Atheism on the move

Religious groups have been used to having the world of "philosophical advertising" all to themselves for far too long. Now it seems that Atheists are fighting back with an advertising campaign on London Buses.

Walk past any church and the chances are that they will have a big billboard outside shouting at you in big red letters something about Jesus saving you. Open your daily paper and there will be some space devoted to some religious type moralising about the world and adverts for various religious charities and organisations. Atheists and Humanists have however, until recently, been reticent about getting out there and displaying their message to the world. It is interesting to see , therefore, that the British Humanist Association have raised money to purchase advertising on the side of London buses.

The adverts are, to be honest, a little timid. "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." It's hardly a war cry to man the Atheist barricades. Never mind though. It's a start. Religious groups can no longer count on having the public space to themselves in the discourse about who we are as a species and what life is all about.

So, well done to the British Humanist Association for getting the message out there and lets hope that this is just a start. The big problem I suspect will be that Atheism, unlike religion, isn't a very organised affair. Groups like the BHA tend to be fairly small and don't raise large sums of money. So while this is a good start it's unlikely that religious groups will lose a lot of sleep over this particular advertising campaign.