UK: Humanists under fire for “athiest bus” ads

The BHA’s campaign, according to a small group of MP’s, would be “religiously offensive and morally unhelpful” and is offensive to Christians and Muslims, who feel “uncomfortable” travelling on public transport that carries such ads,  reports Third Sector magazine on January 14.

A look at the BHA’s website, however, reveals that the bus campaign  was launched not to try and convince people that God does not exist, but rather to reassure those who didn’t believe in God that their beliefs are ok and that it is unlikely they will burn in hell for lack of faith. The Athiest Bus Campaign, in fact, all started when comedy writer Ariane Sherine posted a Comment is Free article in the Guardian in June 2008 about the Christian adverts running on London busses featuring a website address that said non-Christians would burn in hell for all eternity – she suggested atheists could set up a fund to finance a reassuring counter-advert.

As explained in the BHA’s  website, Jon Wort, a political blogger, set up a pledgebank page to which 877 people signed up to pledge £5. When the BHA joined the campaign humanist professor Richard Dawkins offered to match all donations up to a maximum of £5,500. The result? That the campaign has raised over 136 thousand pounds – enough to support buses all across the UK, adverts on the London Underground and two animated screens in Oxford Street!

Far from being an attack on religion and religious beliefs, the BHA claims that their ads “are positive messages, urging that we enjoy our lives”.

Nevertheless, four MPs have signed a motion that says it “regrets the association’s backing for the campaign” and calls on ministers to “seek to remove” the adverts. Two of the MP’s, Sir Nicholas Winterton, Conservative MP for Macclesfield, and Bob Spink, former Tory and now UKIP MP for Castle Point, are among three MPs to have signed another EDM that calls on Christian groups to launch a spoiling advertising campaign using the slogan “But What If There Is?”

Campaign group Christian Voice also complained to the Advertising Standards Authority saying that the association’s slogan could not be substantiated. It is unlikely however that the Advertising Standards Authority will be able to accuse the atheist slogan of breaching the Advertising Code due to the use of the word “probably”. The BHA says: As with the famous Carlsberg ads (‘probably the best lager in the world’), ‘probably’ helps to ensure that our ads will not breach any advertising codes. The Committee of Advertising Practice advised the campaign that “the inclusion of the word ‘probably’ makes it less likely to cause offence, and therefore be in breach of the Advertising Code.”

Find out more: www.humanism.org.uk