Watch out for that Atheist Bus!
I gasped in bewilderment when I first saw the atheistic ads they ran on about 800 buses in London. No, not because I found it blasphemous. I didn’t. One of the reasons was the use of ‘probably’. While I understand that no one can rule out the possibility of there being a god, ‘probably’ gives the impression that religion might be alright, and god as we know it/him might exist. Surely, even agnostics agree that if a god does in fact exist, it/he in all probability is nothing like what our religions claim it/him to be. Wrong choice of words.
But what took me aback was the line, ‘…and enjoy life’. While no one would disagree with there being in general no apprehensions in ‘enjoying life’, it gives an incorrect impression of what it means to be a non-believer. Atheism comes from within; no one can spoon feed it anyone. In fact, if atheism could be spoon fed, then there would be no difference between disbelievers and believers. Atheism comes with the questioning mind looking for answers, not one that takes simplistic stories that delude people into believing false histories and irrational theories and philosophies. The words must have been chosen to spark that inquisitiveness.
It’s a terribly bad introduction to what it means to be a rationalist and sceptic. While atheists are divided in regard to differing life-philosophies, I contend that humanism must unite atheists in this regard.
The aim of the bus advertisements should have been to bring out the falsehoods that religions have been teaching and to support the argumentative and inquisitive mind. While I might not be able to come up with a better phrase, I’m sure many minds working in unison could. In fact, I have seen several advertisements by sceptics in this regard.
