NZ Atheists Swap Buses For Billboards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The NZ Atheist Bus Campaign will unveil billboards with friendly atheist slogans in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch this week.

The campaign has chosen the three winning phrases from more than 900 public submissions of billboard slogans. “We’re excited about this opportunity to promote these thoughtful slogans and hope they’ll get people to stop and think.” said Simon Fisher, spokesperson for the Campaign.

While the precise wording of the three new slogans is intended to be a surprise, Mr Fisher says that all three designs will include the text “There’s probably no God, now stop worrying and enjoy your life” borrowed from the successful UK bus campaign.

With the launch of the billboard campaign, the organisation is also reopening its call for donations from people who want to see the billboards moved to other cities. “While the bus campaign would have been limited to main centres, the great thing about these canvases is that once printed they can be toured to other centres” said Mr Fisher.  “If a community wants to put one of our billboards up in their area they can contact us, arrange a location, and we’ll be delighted to lend them the canvas”.

Despite similar campaigns being run internationally, the organisation’s plans to place ads on buses in New Zealand hit a brick wall earlier this year when NZ Bus accepted and then rejected the billboards, leading to the Campaign’s decision to take the issue to a tribunal. “The Campaign is still committed to the discrimination case against NZ Bus through the Office of Human Rights Proceedings. “We have kept funds in reserve for a bus advertising campaign if this is successful.” said Mr Fisher.

Interested Kiwis can see the billboards in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch from Friday this week.

For more information and to donate, see http://www.nogod.org.nz/

ENDS

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.

Launched just last week, hundreds of Kiwis have supported the campaign by donating to promote the idea that it’s OK to not believe in a god, and that one can certainly be good without god through advertisements on buses reading: “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

The original target of $10,000 was met in less than 36 hours, and so the decision was made to double this to the revised target of $20,000.

“The tremendous support in donations and positive messages has really reinforced the worth and importance of a positive atheist campaign like this” said campaign spokesperson Simon Fisher.

The Campaign was launched in part to reach out to the significant number of New Zealanders who are unsure about the idea of god. For example, those who grew up in religious homes and feel anxiety, or even fear about threats such as hell, or choosing the wrong religious path.

The campaign organisers have been inundated with hundreds of personal stories about the effect religion has upon New Zealanders, from being labeled “sinners” to family pressures of conformity. One message read “It got me thinking that I might not be as crazy as I first believed.”

“I am pleased with the majority of the responses from religious groups, even if I disagree with their arguments against the message and intent of the campaign. They have mostly been positive and supportive of the campaign due to its ability to raise discussion of the issues of belief in god and religion’s role in society” continued Fisher.

The campaign has started a healthy debate about the topics of god and religion and what role they play in our lives as individuals and as a society. This debate will no doubt continue once the advertisements go live, and people will be encourage to think deeply about these topics.

Organisers of the campaign are currently planning when and how the ads will be rolled out onto buses across the country. Donations beyond the $20,000 target will still be accepted and will be put towards future atheist advertising campaigns.

“We have plans for future phases – possibly different slogans, and different mediums. We thought this a better option than just closing donations, allowing those who might have missed out the first time to still have the chance to donate” explained Mr Fisher.

More information about the campaign is available at the website: http://www.nogod.org.nz/

This will of course double the original number of ads on buses in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch! This works out to approximately 12 buses in Auckland, 8 in Wellington and 4 in Christchurch. The ads will stay on the buses for 4 weeks.

We decided this was the best way of dealing with an excess of donations, as opposed to using them for some other purpose. You all have donated to put atheist ads on buses, and that is what we will use the money for. As before, literally all donation money will be used for advertising – there are no administrative overheads. The Humanist Society of NZ has kindly offered to administrate and oversee the donation collection to ensure it conforms to financial standards.

I see at this point we are well over quarter of the way to the new target, and rapidly growing! Thank you again to all the donations. They will make a significant impact in promoting atheism, humanism and rational enquiry in NZ.

Following the success of the original UK campaign and other campaigns around the world, a positive message of atheism and humanism will soon be travelling around on NZ buses.

Buses will feature the same slogan that was used in the UK campaign “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

The campaign will be entirely funded by donations from the public, with administrative support provided by the Humanist Society of New Zealand. People are able to make donations online at http://nogod.org.nz/.

“While New Zealand is by and large a very tolerant and inclusive society, there is still stigma associated with an atheistic position. At the same time we have recently seen the growing influence of radical religious groups such Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church. With this campaign we hope to encourage positive debate on these issues – religion should not be a taboo topic.” said campaign spokesperson Simon Fisher.

The Atheist Bus Campaign is designed to get people to think critically about their religious beliefs, and rationally about the world in general. The campaign promotes a positive humanist world view, and the affirmation that there is no need to believe in a supernatural being to live a full and rich life.

For further information about the campaign see the website at http://nogod.org.nz/.

ENDS