Bus Wars

Flicking through the news and what do I see; a Nazi war criminal may have died in Egypt in 1992, there was one bloody big snake roaming around 58 million years ago, it's snowy in Britain and recession is almost everywhere...

Then there was this article from the Guardian online; an attack on the wonderful atheist buses by Rev. Hargreaves, leader of the Christian Party. The Christian Party doesn't like the idea of ads promoting free enquiry by denying God, and plans to run an campaign of its own telling everyone to take it easy: there not only is a God, but also a Christian Party to look after his/her/its political interests. Similar poster campaigns are being mounted by the Tritarian Bible Society and Russian media mogul Alexander Korobko.

The original idea for the atheist campaign telling people to stop worrying as there 'probably' isn't a god, was dreamt up by comedy writer Ariane Sheridan as a counter to all those posters telling you 'Jesus is the Way' scattered round train, tube and bus stations. Stop worrying about damnation? Certainly; there are plenty of other real problems to address.

I shouldn't get rilled really; posters threatening damnation just aren't enough for some groups. But rather than offer any real argument or criticism, both Rev. Hargreaves and the Tritarian Bible group see fit to label the atheist campaign as run by fools, as is everyone who happens to agree, for according to the Psalms (no.52) only a fool knows there is no God. Back when the Pslams were composed, an impressive timespanning 1190-50 BCE (snakes were normal sized); you'd have been looked at ascance (if not stoned to death) for that kind of unsubstanitated foolishness, and there really wasn't an alternative, but I think we have to seriously question whether that sentiment still rings true.

A further criticism by the Reverand; these athiest/humanist fools are spend-thrifty ones too! The atheist campaign raised £140,000 in donations though the target was a mere £5,500, including a £50 contribution from Theos, a think-tank for the CoE. Perhaps the Rev. Hargreaves should remember the words of the Apostle Paul and that 'the love of money is the root of all evil', he did however fail to mention the cost of his party's refutation.

Religious groups have had long enough to get their message across, and have possessed, and stilll do, tremendous resources to do too; surely a poster campaign isn't too hard to accept. We live in an age of scientific enquiry where it is possible to find alternatives to a supreme being - one of which is of course Richard Dawkins - we've free speech and public forums for debate, including the side of a bus. Debate is always good, but name-calling? 'Fools'? Is that really going to draw anyone in, or just bait ardent atheists like me into giving the archaic, irrelevant and tyrannical institution that is the Christian faith a bit of a mild tutting.