Atheist bus ads - do you find them offensive? Why?

[CHRISTINE77]

What are they supposed to mean? I mean is there an atheist religion? What is the point of these questions? Either you agree with them or don’t. I don’t understand why they would be on busses.

I don’t find them offensive just meaningless.

 

[dianaiad]

There have been a number of atheist bus ad campaigns over the past year or so - some have been strongly condemned by churches or theist groups.

It’s sometimes hard to accurately gauge public sentiment by reading newspaper articles. The people journalists choose to quote aren’t necessarily representative of society as a whole.

With that in mind, I thought I’d ask here: which of the slogans in the poll (which I’m about to post) do you find offensive? More importantly, can you say why you find them offensive?

I’m most curious about the last one, “Don’t Believe In God? You Are Not Alone.” It appeared in a campaign in Des Moines, and was quickly pulled from buses due to complaints before being reinstated. AFAICT, all the slogan really says is that atheists exist; why would this one especially be considered offensive in any way whatsoever?

Also, if you do take offense to these ads, what do you think is the most appropriate response? Most opposing voices I’ve heard have called for the ads’ removal. However, when the “there’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” ads appeared in Toronto, the United Church came out with ads with their own counter-slogan: “there’s probably a god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

What way do you think is best to respond to these ads?

Smile when you see them. After all, people don’t advertise a religion (and don’t kid yourself, atheism that actively promotes itself IS a religion–or perhaps an ant–religion, like matter and anti-matter) unless there are people who don’t already agree with them.

those signs make people think. They read them, and they have to think about their religious beliefs; they have to take them out and examine them, not simply put them on some comfortable shelf to be taken out and dusted off for weddings, funerals, Christmas and Easter.

Those signs? They should be welcomed.

 

[theistgal]

What are they supposed to mean? I mean is there an atheist religion? What is the point of these questions? Either you agree with them or don’t. I don’t understand why they would be on busses.

I don’t find them offensive just meaningless.

From what I have read, they are trying to let other atheists know that they’re not alone and that there are other people with similar ideas that they can talk to, if they want to.

Nothing wrong with that AFAICS.

 

[xixxvmcm85]

There have been a number of atheist bus ad campaigns over the past year or so - some have been strongly condemned by churches or theist groups.

So I’ve seen. We’ve been discussing these a bit at another forum in which I participate, the JREF

I’m most curious about the last one, “Don’t Believe In God? You Are Not Alone.” It appeared in a campaign in Des Moines, and was quickly pulled from buses due to complaints before being reinstated. AFAICT, all the slogan really says is that atheists exist; why would this one especially be considered offensive in any way whatsoever?

I had to scratch my head when I heard this reaction, as well. “Catholic? You’re not alone.” “Protestant? You’re not alone.” “Gay? You’re not alone.” “Liberal? You’re not alone.” Most reasonable people would say that none of these are offensive and that the target audience are fellow members of the subject group. How silly!

Also, if you do take offense to these ads, what do you think is the most appropriate response? Most opposing voices I’ve heard have called for the ads’ removal.

I find it so deliciously ironic that those who have been screaming for the removal of such ads tend to be those “Christians” who complain about their 1st amendment rights being striped away.

If I were to be offended by these, how would I respond? I’d ignore them, maybe even mock them, but I wouldn’t call for their removal. How un-American!

However, when the “there’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” ads appeared in Toronto, the United Church came out with ads with their own counter-slogan: “there’s probably a god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

How unoriginal!

What way do you think is best to respond to these ads?

Polite discussion, or ridicule. Take your pick. Or just ignore them.

 

[xixxvmcm85]

If they are on city run buses that are in whole or part subsidized by a dime of taxpayer money then they should be removed, unless the city allows an equal amout of ad space to be purchased by each religous creed or sect. If the city only allows atheist ads then they are discriminating against all other forms of religon and that is wrong. If it is a private run bus system or billboard, then there really is nothing that can or should be done.

Keep in mind that the bus ads were in the UK not the US. I don’t know exactly how the law works over there as far as “discrimination” is concerned.

As to offensiveness of the message, I don’t find them offensive, any more than I would a billboard advertising another religons beliefs. I feel sorry for the people who spent money to buy the ad space. How empty life must be without the hope of some sort of salvation or greater purpose.

Indeed. Moreover, I find it very odd that anyone would spend their hard earned money to advertise their lack of belief or lack of affiliation. Atheists are usually quick to point out that atheism is as much of a religion as not collecting stamps is, however I can’t remember the last time I saw an anti-stamp collecting advertisement.

See… I’m not sure I agree with that idea. I think that even private companies have certain obligations when they offer services to the public. Just as Denny’s can’t legally refuse to serve black people (as in the case that made the news a few years back), I don’t think that a bus or billboard company should be able to discriminate on the basis of religion.

You’re bending the anti-discrimination laws to an extent neither envisioned by their authors nor commonly accepted by the SCOTUS. Such a private bus company wouldn’t be refusing employment to someone based on religion or refusing patronage based on religion. These would indeed be cases of unjust discrimination. Private, for-profit companies have every right to endorse and refuse to endorse any message they wish. If WalMart decided to hang crucifixes up in all their stores and refused to post any non-Christian iconography, they would be perfectly within their rights. They’d be mighty stupid for doing so, but not wrong in doing so.

But that’s not to say that I think the first one should be removed. The best remedy for offensive speech is more speech.
.

“It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.” ~ Tommy Jefferson

 

[xixxvmcm85]

Oops! I just realized I haven’t actually answered the central question of the thread:

I’m not offended by any of those advertisements.

 

[Zundrah]

There have been a number of atheist bus ad campaigns over the past year or so - some have been strongly condemned by churches or theist groups.

It’s sometimes hard to accurately gauge public sentiment by reading newspaper articles. The people journalists choose to quote aren’t necessarily representative of society as a whole.

With that in mind, I thought I’d ask here: which of the slogans in the poll (which I’m about to post) do you find offensive? More importantly, can you say why you find them offensive?

I’m most curious about the last one, “Don’t Believe In God? You Are Not Alone.” It appeared in a campaign in Des Moines, and was quickly pulled from buses due to complaints before being reinstated. AFAICT, all the slogan really says is that atheists exist; why would this one especially be considered offensive in any way whatsoever?

Also, if you do take offense to these ads, what do you think is the most appropriate response? Most opposing voices I’ve heard have called for the ads’ removal. However, when the “there’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” ads appeared in Toronto, the United Church came out with ads with their own counter-slogan: “there’s probably a god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

What way do you think is best to respond to these ads?

I find none of them offensive, I never have and I never will.

Luke 23:34
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

Let all those who hate their God, despise him, mock him and curse him, let them come to** us**. Let those who are lost come to us who know him so that we may plant a seed of everlasting life in them.

You should not be offended by these athiest messages, you shouldn’t even batter an eye lid. Because when you face persecution, you face it only from those who are not in the hands of our loving God.
Do not let pain drag you down.

Philippians 3 : 8
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

Their hatred towards God is actually their cry out to call him. They are expressing their emptiness…

 

[Newbie2]

If they are on city run buses that are in whole or part subsidized by a dime of taxpayer money then they should be removed, unless the city allows an equal amout of ad space to be purchased by each religous creed or sect. If the city only allows atheist ads then they are discriminating against all other forms of religon and that is wrong. If it is a private run bus system or billboard, then there really is nothing that can or should be done.

As to offensiveness of the message, I don’t find them offensive, any more than I would a billboard advertising another religons beliefs. I feel sorry for the people who spent money to buy the ad space. How empty life must be without the hope of some sort of salvation or greater purpose.

I agree.

It seems odd to me, though, that someone would pay to advertise a “negative idea”. If there was no God, and people (mistakenly) worshipped him anyway, why should the athiest care?

On the flip side, of course, if there is a God, it would seem to be a good idea to let everyone know about Him so they could get in on that most excellent afterlife deal.

 

[Dokimas]

There have been a number of atheist bus ad campaigns over the past year or so - some have been strongly condemned by churches or theist groups.

It’s sometimes hard to accurately gauge public sentiment by reading newspaper articles. The people journalists choose to quote aren’t necessarily representative of society as a whole.

With that in mind, I thought I’d ask here: which of the slogans in the poll (which I’m about to post) do you find offensive? More importantly, can you say why you find them offensive?

I’m most curious about the last one, “Don’t Believe In God? You Are Not Alone.” It appeared in a campaign in Des Moines, and was quickly pulled from buses due to complaints before being reinstated. AFAICT, all the slogan really says is that atheists exist; why would this one especially be considered offensive in any way whatsoever?

Also, if you do take offense to these ads, what do you think is the most appropriate response? Most opposing voices I’ve heard have called for the ads’ removal. However, when the “there’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” ads appeared in Toronto, the United Church came out with ads with their own counter-slogan: “there’s probably a god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

What way do you think is best to respond to these ads?

Why get offended? Read Ps 119:165. (I like the KJV for this verse.)
I think its very sad on many levels. Those who do such things are people with souls that the God they reject died for. We should love them and pray for them.
What gain is there if we could win a legal battle to stop them but loose their soul in the process?

 

[Dokimas]

Should we expect the unsaved be any different than they are?
We should spend more time wondering what God wants to change in our lives so we won’t be ungodly in this present wicked age.
The Greek word for ‘glory’ is doxa. Part of it’s meaning is ‘opinion’. We glorify God in the presence of others when they get the correct opinion of God by observing us. How much do God have to change us so we will glorify God in our lives more regularly?

 

[dianaiad]

Should we expect the unsaved be any different than they are?

Of course not. It is not, after all, their fault that they are unregenerate; God made them that way.

We should spend more time wondering what God wants to change in our lives so we won’t be ungodly in this present wicked age.

Or, perhaps, rather than wonder about it, asking Him? Just a thought…​

The Greek word for ‘glory’ is doxa. Part of it’s meaning is ‘opinion’. We glorify God in the presence of others when they get the correct opinion of God by observing us. How much do God have to change us so we will glorify God in our lives more regularly?

That’s absolutely right. We need to put up our own bus ads.

 

[Dokimas]

Of course not. It is not, after all, their fault that they are unregenerate; God made them that way.

Or, perhaps, rather than wonder about it, asking Him? Just a thought…​

That’s absolutely right. We need to put up our own bus ads.

God didn’t make them that way; sin did.​

We could read His Word and it will show us where we need changing if we are open to the instruction of the Holy Spirit.​

My point was that our lives should be like a bus with advertisement on it. People can mock the words on an actual bus but they can’t intelligently mock a changed life.

 

[4EverHis]

I think these ads are unnecessary and they are not doing any good, they’re just making it seem alright to not believe in God, but I think that is a lie.

just my 100% honest opinion. I feel like these ads are the atheists’ attempts to “evangelize” the rest of us into atheism. What is their “gospel”? If they don’t believe in something, that is their choice, but why try to destroy others’ faith? Christians evangelize because we believe it’s important for people to know God so that they might have eternal life… but atheism doesn’t hold any promises, the only reason someone would try to convince others of atheism, is because they want everyone to have the same opinion as them, are are perhaps irritated by other opinions.

btw, I like the response the United Church came up with very clever…haha

 

[4EverHis]

I would find the first two bus ads offensive.

Before going further, I don’t mean offensive as in getting all riled up or emotionally upset or angry … instead, I mean that to me the ads are either intellectually offensive or can be considered insulting.

1. “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

I would agree with Charlotte408. The implication of this first bus ad is that people who believe in God can’t enjoy life.

1. “You can be good without god.”

I would say this second bus ad offends against Truth. In that, without God, you can’t be anything at all. As far as goodness, I would say that since God is the source of all good, even an atheist, when he or she is good, is good because of God.

1. “Don’t Believe In God? You Are Not Alone.”

People were offended by this third bus ad? Maybe there’s something I’m missing. Maybe this last one is more offensive to people who are more peer-pressure or social-group oriented than I am.

~~ the phoenix

that’s exactly the way I see it too

When I read the first one, I interpreted it as them saying that faith makes people worry, and prevents them from enjoying life… which is kind of a strange thing to say imo, and it’s not true…

 

[dianaiad]

God didn’t make them that way; sin did.

Whose? “sin” is an action, not a person. Sin can’t do anything, decide anything, BE anything; it is something one does.

Y’see, I have a real problem with the idea that God made people…and made them all to be damned, unless He (for some reason we can neither affect nor predict) chooses to save us–and that will we, nil we. Such an idea describes a capricious deity; an unjust one, and one I don’t recognize, frankly.

To go back to the post to which I replied, in which you wrote: “Should we expect the unsaved be any different than they are?”

My answer was flippant…but in truth, the answer really is 'Yes. We should expect them to act differently, because they CAN."

You are absolutely right, I believe, that one way to get them to act differently is to behave differently ourselves, and show by example that lives lived well are worth examining, and worth emulating. However, to assume that because they are ‘unregenerate,’ (and there’s a word that gives me a 'fingernail on the blackboard feeling…) cannot be other than they are is, well…

all the words that properly describe what I think of that idea would be bleeped out of my post.

I believe that God has invited us all in. All we have to do is accept. (well, that’s quite an ‘all,…’ but you get my drift, I hope.) The point is that His grace has been given to all men, if we will but pay attention.

We could read His Word and it will show us where we need changing if we are open to the instruction of the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, that works too…far better than standing around wondering about it.​

My point was that our lives should be like a bus with advertisement on it. People can mock the words on an actual bus but they can’t intelligently mock a changed life.

Sure they can. People do it all the time.

Well, perhaps not ‘intelligently,’ though. You have a point, there. However, they can mock wittily, sarcastically, ironically, jealously, condescendingly and violently.

And people often do. It’s one of the reasons that there are martyrs.

 

[Dokimas]

Whose? “sin” is an action, not a person. Sin can’t do anything, decide anything, BE anything; it is something one does.

Y’see, I have a real problem with the idea that God made people…and made them all to be damned, unless He (for some reason we can neither affect nor predict) chooses to save us–and that will we, nil we. Such an idea describes a capricious deity; an unjust one, and one I don’t recognize, frankly.

To go back to the post to which I replied, in which you wrote: “Should we expect the unsaved be any different than they are?”

My answer was flippant…but in truth, the answer really is 'Yes. We should expect them to act differently, because they CAN."

You are absolutely right, I believe, that one way to get them to act differently is to behave differently ourselves, and show by example that lives lived well are worth examining, and worth emulating. However, to assume that because they are ‘unregenerate,’ (and there’s a word that gives me a 'fingernail on the blackboard feeling…) cannot be other than they are is, well…

all the words that properly describe what I think of that idea would be bleeped out of my post.

I believe that God has invited us all in. All we have to do is accept. (well, that’s quite an ‘all,…’ but you get my drift, I hope.) The point is that His grace has been given to all men, if we will but pay attention.

I have a problem too with the notion that God created us damned. I don’t think He did. He created us with the opportunity to be saved from our sin nature and its penalty.​

Jesus spoke of sinful attitudes from within. These are sins that don’t result from actions. They may latter turn into actions. I think He was saying that sin happens before actions because, as Paul says, ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.’ (Romans 3:23) Paul goes on to say the Good News that while the wages of sin is death ‘the free gift of God is eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ.’ (Romans 6:23)​

Here’s one set of verses about why God gave us grace: (emphysis mine)

Titus 2:
11 ¶ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, **we should live ****soberly, righteously, and godly **in the present age,
13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.​

Here’s what Jesus said to His disciples:

John 15:

5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

IMO, Jesus was telling us we can’t be what we need to be without Him.
Paul wrote on the issue is Romans 7. In context please read chapter 5,6,8.