A 28-year-old comedy writer in London, who launched an advertising campaign earlier this year to counter religious ads on the side of London’s buses, has raised enough money to place atheistic posters on 30 of London’s buses beginning in January. They will read: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
According to the Associated Press (AP), Ariane Sherine was motivated to publicize her godless worldview after visiting the website of a Christian ad earlier this year that allegedly claimed that nonbelievers would spend an eternity in torment in hell.
“I thought it would be a really positive thing to counter that by putting forward a much happier and more upbeat advert, saying, ‘Don’t worry, you’re not going to hell,’” Sherine told the AP.
Sherine’s campaign drew the support of the British Humanist Association as well as best-selling atheist author Richard Dawkins, who told the AP that the campaign to put alternative slogans on buses would “make people think—and thinking is anathema to religion.”
According to the AP, few Christians appeared threatened or offended by the atheist’s campaign. Jenny Ellis, spirituality and discipleship officer for the Methodist Church, said it would be “a good thing if it gets people to engage with the deepest questions of life.”
A religious think tank called Theos even donated money to the effort, believing it would backfire on the atheist’s agenda, since people concerned about the collapsing of the global economy and other serious issues won’t find much comfort in being told to “not worry.”
“Stunts like this demonstrate how militant atheists are often great adverts for Christianity,” said Theos director Paul Woolley, according to the AP.
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