Frankly, I'm disappointed.

The objective is "for Atheists to visibly express their thoughts"?

On the back of a bus?

There are plenty of opportunities for atheists to "visibly express their thoughts", without stooping to advertising alongside soft drinks and car insurance.

And the "slogan"?

It is flabby, trite, and ultimately as meaningless as "Jesus saves".

And what exactly is the point?

Does anyone imagine for a nanosecond that it will i) convince even one religionist to abandon their faith, or ii) cause even one religionist to contemplate that hey, there may be another way of looking at life?

I doubt it. The message and the medium both say "amateur night".

Perhaps it is intended to bolster the courage of wavering atheists, tempted by irresistible, crystalline logic of the religious evangelists who accost them on every street corner?

Hey, if that's what attracts them, let 'em go.

No, I'm afraid this "campaign" is ill-conceived from first principles. I hope it doesn't get off the ground, so that the Foundation can retain some dignity.

Did I mention that I think it's a waste of time and money?

Very balanced rw523252. The reason that I think the atheists signage is a good thing is:

-Organised religion in the form of aggressive christianity is not harmless, we have Preznit Bush an evangelical christian starting war and demonising innocent people in a 'good vs evil' belief. Bush belives he is on a mission from god. Sarah Palin (extreme fundamentalist) has the extreme christian right salivating at the thought of one of them becoming all powerful.

Atheists as a rule, don't set out to convert the world to their belief, they accept other people's religious beliefs, but religion is more and more being forced upon us by supposedly secular institutions and governments.

Do we see atheism spruiked everywhere like we do organised religion? Do we hear the atheist viewpoint on every aspect of our lives as we hear from organised religion throughout the mainstream media and in politics?

There is a 'spiritual warfare' movement which aims to transfer the wealth from the godless to the godly, and Sarah Palin is part of that movement - why has Palin not had the media examine and expose her loony religious beliefs?
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/10/31/115724/94

It's getting worse, religious views are heard too much and are given disproportionate representation and weight in Australia, I for one am sick of it. I don't want my life ruled by other people's religious beliefs. I feel that I am under siege from religious nutters everywhere, I'm not even safe from them in my own home, minding my own business - they knock on my door on weekends and they are exempt from the 'do not call' register - why?

I think orgainsed religion should be treated as the big business that they are, no more tax exempt status for starters.

Incidentally, I think it is worth pointing out, before anyone leaps in and suggests that the Foundation is gilding the lily, that the London campaign has not actually started yet.

>>Due to the incredible response by the community and the media to the London bus slogans<<

The "incredible response" has been to the fundraising activity, ahead of the campaign that is planned for January 2009. The response to the London bus slogans themselves remains to be seen.

I rather enjoyed these observations on the London proposals.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/27/atheism-transport

It would appear that buses already advertise something called the Alpha Course, a sort of Christianity for Dummies exercise, which at least gives the atheist effort some focus.

I particularly liked the Guardian's observation on a possible success measurement:

"London will have three distinct groups of buses. First up, at least 30 buses will be emblazoned with banner advertising rubbishing the idea of God. In all likelihood, at least 30 others will be encouraging a new generation of recruits to sign up to the Alpha course. And the rest will be their usual secular selves: in other words, a perfect control group.

"So what I propose is this: let's track the punctuality of these three groups (or as many as we can track, randomly selected from each group). We can log breakdowns and accidents too, for good measure... with a little goodwill and some help from a professional statistician, we've got a solid natural experiment. After all, if anything could do with a little divine intervention, it's our capital's transport system.

"The most likely outcome, I'd guess, would be no statistically significant difference between any of the three groups. If the Alpha buses significantly outperform the other groups, there's pause for thought (if they float heavenwards amid a chorus of angelic harpists, it'll be quite a long pause). If the buses sporting atheist adverts did significantly better, something out there perhaps has a warped sense of humour."

The campaign here is without context. And compared to the London slogan, without wit either.

While I don't have any great problem with the slogan per se, I think that the Atheist Foundation would get more bang for its bucks if it were to address more tangible issues in its advertising, rather than the abstract ideological tack it's taken. I also think it's a bit contradictory for the Atheist Foundation to engage in what might beconstrued as a form of atheist proselytising - which will undoubtedly invite the tired old "atheism is a religion/belief" criticisms from the same old fundies.

I think it would be far more effective to emblazon buses with messages like:

"ABOLISH MISSIONARIES IN SCHOOLS"

"GET GOD OUT OF GOVERNMENT"

"END TAXPAYER FUNDING OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS"

"MAKE CHURCH BUSINESSES PAY TAXES LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE"

etc etc.

"Atheism – Because there is no credible evidence" seems like a waste of good advertising space to me.

Good People,

Placing signs on buses is a very cost effective way to put out a message. For Atheism, it is an excellent method as it evokes passions as seen in this thread. Such messages excites the media and the community as seem with the London experience which will commence in January and which has achieved its goal already of raising the consciousness of the community.

There are controls on signage on public transport and the AFA has to work within them. The Minister of Transport in SA and presumedly in each state can at whim have signs removed with no recompense to the advertiser if she/he so deems.

The armchair reaction to the intended bus slogans is understandable, expected and frankly, dismissed as irrelevant.

I would just love to see some facts and figures demonstrating that other methods are more efficient and cost effective. The very first post on this thread proves the point reasonably decisively.

No offence intended to anyone who has posted and I mean that.

For everyone’s interests, the campaign has only been going for a few hours and we now have over $12,000,000 in pledges without any mass-media help so far. Maybe, instead of knocking the concept, how about join those who have already donated. For the cost of a bar of chocolate, you would assist in showing the Atheists in our community that they are not alone. You would also let the religiosae know they have an ideological opponent in their midst.

David

David Nicholls
President
Atheist Foundation of Australian In

I think its a great idea.

In these times of distress many people are searching for reassurance and the churches are only too willing to take advantage of the situation for their own benefit.

Perhaps this will get people to stop and think just a little more.