Atheists for bus ad campaign

By OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

London

Oct. 23: Come January, and London will have atheist buses, with the comment, "There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

The advertisement campaign, which was launched on Tuesday, got an overwhelming response from people and £83,000 was collected by Thursday morning. Oxford professor Richard Dawkins, who is author of The God Delusion, will donate £5,500. The fundraising drive is being administered by the British Humanist Association and the atheists are trying to combat the preferential treatment given to religion in British society. The atheist campaign was initiated by writer Ariane Sherine in a blog on the Guardian website and the initial plan was to run the ads for four weeks in London. However, now that much more money has been raised the project is likely to be expanded nationwide.

"While everyone on the campaign team is elated at the amount raised, we genuinely never expected the campaign to skyrocket like this, and had only planned to use any extra money to buy small ads inside buses," Sherine wrote. The campaign will now go nationwide, she said. "We’re hoping to run the campaign throughout the UK, but outside London we may have to think about using billboards and trains instead of buses, since the company Stagecoach runs many regional bus services and may not accept our adverts as its owner, Mr Brian Souter, is an evangelical Christian."

"Atheists have truly pulled together to make ourselves heard, and it’s exciting to imagine what we could achieve in the future. The sky’s the limit, and as one comment on the donation page said: ‘I hope this is just the beginning’," Sherine added.

However, there has been some dissent by atheists over the use of the word "probably" in the advertising campaign. The word had been included to ensure the atheist posters did not breach the Advertising Code, which stipulate advertisements should not offend religious people, she explained.

"I also think the word is more lighthearted, and somehow makes the message more positive," she added.