If one believes in a god then one should not be offended by this ad, it should merely bolster one’s belief, If the bus said “Allah is the one true God” would you be similarly offended? That would be a declaration of faith, perhaps one that you do not agree with, just as the declaration of; “There is probably no god” is a declaration of faith, in the belief that there “may be” no god. We still have to tolerate other beliefs. Don’t forget that atheist’s have to endure many public expressions of other people’s faith whether Christian or otherwise that they may not agree with.
I believe that the declaration of one’s ideas and beliefs is fundamental and necessary to the workings of any democratic society and should not only be tolerated but encouraged.

Your friend
Xander

Good to see you here man, hope you are well. The irony of what I wrote has been considered, I’ve actually used your argument against atheists before when they have trampled over my free speech, or decided that what I say (regardless of the topic, IT for example) is irrelevant, I believe in the “big airy tale in the sky” so I must be a few jelly beans short of a quarter. The thing about this ad campaign though, is the fact that it is a deliberate attack and the creators and sponsors of the ad have said as much.

There is sadly always a minority in any faith group which causes things like the crusades, 9/11 etc but we have to remember that they are as far from the truth as they can be and are picking and choosing certain parts of their faith to fuel their own internal hatered. Although not on the same scale, these ads are coming from a hatred against religion, not a desire to see the spread of their “faith” and that I think is where the difference lies.

Just thought i would jump in and add something, i have been reading many of the comments from the people behind the bus campaign, and they have been trying to clarify that when they say GOD they mean God in the sense of all the Gods of many other religions, being an atheist campaign this is understandable as they believe in there being no Higher Being.

But on that point it seems a very risky campaign to support even if you are an atheist. Does anyone remember the rioting and violence and death threats not to mention actual Murders that followed the cartoon that depicted Muhammad a few years ago. This caused wide spread violence across the world. And this is only from one religion, this bus campaign is a attack on all religions.

Being a christian i am against the campaign and can only hope it will be counter productive. It is actually opening the door for evangelists to speak to those people getting involved in the blogs re-guarding the campaign. People that would possibly not have been reachable otherwise.

All the same whether you support a Christian view of the bus campaign or you don’t, i would say that it is very risky for such a campaign to attack millions and millions of peoples beliefs. The world is full of radicalists and this campaign is the type of thing that fuels their hatred.

Matt blogged about this post over on http://cimota.com/blog/2009/01/20/humans-ftw-sky-bully-ftl/ he writes:

“Can’t help but grin. Andrew is a coffee expert, smart code-head and faithful sky-bully believer.
“Those stupid atheist slogans on buses annoy me no end”
Probably the same amount that I get annoyed by pithy posters in public view, religious education in public schools and slogans on the side of buses promising the meaning of life through a short course and a fee.
Believing in the Sky Bully was something we needed when we were cavemen. When we feared the sky, when we feared storms, when we sacrificed wheat and lambs in order to ensure good weather.
And yes, it annoys me that the crash on the Hudson last week is being hailed as a ‘miracle‘ and not as solely the skill of a highly trained professional human being.
Humans FTW!”

Just thought I would repost here, since taking the discussion to a different blog, without pingbacks or trackback, breaks the flow of the discussion.