Bendy-buses with the slogan "There's probably no God" could soon be running on the streets of London. The atheist posters are the idea of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and have been supported by prominent atheist Professor Richard Dorkins.
The BHA planned only to raise £5,500, which was to be matched by Professor Dorkins, but it has now raised more than £36,000 of its own accord. It aims to have two sets of 30 buses carrying the signs for four weeks.
The complete slogan reads: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
As the campaign has raised more than anticipated, it will also have posters on the inside of buses as well.
I must say I am looking forward to this one. The BHA, Dorkins and all the liberal bloggers jumping up and down with unholy glee (all of whom, as far as I can see, are white and middle class - nothing wrong with that, mind you) might still have a vision of Swinging London somewhere in their wee noddles.
In fact, thanks to mass immigration, it's the most Godly place in Britain.
The growth in the numbers of black (mostly African) and Eastern European churchgoers has given London levels of Christian observance second only to Ulster.
There are rather a lot of Muslims in London, whose devotion is increasing rather than declining :
“Being religious is a way that you show you are different, that you are proud of your heritage. One of the ways young Muslims assert their identity is by being more observant than their parents.”There are also a fair few Godly Sikhs, and even more polytheistic Hindus.
And the social result of this is that Swinging London has the lowest bastardy rate in England and Wales.
I wonder which bus routes these posters are going to run on ? I wouldn't give much for the chances of a bus with such a message on its side, stuck in heavy traffic in the East End when the mosques are chucking out on a Friday. I'd imagine Muslims and Christians alike would see it - as I do - as a direct provocation.
Cry havoc and release Mr Unintended Consequence !
There's another thought. Those Lib Dem and Labour politicians who are cheering the initiative will have to face elections - in the case of the ghastly Mary Honeyball, next year. She's MEP for London and presumably "on the ticket". At which point she's rather neatly contaminated the whole brand. I hope Tory strategists are
a) copying all the relevant web pages as I type
b) telling their candidates and activists not to touch the initiative with mint surgical tweezers.
c) thinking how best this can be used to prise minority voters away from Labour.
Mary Honeyball
I love the idea of the Atheist Bus Campaign. It's good to see those of us who are rationalists and humanists taking positive action.
I hope as many of you who can will donate to this excellent campaign.
I don't think we've heard the last of this.
PS - I presume Ms Honeyball, former probation officer and prime example of a polytechnocrat, is single and childless. Can anyone confirm/deny ?
18 comments:
Gotta love that "probably". Like Carlsberg they probably didn't fancy their chances with a referral to the ASA.
No sign of any hubby/kids references on Mary Honeyball's homepage, blog, Europarl page or even Facebook page. In fact not much sign of any concerns outside of right-on politics.
...though this site describes her as:
former Chief Executive of Gingerbread and former Director of the National Childbirth Trust - which would be ironic if she was indeed sprogless.
I'll stop now.
Bendy buses, eh? I wonder if they'll be on route 25, which runs from Ilford through Whitechapel to Oxford Circus. It's the sort of bus where you feel conspicuous if you're not wearing a burqa, and that's just the blokes!
I always find riding the 25 a strangely alienating and disturbing experience, despite being a hardened regular user of buses in South London, where finding myself to be the only White passenger on a bus full of Africans is no longer remarkable.
I have so many mixed feelings about immigration. Part of me thinks that the British people have brought it on themselves, half of me thinks it's been imposed, half of me thinks it's a bad thing, half thinks it's a good thing.
My experience of Muslims ranges from the friendly, secularised shopkeeper to the murderous madman. I see Muslim women, loving and raising their kids, and I wish "our" women would be more like them. I see Muslim men actually being fathers, and I wish "our" men could be more like them.
I despise what Islam might bring, but I despise the death cult that modern Western society has become over the last forty or so years. I despise the Harmans, the Honeyballs, the Primarolos.
I despise these people who neither see the threat that Islam poses nor acknowledge their part in the destruction of civil moral values which has created the void into which it has poured itself.
I despise the bastard "parter" culture that has failed so many children. I despise this government's illogical, irrational, counterfactual attack on marriage and the rights of children.
Britain is a beautiful, green and pleasant land that God gave the British people. Every bastard, every abortion, every glorification of the death cult is a slap in His face. Do we deserve it any more? Can we say that we have a right to it?
The best case scenario is a re-Christianisation of Britain through immigrants. Then we might have a future - children, a society based on real responsibility, not specious rights.
I don't know any more. What I do know is that the current situation is unsustainable and either way I don't like it.
and the EU solution to rising unemployment because of the credit crunch?
Why, let's import even more third world immigrants
i kid you not. read the link...
It would be even more fun if they added "Or Allah either."
Probably not the kind of fun they are looking for.
"It would be even more fun if they added "Or Allah either."
Probably not the kind of fun they are looking for."
Indeed. The bendy buses have an impressive record of self-combustion already - no need to add 'outside causes' to the list...
The sinister world of the Gulag lies behind the commandment to "have fun".
Ms Honeyball - she has to be a Bond character.
she has to be a Bond character
More Rosa Klebb than Pussy Galore I should have thought.
What do you mean Hugh Oxford, re-Christianisation through immigrants?
It was not mass-immigration that originally christianised Britain, it came about because the people already here converted.
I am sure people would revert back to it once again in a time of genuine hardship. A staunch atheist friend of mine provoked a reaction of great supprise when her mother died she proclaimed that she knew mum was in heaven looking down on us. She is still an 'atheist'. But funny how so many 'atheists' are closet christians, on the right occasion.
I am not sure that people necessarily do rediscover the tenets of organised religion when under duress.
It is more likely that some will latch onto fradulent remedies for misfortune which have a spiritual gloss: spells, divination, and other forms of self-centred hocus pocus.
Regarding Honeyball and whether she's a mother or not: would knowing the answer tell us anything about her beliefs beyond what she has already expressed?
After all, Frank Field is single and childless too.
just a matter of interest Bookworm. It's the childless progressives that are by far the worst when they are put in charge, they treat the whole of the country as surrogate infants who can't be trusted to make their own decisions.
yeah bookworm that happens but its not only duress.
I have a friend who never visits a church not even at christmas, he wants a church wedding though!
Its probably largely traditional, but I think its a little more than that, although they claim not to believe they want to hedge their bets.
'There is no God'. They might as well have run a campaign saying 'the Earth revolves around the Sun'. Hello. We do fucking know this already.
Most of the world's population might disagree with you Stephen.
I know there is a principled atheistic stance, but the bus advert is poor stuff. 'I am my brother's keeper' will always be a more powerful and subversive message.
"I wouldn't give much for the chances of a bus with such a message on its side, stuck in heavy traffic in the East End when the mosques are chucking out on a Friday"
Hmm. The buses with Christian prosthelysing on the side seem to do OK in such areas.
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