Atheist Bus Campaign

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London bus with atheist motto (October 2008)

The Atheist Bus Campaign ( German  Atheist Bus Campaign ) is an advertising campaign initiated in October 2008 by the British journalist Ariane Sherine , which propagates the basic attitude of atheism through inscriptions on buses . The campaign for a life without religion was conceived in response to an advertising campaign by evangelical groups and was supported by Richard Dawkins and the British Humanist Association . The campaign found offshoots and imitators in other countries.

history

Ariane Sherine and Richard Dawkins at the start of the campaign

Sherine started the Atheist Bus Campaign in response to an evangelical Christian bus advertisement that advertised a website that prophesied "eternity in the agony of hell " and "burn in a lake of fire" to unbelievers .

The British Humanist Association and the religious critic Richard Dawkins supported the Sherines campaign, London buses with the advertising lines “There's probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. " (German: "There is probably no God. Well then, stop worrying and enjoy your life." ) to poster.

The Christian Party then rented advertising space for around 17,000 euros for the slogan: There is God for sure. So join the Christian Party and enjoy your life .

Actions in other countries

Germany

The bus tour starts on May 30th in Berlin

According to the German organizers Buskampagne.de , which was initiated by Philipp Möller , Carsten Frerk , Peder Iblher and others, the “ secular advertising campaign” wants to show people “who do without supernatural, metaphysical powers in their worldview, that they are not alone are ”and“ that ethics and morals are not given by God, but made by man and made for man ”. Their slogan is: There is (with a probability bordering on certainty) no God .

Buskampagne.de published an appeal for donations on March 9, 2009. The aim of the appeal was to collect donations of at least 19,500 euros in order to finance advertising on three local public transport buses in Berlin, Cologne and Munich for three months. The campaign achieved this goal on March 13, 2009.

The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe refused to post advertisements on their buses on the grounds that the company did not want “the passengers of the BVG to be upset”, and they also “do not want to allow any more ideological advertising”. The advertising was also rejected by the Cologne transport company . The Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft rejected the campaign because they "generally reject advertising with a political or ideological statement, be it atheistic or theistic in nature". The Bremen / Lower Saxony transport association recommends its partner companies not to “place this advertising for the bus campaign because it would be contemptuous”. The Dortmund transport company has a bus that says do n't worry: There is God. So have a nice day , but with an atheism campaign you can't be sure whether people felt offended and, in case of doubt, even damaged buses. The companies in Dresden , Leipzig , Potsdam , Münster , Fulda , Regensburg , Stuttgart and Hamburg refused on the grounds that they would not allow ideological advertising. The Essener Verkehrs-AG withdrew its initial commitment to the advertising campaign after massive protests and calls for a boycott .

The Archdiocese of Berlin responded: "We also do advertising, why shouldn't they do that". The Auxiliary Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck from Münster made a similar statement . According to its cultural representative, Petra Bahr, the Evangelical Church in Germany also sees the campaign as an opportunity to publicly bring up the topic of God and is in favor of carrying it out. The state chairman of the party Die Linke Berlin, Klaus Lederer , criticized the decision of the Berlin transport company not to allow the atheistic advertising of the bus campaign on their vehicles, especially since posters with slogans like "Jesus loves you" are hanging everywhere in the Berlin underground . The bus campaign is supported by organizations such as the Brights , the Federation for Freedom of the Mind , the International Federation of Non-Denominational and Atheists and the Giordano Bruno Foundation . After the cancellation of the transport companies in all major German cities, the initiators organized a tour of Germany with a rented Berlin double-decker bus.

The bus tour started on May 30, 2009 in Berlin. On a three-week tour through 24 cities in Germany, information events were offered on a non-religious worldview with the "confession of unbelief" that there is probably no God and therefore people are responsible for their own morals. Associated with the tour was an invitation to intervene in public debates, although it should not be about “atheist proselytizing ”.

The campaign was followed by a counter-bus tour of the evangelical organization Campus for Christ at each of its stations . This campaign ran under the name of knowing God and the bus was labeled: "And if it does exist ..."

The team from the German bus campaign was awarded the Sapio Prize .

Italy and Spain

Italian version of the campaign: “The bad news is that God doesn't exist; the good one that you don't need one. "

The Spanish organization of atheists and free thinkers Unión de Ateos y Librepensadores organized the Bus Ateo campaign in Madrid , Barcelona and Zaragoza . The Italian association Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti (UAAR) intends to advertise two buses of the Genoa Transport Authority with the Italian-language version of the advertisement.

United States

In November 2008, the American Humanist Association in Washington, DC began a bus campaign with the slogan “Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness' sake. " (German: "Why believe in a God? Just be good for the sake of goodness.").

Netherlands

Here the bus campaign failed because of the transport companies and turned to billboards. A poster next to Amsterdam Airport advertised an ungodly world.

Switzerland

The Freethinkers Association of Switzerland (FVS) plans that the advertising slogan: “Probably there is no God. No need to worry, enjoy life! ”Should be on a public bus in ten cities in Switzerland. The campaign is intended to be in response to posters with biblical quotations such as “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” or “Jesus is the light of life”. The aim of the campaign is to give a voice to those who feel harassed by missionary slogans.

Strangers threatened the Lucerne Transport Authority (VBL) with setting the buses on fire if such posters were put up; VBL employees were also verbally abused. The FVS received hate mail from radical Christians.

The Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland (EPP) is considering launching a counter-campaign.

The municipal transport company Bern (SVB) rejected the campaign on the grounds: "We do not want to participate in this provocation". The reaction in Zurich and Geneva was similar: there they did not want to risk that religious feelings would be hurt. If the action with the buses does not take place, the FVS wants to switch to street posters.

Austria

In Vienna (after initial approval), Graz and Innsbruck , the action promoted by the central council of non-denominational members around Niko Alm was prevented by those responsible for the respective transport companies. The subjects were then posted on Vienna's Mariahilfer Strasse .

Luxembourg

Bus campaign Luxembourg, spring 2011

On April 11, 2011, a three-month campaign on public transport started in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Five with the slogan Net reliéis? Stéi dozou! (Not religious? Stand by it!) Labeled omnibuses of private companies drove both through the city of Luxembourg and the surrounding area from this point on. The initiator was the Alliance of Humanists, Atheists to Agnostics , or AHA for short , founded the year before .

Immediately after the start of the campaign, threats to boycott the bus companies concerned were known, particularly from various parishes . Since the companies did receive grants from the public sector for running the regular service, in return they received no advertising income and no say in the selection of the billboards mounted on their buses, so their hands were tied. In some cases, bus operators removed the billboards in breach of contract or did not use the vehicles on the grounds that they needed to be repaired.

A joint parliamentary question from four parties represented in the Luxembourg parliament led to a statement by the responsible minister for sustainable development and infrastructure, Claude Wiseler , in which he emphasized that the campaign was deontologically unobjectionable and would therefore be continued.

Web links

Commons : Atheist Bus Campaign  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Press release ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 58 kB) of the Atheist Bus Campaign (English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.atheistbus.org.uk
  2. A quick international round-up ( Memento of the original from March 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . List of sister campaigns in other countries on the website of atheist bus campaign (English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.atheistbus.org.uk
  3. ^ Ariane Sherine: All about the atheist bus campaign . The Guardian of October 21, 2008. (English)
  4. List of frequently asked questions (FAQ) ( Memento of the original from March 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. the atheist bus campaign (English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.atheistbus.org.uk
  5. a b Atheist advertising soon also in Berlin . Frankfurter Rundschau , accessed on April 23, 2009 .
  6. a b c For heaven's sake! Bayerischer Rundfunk , archived from the original on April 26, 2009 ; Retrieved April 23, 2009 .
  7. ↑ Call for donations from the German bus campaign ( Memento of the original from March 28, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.buskampagne.de
  8. a b c d The BVG still believes in God . the daily newspaper , accessed on April 23, 2009 .
  9. a b Atheist bus campaign undesirable . young world , accessed April 23, 2009 .
  10. a b Report at Extra 3 Godless Bus Campaign . (No longer available online.) Norddeutscher Rundfunk , archived from the original on April 21, 2009 ; Retrieved April 23, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www3.ndr.de
  11. a b c d Go to hell . Süddeutsche Zeitung , accessed on April 23, 2009 .
  12. No place for atheists on the bus . New Germany , accessed April 23, 2009 .
  13. a b In the night café of SWR television on May 15, 2009. Retrieved June 20, 2009 .
  14. BVG must behave neutrally in matters of faith . The left . Landesverband Berlin, accessed on April 23, 2009 .
  15. a b Advertisement for a life without God . Der Spiegel , accessed April 23, 2009 .
  16. ^ Atheists plan bus tour through Germany Spiegel Online from April 30, 2009
  17. Spiegel Online: Missionaries persecute unbelievers across Germany . June 19, 2009.
  18. Christians counter with an evangelistic bus campaign. Retrieved May 7, 2019 .
  19. http://hpd.de/veranstaltungen?action=cal&id=1202&tab=cal_single
  20. Website of the Bus Ateo campaign (Spanish)
  21. UAAR website about an Italian bus campaign (Italian)
  22. ^ Anti-Faith Campaign in Italy . The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger from January 13, 2009.
  23. a b Anti-God campaign on buses - now also in Switzerland . Tages-Anzeiger , accessed on May 25, 2009 .
  24. a b Atheist posters: Soon in Switzerland too . 20 minutes . Retrieved May 25, 2009 .
  25. a b Christians send messages of hate. Article at 20 Minuten from February 18, 2009.
  26. Transport companies do not want atheism posters . 20 minutes . Retrieved May 25, 2009 .
  27. ^ Atheist bus campaign stopped Der Standard Online from June 8, 2009.
  28. "There is no God. It depends on us": "Godless" campaign starts in Vienna NEWS Online from July 15, 2009.
  29. ^ Protests against freedom of expression . Tageblatt , April 19, 2011, accessed June 24, 2013.
  30. Fiona Lorenz : Solid protests against freedom of expression . Humanist Press Service , April 22, 2011, accessed June 24, 2013.