Not really a a surprise there then. This is one of those delicious ironies that crop up from time to time where some idiot is completely unaware of just how ridiculous they sound. To give a bit of background, comedian Ariane Sherine in Britain dreamed up a campaign of bus ads proclaiming,
“THERE’S PROBABLY NO GOD. NOW STOP WORRYING AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE”
(Image from smh.com.au)
The campaign was backed by serial atheist Richard Dawkins and funds were required. Asking for 5,500 pounds sterling, they actually raised well over 100,000 and the campaign went into full swing. And then the Christians started moaning. The campaign organisers must be loving it – you can’t get better advertising than some religious body complaining about your work. In this case it’s Christian Voice, a plainly fundamentialist group of fools that think they speak for Christians by “analysing current events in the light of scripture”.
But the issue is not one of atheism or religiosity. It’s one of free speech. These Christians would fight for their right to advertise their ministry, but what’s good for them is not good for anyone else apparently. And that’s where the truly ridiculous comments start to come in.
Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said:
“There is plenty of evidence for God, from people’s personal experience, to the complexity, interdependence, beauty and design of the natural world.
“But there is scant evidence on the other side, so I think the advertisers are really going to struggle to show their claim is not an exaggeration or inaccurate, as the ASA code puts it.”
Yes. He really said that. Apparently, there is ample evidence for God but “scant evidence” that there’s “probably no god”. Why are these people so fragile?
I think that Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, has a handle on it when he says:
“I am sure that Stephen Green really does think there is a great deal of evidence for a God (though presumably only the one that he believes in), but I pity the ASA if they are going to be expected to rule on the probability of God’s existence.”
I’ll be watching this story for more entertainment.
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[...] remember a while ago I was having a laugh about the atheist bus campaign, where ads on buses read THERE’S PROBABLY NO GOD. NOW STOP WORRYING AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE. Then there was the inevitable complaint flurry and the ASA threw the complaints [...]