Dawkins' Atheist Bus

IdleRich

IdleRich
Any thoughts on this futile and irritating gesture from everyone's favourite atheist? Have to say that while it is obviously completely stupid I have a feeling that it will probably annoy a load of people who need to be annoyed and have little effect on those who don't so I'm not going to complain about it. Interesting how it's already raised (heading for) twenty times the target fund and is going to be extended to cities other than London and places other than buses. Wonder how long it will be before the first bus driver refuses to drive with that on its side or whether there will be some other kind of controversy.

http://www.justgiving.com/atheistbus

Why exactly are they doing it though?
 

nomadthethird

more issues than Time mag
I'm a die-hard atheist myself but I think this kind of thing just gives more ammunition to the religious types who think that people like Dawkins who are evangelizing atheists are on the same sort of mission that they themselves are on, mostly politically.

Personally I couldn't give a damn if people believe in God, until they start trying to infiltrate the state with their nonsense. And this is a real threat, especially in the U.S.

Pick your battles Dawkins!
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
Why exactly are they doing it though?

It's a reaction to the number of buses carrying adverts for this or that church at the moment, innit.

But i agree with you and Nomad - it seems like a typically fatuous gesture. Dawkins seems determined to confront every last theist with evidence of their own (in his opinion) stupidity. Surely instead of campaigning against faith he'd be better off campaigning for secularism.
 

hucks

Your Message Here
It's not actually his idea, though, is it? It's Ariane Sherine's and she obviously just tapped him for a few quid.

And as a response to the number of god bothering buses in London, I think it's totally valid. Enjoy your day indeed...
 

bassnation

the abyss
I'm a die-hard atheist myself but I think this kind of thing just gives more ammunition to the religious types who think that people like Dawkins who are evangelizing atheists are on the same sort of mission that they themselves are on, mostly politically.

if people object to some thing like this, they aren't moderates so fuck them. i don't understand why this is even such a big deal. i'm bombarded with all kinds of adverts for various religions when walking down the street in london.
 

nomadthethird

more issues than Time mag
yeah sounds like it's different in the U.K.

the only bus I've ever seen advertising religion is that orthodox jewish missionary bus that's always parked midtown west on broadway

and there are Jehovah's Witnesses who buzz the doorbell at the crack of dawn on a Saturday and I mostly just throw garbage out the window at them
 

bassnation

the abyss
yeah sounds like it's different in the U.K.

the only bus I've ever seen advertising religion is that orthodox jewish missionary bus that's always parked midtown west on broadway

and there are Jehovah's Witnesses who buzz the doorbell at the crack of dawn on a Saturday and I mostly just throw garbage out the window at them

god yeah. they drive me nuts. i remember a couple of months back staying round this girls house, very hungover and she'd gone out to work. these bastards woke me up with a pounding headache, took me a while to clock them as witnesses. they shoved a book under my nose and read out a passage that in my half awake state sounded like utter gibberish about the beast and hell and asked me what i thought - the answer was obvliously please fuck off so i can go back to sleep.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
It's not actually his idea, though, is it? It's Ariane Sherine's and she obviously just tapped him for a few quid.

And as a response to the number of god bothering buses in London, I think it's totally valid. Enjoy your day indeed...
Ha, yes. Although I'm fundamentally aware that they won't acheive much except annoying a few people and that flat out contradicting religious people is seldom a productive idea, there's part of me that gets a happy glow when I'm reminded that I'm not the only person in the world who's expecting an invisible superhero to save the day.

It's similar to hearing Jonathan Meades offhandedly referring to religion as a delusion - it's half childish, but at the same time weirdly satisfying to hear someone confident enough in their rationalism to not pussyfoot around with faux-respectful circumlocutions.
 
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mixed_biscuits

_________________________
There's probably no God... lol

In fact, it seems like the worries won't stop once you become atheist: you will still be nagged by the apparently oppressive mass of believers and feel the need to drive around a somewhat unprepossessing bus with an aggressive but ultimately equivocal slogan. What a waste of time!
 

Shonx

Shallow House
it's...weirdly satisfying to hear someone confident enough in their rationalism to not pussyfoot around with faux-respectful circumlocutions.

Yeah, there's something overwhelmingly tiresome about hearing someone trying to accomodate something they clearly don't believe in, to people that know that they clearly don't believe in it (although in all fairness this happens between religions too - complete non-believers are at least polyatheistic in not believing in any gods rather than being picky)
 

bassnation

the abyss
flat out contradicting religious people is seldom a productive idea

i used to manage a bloke at work who had significant anger issues, if he didn't get his own way, or if his designs weren't chosen above other peoples designs, it entered into this game of accommodation to keep the peace. i tried this because meetings were becoming a fucking nightmare, but ultimately realised trying to pacify someone immovable basically isn't a good idea, at some point a stand has to be taken. otherwise the next time they become twice as bad, and what they contribute is poisonous and frequently unreasonable. your continued lack of engagement and silence emboldens them.

and thats how i feel about shying away from contradicting the delicate little flowers who might take issue with this campaign.

thats why this is important, even if it achieves nothing. maybe it marks the point where people like us get off our arses and stop appeasing those crazy motherfuckers. we have to live here too, and the slide of this country into batshit US-style religiosity is not acceptable, for all our futures.

i want to see secularism and the enlightenment properly strengthened, stop undermining science in schools, stop bloody god botherers infiltrating prominent science committees (hello? what the FUCK happened there?) and stop siphoning my tax into faith schools which teach people a load of nonsense married with obnoxious bigotry dressed as social morality. get the fuck out of my childrens face and maybe, just maybe, we'll stop taunting you with our pathetic signs on buses. BRING IT ON.
 
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nomadthethird

more issues than Time mag
Yeah, I think you make a really good point, Bassnation. I'm lucky because I live in NY and most people here are pretty tolerant of everyone else's beliefs (mostly because you HAVE to be in order to peacefully co-exist around so many people) without allowing religious beliefs in schools. But in some parts of rural upstate NY and deep in red state territory, we're already seeing the effects of the religious right infiltrating the classroom.

The worst example that comes to mind is "abstinence-based" sex education. In every district where you've had parents insist that the school can only teach sex ed IF they teach that abstinence is the only way to avoid pregnancy/STDs, you'll see signficant increases in teen pregnancy since these programs began. Not only that but you'll see America handing out AIDS relief funds ONLY to countries that teach a completely polyamorous society abstinence-only ed.

Makes me angry. Enough is enough. We should oust the wackos out of the classrooms and boardrooms. If they want to start a private school where their idiotic nonsense is tolerated, then there's nothing in the U.S. law that stops them.
 

slim jenkins

El Hombre Invisible
Probably no God? Cop-out! What are they afraid of - meeting their maker and having to grovel? Still, if it winds up Muslims and Christian fanatics, I'm happy.

I think they should have just said 'There is no god!', though. I mean, no-one living will be able to prove them wrong. I'm amazed the bus company took it on, actually, considering the complaints they'll probably get.

I'm thinking of trying to raise cash for this one: WORK - BUY - CONSUME - DIE - HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH OF THE OLD ROUTINE?
 

hucks

Your Message Here
Probably no God? Cop-out! What are they afraid of - meeting their maker and having to grovel?

I think she says in the Grauniad article that saying there was definitely no God ran up against Advertising Standards Agency rules:


it's likely to get us around the advertising regulations (specifically points 3.1, 3.2, 5.1, 8.1, 9.1 and 11.1 in the general rules of the CAP Code

You can stick your centuries of theological debate. We've got a quango and a code...
 
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Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I'm thinking of trying to raise cash for this one: WORK - BUY - CONSUME - DIE - HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH OF THE OLD ROUTINE?

Reminds me of a poster I wanted to make once, that says "Bored? Alienated? Depressed? A Fag And A Pint And The World's All Right!", featuring before-and-after photos of a glum, and then smoking-drinking-and-cheerful, guy.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Reminds me of a poster I wanted to make once, that says "Bored? Alienated? Depressed? A Fag And A Pint And The World's All Right!", featuring before-and-after photos of a glum, and then smoking-drinking-and-cheerful, guy.
When things go wrong and don't come right,
Though you do the best you can.
When your life is black as the hour of night,
A pint of plain's your only man.
 

swears

preppy-kei
theylive.jpg
 
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