Friday, March 20, 2009

Transit-based Yes God/No god debate rages

According to the CBC, a Calgary-based religious organization callign themselves God Exists has purchased bus ads in response to the Atheist Bus Campaign's "There's probably no god, now stop worrying and enjoy your life" publicity campaign. From the CBC story:

A group calling itself "God Exists" has purchased its own bus ads to counter the message of an atheist campaign currently running on Calgary buses.

The ads will be running on eight buses and two C-Trains for a month, starting Monday. They will carry the message: "God cares for everyone … even for those who say He doesn't exist!"

God Exists is a group supported by believers from several religions, with a Calgary Imam representing the group as a spokesperson and many Christians donating to pay the advertising tab with Calgary Transit.

Ottawa City Council recently reversed a decision by city staff, and the "No god" ads are slated to run on Ottawa's OC Transpo buses. It is unclear if an Ottawa-based "Yes God" group will form to counter those advertisements similar to Calgary's God Exists.

Unexpected positives: More money for public transit, and inter-faith cooperation. If only those trends could be extrapolated globally...

2 comments:

RealGrouchy said...

This garbage is why I didn't support the Atheist ads in the first place: we simply don't have the problem of theist bus ads in Ottawa, like they do/did (apparently) in London, England.

Now it's the Atheists who have sparked the interminable public debate about the existence of god. I was perfectly happy with the question being left unmade, and rarely encountered situations where I felt my beliefs felt even remotely impinged.

- RG>

Justin said...

Religous groups have placed ads on buses before. Why lay the blame squarely on Atheists?