Donate to The Canadian Atheist Bus Campaign and get those atheist signs on Canada's buses and subways. It's going to happen in Toronto, and Calgary is probably the next city according to the Freethought Association. An article in last week's Calgary Herald highlights some of the opposition to the atheist campaign [Calgary next for atheist bus ads, activist group says].
Calgary Catholic Bishop Fred Henry said the ideal date to launch such a campaign would be April Fool's Day."Aggressive, inward-looking, self-indulgent and narcissistic," now that's offensive. Is this what Bishop Henry means by "deep respect for all the individual players"?
"I don't know what the norms Calgary Transit uses to accept advertising, but if the benchmark is that it should be non-offensive, I'm offended," said Henry.
"This is insulting to us. The interfaith dialogue that goes on in this city is characterized by deep respect for all the individual players."
Henry characterized the ad's message as aggressive, inward-looking, self-indulgent and narcissistic.
[Hat Tip: Jeffrey Shallit at Recursivity.]
5 comments :
Geez, Bishop Henry is thin-skinned, isn't he? It doesn't say anything nasty about God, as such, or about believers. The slogan seems pretty light-hearted to me. But the mere suggestion that God might not exist, and that's OK, is "deeply offensive"?
I suggest that this post is not worth the pixels. Fred Henry seems to be easy to offend, but I've never seen any indication that either the Catholic hierarchy or the public pays much (if any) attention to him.
'Good without God' ad campaign raises questions in Vancouver
On Monday, the Halifax Transit Authority deemed the ads too controversial and refused to sell one group ad space.
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and the ads have been rejected by BC Transit, which oversees transit outside the Greater Vancouver area.
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BC Transit spokesperson Joanna Morton said the organization has a policy prohibiting religious or philosophical ads on buses and other parts of the system.
"Our buses are a place of work. Our operators can't choose which bus they drive in the morning, nor can our customers choose which bus they ride, so it is in the interest of our customers and our employees that we maintain a sense of control as to which advertising gets displayed on our buses," said Morton.
Has this standard been consistently applied to religious ads as well? Does driving or riding a bus imply or require agreement with all ad content on the sides of the bus? Suppose I prefer Coca Cola to Pepsi, does that mean I should not ride any bus with a Pepsi ad on it?
I like the colour scheme. It's kinda close to a rasta theme or something. With all these atheists getting together we need a leadership hierarchy, since we already have a colour scheme and everything. Then we need a flag or a symbol or something. And then we can all get together on a regular basis and reassure each other we are correct about the absence of god. Perhaps we will need a place to get together, decorated with our agreed upon symbol/flag.
I'm prepared to fight to the death for our atheist cause!
oh Bishop Henry: WWJD?
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