Stiff-Necked, Unbelieving Buses

The British Humanist Association is raising money to launch a new ad campaign on London's familiar red city buses, and it's the first of its kind: an ad campaign for atheists. The campaign signage would read, in crisp, happy colors, "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

In a short amount of time, the campaign has raised far more money than they expected, and they say the ads may start appearing in January. Christian groups will probably get offended by this and boycott the buses -- because who wants to ride on the atheist bus? Not me! It's a bus-ride to apostasy! -- but it would probably behoove us to calm down, stop worrying about it, and, well, enjoy life. Religious groups have used London buses to advertise themselves, but do you know any Londoners who turned to Jesus because of a bus ad? I don't. And we probably won't know anyone who abandoned their faith because an evil bus told them to.

Now, if they stepped off a curb on the way to church and were hit by an atheist bus it might be another story...

And let's not jump to conclusions anyway by calling them "atheist ads" or "atheist buses." The language in the ad says there is probably no God. That's a qualifier. That means the voice behind the statement is leaving open the small possibility, however tiny, that there might in fact be a God -- it's just that the material evidence suggests otherwise. According to the signage, God's existence may be doubtful, or uncertain, but it's up for debate. That's a lot softer than pure atheism. This means the buses are agnostic.

You heard it from me: It is permissible for Christians to ride an agnostic bus, as long as you are wearing a Christian t-shirt, cross yourself upon entering, and stay on the lookout for witnessing opportunities.