If religious organizations can advertise, why shouldn't atheists be able to? That's what England decided, when atheist ads were proposed and accepted. They are a response to religious ads that ran in 2008, which suggested people who don't believe in god would "spend all eternity in torment."
This Tuesday "There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" was splayed across 800 buses. And next week, the campaign will move underground, where 1,000 ads featuring quotes from Emily Dickinson, Albert Einstein, and Katharine Hepburn will ride the subway.
Of course, you can't help but notice it says there's probably no god. What kind of atheist says that? To see why the atheists hesitated on the nonexistence of god, read more.
"Probably" was an edit made to add ambiguity and appease British advertising guidelines. "There is no god" would, after all, be inaccurate to those who believe.
And maybe those edits were smart because nobody in the already secular country seems to care. The Queen, head of the Church of England, has been, well, mum. And even the Methodist Church welcomed the campaign as a way to get people talking about god. So, what is it? Free speech prattle? A way to talk about God or no god? Or a sign that atheism is becoming more and more accepted?
Panache
Ralph Lauren
Rieker
Ugh... I feel like I am reading leftovers from not too long ago.
1Citizen, we already talked about this , this week, why rehash it?
2What does "stop worrying" really means?
This message seems very hedonistic.
3"Make an effort and choose whatever suits you best" would be more hopeful.
We've had this exact story like four times now. If I wanted to see people bicker about religion, I could just look at the same story five days ago.
4Yeah, this is pretty stale news at this point.
"'Probably' was an edit made to add ambiguity and appease British advertising guidelines. 'There is no god' would, after all, be inaccurate to those who believe."
So did the previous, religious ads say that people who don't believe in God would "probably" spend all eternity in torment?
5Slow news week.
6Oh Lord this one's gonna be doosy honey, lol!
7Whoa, I didn't know it was Groundhog Day!
8I did a double take too.
I'm with Jude... the 'probably' is just so it would appease people and hopefully keep them from getting too riled up about it.
I still think they are funny.
9pretty darn hilarious at this point to me but it must really be a slow news day.
So I'll hijack that thread. Did you guys read the story about thow two cute German kids that tried to elope in Africa. I'm still laughing about that one but that reminds me, in some cultures some kids that young CAN legally get married.
10Let the comment madness begin!
Another atheist post...
Did you know all of us atheists and to a lesser degree agnostic are telepathically connected. That's how we manage to coordinate these campaign to convert the religious to our way.
We are currently working on developing our telekinesis so that we can knock over religious people without touching them.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Atheist,
11wackdoodle
wackdoodle - why are you revealing our secrets?
12geebers we have no choice. We must reveal all.
Who built the pyramids?
WE DID!
13Maybe it was one of the only 100+ people posts so they figured everyone would go at it again? I missed the first batch of comments though so I'll pretend I've never seen this before.
I'm personally agnostic. I think that saying with certainty there is NO God is as bad as saying with certainty there IS God. In both cases there is really no way to know or prove.
So I like the addition of the word "probably." I don't think enough people admit that they aren't sure about things.
14Did anyone want to just cut and paste your comments from the previous "atheist ads" thread?
http://www.citizensugar.com/2393698
15Did=Does...you get it.
16Blue: Yep.
17As a man of faith I have no problem with the ad and I welcome their freedom to post it as well as any conversations it will ignite. Their faith that no entity is creator is as strong as my belief in a creator.
IMO whether you're a believer or not it all comes down to faith. We all believe what will happen in the end based on faith believer or not, but nun of us know. It is life's greatest mystery. I think that regardless of eternal spirit or not believer or not we need to learn to cherish our time here and making our lives rich in the here and now is just as important as any after life. So I would agree with the ads suggestion not to worry because my faith certainly does not make me worrisome it actually makes me quite content.
18Again? Seriously, I hope this doesn't turn into one gay a day posts they were doing. Repetitiveness for "ratings" is not cool. There is sooo much news to report and this isn't PopSugar.
19"And maybe those edits were smart because nobody in the already secular country seems to care."
20Looking at it from this angle - if the ads were here in the U.S., domestic terrorism would likely become a religious obligation in some places.
There aren't any terrorists in America.
21Just the occasional extreme activist with a bomb.
"Extreme activism." I could see that becoming the PC term for a terrorist in some bizarre alternate world.
22There will be if those ads start appearing.
23We need a GaySugar and a ReligionSugar apparently. Too many posts on the same topic.
I feel bad for the person doing this blog, though, since they cut down from two to one people. Hope you got a raise, sister.
24i LOVE that and i think that they need to get approval to do it in the US now too!
25I think there are many gradations between theism and atheism, hence the word "probably". But it does weaken the sentiment a lot.
26"Who built the pyramids?"
The Jews.
27and I know cause I was there, lol.
28"I feel bad for the person doing this blog, though, since they cut down from two to one people."
That would also explain the sudden left turn of this blog
29Sudden left turn? I'll agree it's always been left of center but Citizen was always thought to be the more conservative of the two.
30Y'all need to decide if it was a "sudden left turn" or if you think Citizen wasn't a real Republican anyways. Get your stories straight.
31So it's no longer Citizen and Liberty? Hmmm... didn't know.
32Wait a min. ya'll have me confused now. Liberty didn't go no where & Citizen still here so I don't know what you're talking about now.
33Do we know what this ad is selling?
34The ad sells nothing. Unless you can sell atheism.
I'm confused too hypno. So don't feel bad.
35The person who primarily blogged as CitizenSugar was let go along with eight others shortly before the election. I understand just one person, the primary Liberty blogger, now does most of the posts alone.
36lol, or is this a cuo attempt by the conservative like in the movie Valkeri to make us think Liberty is out?
37Well... you learn something new everyday.
38Damn who's working on the inside to get all of that information.
39A coup? No. Well, there has been speculation that Sugar, Inc., being a company based in San Francisco, does not have much interest in pushing a conservative agenda. But otherwise I think they just anticipated interest in politics waning post-election and made the business decision to cut someone.
40Oh, hypno. Come hang out in LS. We know everything!
41LS?
Maybe I should start a Brown Sugar and go by Sugar Bear....haha
42Liberal Sugar, of course!
43no more news in england i guess :I
More boris johnson on Citizensugar! woop.
44well if you can sell atheism then i know some car salesmen that need work. just give them new shirts and 15% and they will move some product. and of course circut city needes some thing to set them apart from best buy. send them a pallet or two. lol
45"Who built the pyramids?"
The Goa'uld...
46I could not be more thrilled about this and I hope it catches on around the globe, but this was a very irresponsible start! They make it sound like we don't have religions because it's a hassle and we don't care about burning in hell as long as we make the most of our earthly lives. It's more complicated than that.
47It very well may catch on, but that doesn't make it right. I think it is condoning chaos, as long as you have a good time and enjoy yourselves. I gotta tell ya, you can have a good time and still be religious. The positive side is that when you aren't having a good time (which happens to everyone), you have your faith to help get you through it.
48Oh man no one else watches The Simpsons?
Who built the pyramids? The Stonecutters among other things.
The Stonecutters Song -
49Who controls the British crown?
Who keeps the metric system down?
We do! We do!
Who keeps Atlantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We do! We do!
Who holds back the electric car?
Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star?
We do! We do!
Who robs the cave fish of their site?
Who rigs every Oscar night?
We do! We do!
Wow, I remember that song and I haven't watched the Simpsons in years!
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