There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7681914.stm

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 Dawkins.
The BHA planned only to raise £5,500, which was to be matched by Professor Dawkins, 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.
The BHA is also considering extending the campaign to cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh.
Professor Dawkins said: "Religion is accustomed to getting a free ride - automatic tax breaks, unearned respect and the right not to be offended, the right to brainwash children.

"Even on the buses, nobody thinks twice when they see a religious slogan plastered across the side.
"This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think - and thinking is anathema to religion."
Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the BHA, said: "We see so many posters advertising salvation through Jesus or threatening us with eternal damnation, that I feel sure that a bus advert like this will be welcomed as a breath of fresh air.
"If it raises a smile as well as making people think, so much the better."
But Stephen Green of pressure group Christian Voice said: "Bendy-buses, like atheism, are a danger to the public at large.

"I should be surprised if a quasi-religious advertising campaign like this did not attract graffiti.
"People don't like being preached at. Sometimes it does them good, but they still don't like it."
However the Methodist Church said it thanked Professor Dawkins for encouraging a "continued interest in God".
Spirituality and discipleship officer Rev Jenny Ellis said: "This campaign will be a good thing if it gets people to engage with the deepest questions of life."
She added: "Christianity is for people who aren't afraid to think about life and meaning."
The buses with the slogans will run in Westminster from January.

 

About time. I've seen enough Alpha course posters around the London Underground!

It's encouraging to hear they intended to raise 5k but instead raised over 30k.

Now for some irony...

But Stephen Green of pressure group Christian Voice said: "Bendy-buses, like atheism, are a danger to the public at large.

"People don't like being preached at. Sometimes it does them good, but they still don't like it."

Okay, then stop preaching. Stop preaching to children in faith schools. Stop using tax payers money for weekly Christian television shows. Stop interfering in rational debates in secular politics. Stop all the other awful things you preach and campaign for (like marital rape (!) I kid you not)

 

Zoiks, that's a treasure trove of terror.

"The group states it is striving, through prayer and public campaigning, for "national repentance""

"Shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005, killing over 1600 residents and rendering hundreds of thousands homeless, Green issued a statement claiming that this was the result of God's wrath and had brought "purity" to the city"

They oppose safe-sex education.

Photo of Cleetus attached.

 

Huzzah! Well done to the British Humanist Association. It's about time Atheists got organised and got some representation in this country.

 

I'm going to be running my own campaign, similar but more festive:

"There's probably no Santa. Now stop worrying and enjoy your christmas."

 

At the end of the day, society is god.

Basically to say religion should not be a part of human life is wrong if you ask me and it isnt something that isnt human.

Human societies have always had some kind of religion, just in different forms. To say we dont need religion is actually wrong in my opinion, we have always had something, that someting be it a god is usually a need to feel a common identity, just the god lovers dont actually realise its society that draws them in, not god.
Its like the USSR for example, they went out of their way to clense the soviet from religion only to create there own without even knowing it.

Its also like USA with the flag thing and right back to the aborigonal tribes who use totems or coats of arms, humans need symboly of a common understanding to feel human.

 

Of course, but that does not entail that we accept claims and hold beliefs based on insufficient evidence, nor does it mean we should not criticize it when it does happen. By all means lets strive for a common understanding across humanity, but this does not allow us to strive for anything.

 

You just know Stephen Green has a collection of little shoes.

 

I agree, im not saying all religions are credible, i.e in how they claim to be the '1' or that there is a god, but religious type activity has pretty much alwyas been a part of human society and not some 'illusion' or however you might put it. Human society just dosent exist without a common belief sysyem of some kind it seems.

 

Surely most religion was based on the current understanding of the time?

 

Why do we need to have atheist that and religion that?

Why can't we just worry about our own lives instead of others peoples opinions being shoved in our faces?

Just my thoughts.

Sorry for the rant..

 

Wimps. The "probably" is just a weasel-word that shows they aren't serious

 

Yeah because a sign on some buses on London telling you to enjoy your life is obviously ramming an incredibly dangerous message down your throat.

 

Yes, they are pushing their own agenda to feel better about their "non-belief". LOL! Aetheists are full of irony.

I believe in spreading good news,but not ramming my own beliefs down people's throats. There are extremes on both sides of every issue.

 

Yes it is an illusion and there is no common belief system of some kind in our modern human society, or in a few ancient societies, other than that your post had points.
Irrelevant to the subject but they were undeniably points:topic:.
In the past humans have believed all sorts of superstitions with no factual base, maybe one day we will get past that and get to the stage where we can relate to each other and do what's right without some suposed omnipresent sky being sitting in final judgment over us.

I am not saying we can't have a spiritual or meditational part of our lives, I am saying it's not needed.

 

I'd like to see another bus message

"Social Darwinism - are you fit enough?"

 

If there's a sudden increase in London buses getting struck by lightning, then the BHA's plan might just backfire!

 

If there was a religious message on a bus as inocuous as 'God wants you to be happy. Enjoy your life' I would have no problem with it either.

The message being offered is a simple, pretty upbeat message that would also have the benefit of making other folks who may not be aware of it, realise that there are others who share their views. The fact that humanist and atheist groups have an agenda also isn't exactly shocking news. If an organisation has no agenda there isn't much point in it's existence.

 

Maybe one day, but im willing to bet that whatever develops from it, it will lead us into other collective groups of thinking, where someone will give it a name and people will feel a need to be a part of that name and to carry out certain a certain behaviour.

if we didnt have some kind of common behaviour then society would be no more.

I agree that we have no common universal belief system now, and i think that causes problems in some ways when you get loads of different or opposing groups. But its what we do, perhaops saying otherwise shows some people, for example politicians, total lack of knowledge on human social behaviour.

But like i said, im not saying it's ok for there to be religions just for the sake of it, some of them are just plain wrong in their beliefs and practices in my opinion. But it would be great if we could just all get along, have some kind of belief in just a common decency to fellow man/women, but even then you are creating a belief system, its just what we do.

 

Exactly, the same could be said for human society, hence the development of religious type activity and belief systems.