Unholy moly! Atheist evangelism rolls
Atheist outreach is having its say via ads on 800 United Kingdom buses.
They answer Jesus Said ads which ran on London buses in June. The "Jesus Said" ads pointed to a Web site which warns that failure to accept Christ will invoke God’s wrath:
God’s wrath includes the prospect of eternal punishment — it is appointed to men to die once and then comes the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). You will rise from the dead and will face the Judge and know that you rejected His kind and merciful answer. You will be condemned to everlasting separation from God and then you spend all eternity in torment in hell. Jesus spoke about this as a lake of fire which was prepared for the devil and all his angels (demonic spirits) (Matthew 25: 41).
Comedy wrinter Adriane Sherine found that offensive and, supported by the British Humanist Association and Professor Richard Dawkins, led the Atheist Bus campaign to raise £135,000.
This iteration of the campaigin was launched on Oct. 21, and is the successor to a failed campaign which was launched and closed in midsummer after Sherine wrote a blog post, Atheists — gimme five, in resonse to the Jesus Said ads on the sides of London buses.
The atheists’ ads say (as in the picture above):
There’s probably no God.
Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.
Inspired by the British, the American Humanist Association bought ads during the Christmas season in and on 200 Washington, D.C., buses. The ads said:
Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.
The Pennsylvania Friends of Christ responded in D.C. with ads which said:
Believe in God. Christ is Christmas for goodness’ sake.
Another group, started by a stay-at-home Catholic housewife with lobbying experience who partnered with the Catholic nonprofit Center for Family Development in Bethesda, MD., quickly raised the money to run D.C. bus ads which said:
Why believe? I created you and I love you, for goodness’ sake. – God.
We don’t know about the British, but in overview, U.S. atheists are more confused than evangelistic. The Pew Forum’s U.S. Religious Landscape survey found that 21% of U.S. atheists professed a belief in God.
Mayhap they’re mostly backsliders who, despite the bus ads, may readily be persuaded to return to church. Or if unbaptised, to begin their walk. Especially in light of the persuasive poise of U.S. Christian response.
9 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Recent Comments
Scott Rose on Civil marriage debate is owed… 
cinhosa on Another Christian woman gives… 
baptistplanet on Another Christian woman gives… cinhosa on Another Christian woman gives… Chicago’s Cardinal F… on Chicago’s Cardinal Franc… 
Catholic mass on Six+ decades of Dutch Roman Ca… -
Catholic News Service- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Associated Baptist Press
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Spiritual Politics
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Stop Baptist Predators
- Hopeless and Hopeful: Reflections on the past and thoughts for the future
- Common misconceptions about the Baylor sexual assault scandal
- SBC church seeks to 'out' child sex abuse victims
- Southern Baptists elect known clergy-sex-abuse-cover-upper as president
- SNAP prediction: Next "Spotlight"-style exposé will focus on Baptists
- What's wrong with the "sexual predation" resolution
- Why Ted Cruz should see "Spotlight"
- Spotlight: Lessons to be Learned
- "Frankly, this ruling is appropriate ...."
- Mitigating the trauma of clergy sex abuse
- Tony Cartledge
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Religion Clause
- New Report Finds 63% of Americans Support Legalized Abortion
- European Court: Romania Violated European Convention When It Reversed Conviction of 2 Nazi War Criminals
- Recent Articles of Interest
- Washington State AG Investigating Sex Abuse Cover-Up by Catholic Diocese
- Religious Discrimination Claim for Denial of Personal Leave Moves Ahead
- 10th Circuit: Vaccine Exemption for Only Some Religions Violates 1st Amendment
- Indiana Suit Seeks Release of Reports from Abortion Providers
- 4th Circuit: Ministerial Exception Bars Suit by Catholic School Teacher Fired Over Same-Sex Marriage Plans
- Court Says NY Proposed Amendment on Abortion, Sexual Orientation and Gender May Not Go on Ballot
- NY Sues Crisis Pregnancy Centers for False Advertising
- Grace & Truth to You
- Wade Burleson at Istoria Ministries Is Now A Substack Subscription
- "A Revolution that Began in the Hearts and Minds of the American People" - by President John Adams
- Graced People Reap What They Have Not Sown; Lost People Reap What They Have Sown
- Wade Burleson Is Now at Istoria Ministries
- 2021 World's Tallest Live Christmas Tree, Enid, OK
- Be My Thou Thanksgiving Vision: A Prayer for All
- Chasa Boudin and San Francisco's Crime Wave
- Let's Be Thankful that "This Is My Father's World"
- Addictions and the Goal to Control God's Thoughts
- The Potential Discovery of Lt. Col. Leon "Bob" Vance's Crashed Army Air Corp Air Ambulance
- Get Religion
- Farewell, after 20 years: Why we did what we did
- Peter J. Boyer: Charged with covering faith for The New Yorker, I found GetReligion
- Salute from Will Norton at Ole Miss: Religion plays a crucial role in news -- around the world
- Closing one door: Whither 21st Century religion and our beleaguered news media?
- Thomas A. Szyszkiewicz: A farewell to GetReligion from Catholic radio
- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput: The religion beat is where 'our defining freedoms meet'
- Julia Duin: It's been a long road and we've reached the end of our GetReligion journey
- A salute from north of the border, care of CBC Radio veteran Anna-Liza Kozma
- Farewell from Moscow: This American ran into GetReligion online and never stopped reading
- Kenneth Woodward: GetReligion, in so many ways, kept offering on-the-job training
- Faith in Public Life
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- dotCommonweal
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Capital J
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
BaptistPlanet 
I can only comment as one UK Christian who’s seen the ads. What saddens me about them is their implication that life is more uncomplicated, relaxed or enjoyable without a God. Not for me it isn’t.
“We don’t know about the British, but in overview, U.S. atheists are more confused than evangelistic. The Pew Forum’s U.S. Religious Landscape survey found that 21% of U.S. atheists professed a belief in God.”
Might be more accurate to say that 21% of the people who were determined to be atheists on this survey professed a belief in some sort of god as was defined in the survey.
True, moresec0de.
It’s a brilliant idea, though it’s a shame Dawkins didn’t put his money where his mouth is and drop the probably. There is no god, so chill out.
Mel, as I understand it, use of the word “probably” was considered a matter of accuracy, as Ariane Sherine indicated in her blog entry, ‘Probably’ the best atheist bus campaign ever. Some also argue that accuracy in advertising standards require it as well. Are you sure it’s fair to put the blame on Dawkins?
Fair enough, not Dawkins fault and now I’ve read Ariane’s blog I get why they use probably. Thanks baptistplanet.
[…] have been filed against atheist bus ads with the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards […]
Pingback by ‘Christian Voice’ raised against atheist bus ads « BaptistPlanet | January 13, 2009
[…] filed against atheist bus ads have been rejected by the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards […]
Pingback by Unholy moly: Believer compaints against bus ads rejected « BaptistPlanet | January 22, 2009
[…] off Genoa, Italy, buses earlier this month after heated Catholic and Muslim protest, the atheist bus ads will run in drastically toned-down form on perhaps one bus for two weeks in […]
Pingback by Atheist bus runs into heavy Italian traffic « BaptistPlanet | January 30, 2009