Atheist Bus Campaign determined to roll on despite set back
23.02.10 | simon | 
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Example ad image from the UK Campaign (thanks Jon Worth)
The NZ Atheist Bus Campaign, which late last year raised in excess of $20,000 from public donations, has met a set back in their plans. Nationwide bus company NZ Bus, who had tentatively approved the campaign’s ads on buses in major city centres, have now rejected them.
NZ Bus stated that they have received a number of complaints from the public about the proposed ads, which read “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
Spokesperson for the Atheist Bus Campaign Simon Fisher says “It’s concerning that peaceful atheist messages are not allowed on buses while religious messages are often seen on buses and in public. Messages of atheism are rare in New Zealand and we aim to raise awareness for the one-third of New Zealanders who are unconvinced by the claims of religion.”
Organisers of the Campaign tried to reach a resolution with NZ Bus, and later attempted mediation sessions through the Human Rights Commission. NZ Bus refused to participate in these mediation sessions. Because they are refusing to discuss the matter and reach an agreement, the organisers of the Campaign are now investigating the possibility of taking this case to the Human Rights Review Tribunal.
Simon Fisher says “we’re disappointed at the response from NZ Bus and plan to look at options going forward. We owe it to the thousands of Kiwis who have supported this campaign with donations and messages of support.”
Advertisements with identical wording ran in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Spain. Similar campaigns also ran successfully in Croatia, Finland, Holland, Italy, America and across the Tasman in Australia.
“We are gravely concerned that in New Zealand we’re unable to present an atheistic message, showing that we do not have the same practical freedom of expression as in other first world countries. It highlights why this campaign is so necessary.” said spokesperson Simon Fisher.
The Campaign will continue to accept donations for advertising, see http://www.nogod.org.nz for further details.
March 5th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Don’t usually like feeding the trolls.. but, hell, I just can’t resist this I found today. I picked the bits that stood out for me.
“Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ By Elizabeth Landau, CNN
(CNN) — Political, religious and sexual behaviors may be reflections of intelligence, a new study finds.
Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa at the the London School of Economics and Political Science correlated data on these behaviors with IQ from a large national U.S. sample and found that, on average, people who identified as liberal and atheist had higher IQs.
Religion, the current theory goes, did not help people survive or reproduce necessarily, but goes along the lines of helping people to be paranoid, Kanazawa said.”
so tempted to go ‘nah nah nah nah nah’.
March 17th, 2010 at 5:09 am
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July 6th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
[...] Zealand has been struggling to set up an Atheist Bus Campaign in the country after bus companies refused to run the ads. But now they have billboards! Click to enlarge the New Zealand [...]
July 14th, 2010 at 6:22 am
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July 14th, 2010 at 8:14 am
Looks like it’s time to add captcha. Spammers have arrived…
August 19th, 2010 at 4:10 am
This really is, as they said, a peaceful message. That being said, I do believe that everyone should have an equal opportunity to post their beliefs. However, when religion is involved, there is always going to be a fight. Those who either believe in a god or do not believe in a god feel very strong about their beliefs and will stand up for them. This will continue to be a never ending battle until humans no longer exist.
I do respect all of those who are standing up for whatever it is they believe in though.
September 7th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
oh my god i loved that bus banner!