. It is not an attack on you. It is not intended to convert you, or anyone. It’s a response to a bus advert last June which pointed to a website saying precisely that all atheists will go to hell. No atheist I know takes offence from that – it’s just bonkers gibberish – but it gets a lot less funny when you remember that people will gleefully scare the everloving crap out of children with such nonsense. That’s not ok.

At a very minimum, this is covered by fair’s fair – if religion gets to advertise itself, so does non-belief. And please don’t start with the slippery slope stuff. Nobody’s suggesting any of what you say – please don’t make things up.

Nobody’s persecuting you. It’s words on the side of the bus. Riding said bus does not mean you endorse them. If you don’t like it, ignore it, or provide some evidence for the existence of eternal suffering. But don’t come all ‘I’m offended therefore you shouldn’t have done it’, because we can all be better than that.

By: Ire

Ire — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:06:34 +0000

I don’t understand this? You say “Don’t push your beliefs on me” Then you turn around and do thesame thing.

Do you know how rude and hurtful this is to me? I believe in harmony between everyone. No-one being pushy or difficult.

Imagine having go on a bus or stand at a bus stations that says “All atheists will go to hell.” It won’t feel good I can tell you that.

I honestly don’t understand why atheists are doing a 360. I thought the whole point of it was ‘free-thinking’ your not being very free-thinking now.

I was shocked when my mother showed me this in the Metro. How can you do to someone else what you know you wouldn’t like being done to you. At least with Jehovah’s witnesses you just shut the door – how can you escape publis transport? And what’s next: religious talk should only happenin private places? England oficially losing the religion it’s roots are burie in? People with religions being taken out of the country?
Every persucution of a type of people probably started this way? Are you so blind that you cannot see?

Oh – how the roles have reversed.