David is misusing the word atheist.

As an atheist I want any political/social/religious agenda kept away from my definition… Atheism is not a vehicle for this area of belief… it’s simply disbelief in god, supernatural and afterlife.

It’s not against/pro anything. It has no political/social/religious position. This misuse of the word for these positions assumes that actual atheists are in agreement with David’s views or, again, that atheism has a political/social/religious view. It doesn’t. Not even secularism is an atheist issue it is a religious and political concern for both atheist and theist alike.

Once again, this group needs to find a new name without *atheist* in it. Something like “People against Religion/God”, “Religion/God Free”.

meridith,

The word theism with the ‘a’ as a prefix, shows an opposite, opposition, against stance to theism. There could be no better word. The Atheists whom I meet are very happy with this ‘label’ as it expressly shows the philosophy held by them.

If one so denotes themselves as an Atheist then one automatically is against the excesses of religion. There is a world full of Atheists doing this and the AFA bus campaign is an expression of the desire of Atheists to stand up and be counted. No one is asking you to stand up, it is voluntary.

The mountain of mail we received in support about the rejection of our slogan, some from religious folk, places Atheists with some complaint or other with it, in a distinct and small minority. This is also the response on a world wide scale.

You can ‘hope’ we all get along and do nothing, but the AFA represents those who recognise the problems with religion and have put themselves out to do something about it.

David

David,

Best of luck with your case. [Technically, we should sleep in on Saturday. cite Dead Sea Scrolls]

Hope you win!

One under god,

Would you have objected if it was the fish synbol which was banned? Strange to you, I guess so would I. The churches and atheists live in a free society, with I would have thought avenues to free expression.

[Incidently, the fish symbol comes from the Baptism of Jewish sympathic Gentiles. Being a low grade of quasi-Jew,
these Gentiles were too unclean to be Baptised in fresh water as were orthodox Jews. Also, the cross symbol is something of a misnomer, to the extent that there is no way Jesus could have carried it, assembled: It would have weighed as much as two men. He would have carried the cross beam to the an already planted up-right pole.

You are wrong. You're vilifying atheists and they're asking you to stop As suggested a fitting name, is no skin of your nose.

1-David: “The word theism with the ‘a’ as a prefix, shows an opposite, opposition, against stance to theism.”

The Oxford Dictionary disagrees:
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/atheism?view=uk
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/theism?view=uk

2-David: “The Atheists whom I meet are very happy with this ‘label’ as it expressly shows the philosophy held by them.”

Not true, you met a few in this forum and they are deeply offended.

3-David: “ If one so denotes themselves as an Atheist then one automatically is against the excesses of religion.”

That is false, read the dictionary. It means disbelief in god.

4-David: “The mountain of mail we received in support about the rejection of our slogan…”

This is exaggeration. You’re receiving alot of unsupportive mail/responses here, from both theists and atheists.

5-David: “ the AFA represents those who recognise the problems with religion and have put themselves out to do something about it.”

They do, but that is not atheism.

6-David: “ examinator,
Perhaps you did not read my last post, especially this paragraph:
“Now, I am not asking for iffy generalisations, but I really do want some concrete rationale supporting any of your answers to these questions. You never know, but the AFA may take notice and follow advice, if it is sound, irrefutable and has a basis in reason.””

Perhaps you didn’t mean your last paragraph… You’re obviously not open to concrete rational (oxford dictionary definitions) advice (decent and fitting names) as you suggested, In fact seeing as this is your second post on your bus problem, I suggest you’re possibly after publicity for your court case.

Your assumptions all atheists believe as you do, even when we tell you we don’t are doing you or your cause no favours. As suggested already, if you’re receiving complaint from atheists you have a problem that needs addressing.

Are you now going to debate us on the meaning of “may take notice and follow advice” ? I bet you are. :)

I'm in two minds about this issue.

On the one hand, as another lifelong atheist I'm unenthusiastic about elaborating it as an ideology. I quite liked the bus slogans when David first raised them, and those that were rejected seemed nicely ideology-free, but they are apparently controversial enough to not only be denied public expression, but also attract quite passionate disapproval from our religionists/theists.

Which leads me to the other hand - which is the issue of freedom of speech. On what possible grounds can the innocuous slogans proposed by AFA be deemed unsuitable for public expression, albeit in the form of paid advertising? By what standards were they rejected? Would they be okay on a billboard?

I'm not a particularly militant atheist, but I think that AFA may have uncovered a freedom of speech issue with respect to religion that most of us didn't know existed. How insidious that they're not allowed to state their ideas, presumably on the basis that they might offend religious sensitivities.

Which is of course a good argument for the AFA to keep it up :)

hey oliver
i have no love [nor hate] for symbols

be it cross or fish or star they to me are just drawings [trade marks , like niki's tick]a visual sign that has whatyever meaning people wish them to have

to me they are all 'graven' images[ive even graved a few myself]

i debated the sat/sunday thing as well
TEQniclly the 'day' begins with the dark

going by 'let there be light' ,the first 'day' was preceeded by the 'first' night
then with the 2 de dark]he 2 de day began

[so for me sabbath begins on sat[night] till sun'day'
then sun night monday begins

im sorry about not re acting
and also sorry for putting this religious dicource before so many athiest

[i respect your right to believe as you chose ,i just cant respect a big group of people colluding to bring down a community bus service that serves everyone [regardless of our beliefs]

especially not to just get recruits
[or fame [or make some point, or get media attention, or insult others
for things they chose to believe ,or their right to believe whatever ,they freely chose to believe in [for me gods biggest upset is to take away any belief [as some have so little],

no one has the right to insult anyone regardless of wether we believe they been decieved or not
[be it in signs or slogans or symbols]

cheers to the lot of ya ,its good to see we seem to believe in common courtesy ,that by respecting others we respect ourselves[that we do to the least we do to him]