Linky link...
Atheist buses?
Hmmmm. Interesting. I myself have done a fair bit of soul searching of late and, for many reasons, I don't identify as a Christian anymore. Not a traditional, conservative Christian at least. So, this doesn't offend me at all really, and I can definitely see where the organisers of this campaign are coming from.
But...yeah. Obviously, there are going to be religious communities who are going to get well pissed off. And, I'm guessing there may even be some spiritual people, who aren't strictly religious, that may not be entirely comfortable. And, to be honest, I'm wondering if there's a massive *need* for these slogans in New Zealand? I know they started up in the UK in response to Bible quotes being splashed all over busses, but I personally, haven't seen any of those kind of religious messages being blatantly advetised in public. Not in Wellington anyway, unless I've been living under a rock. If we had a whole lot of blatant religious propaganda written everywhere around the city, on busses and whatnot, then I would certainly be able to see the need. But...hmmmm. Am I making any sense?
HOWEVER. On reading the campaign's website, I saw that the busses in UK also advetised websites, which would warn people that they were going to burn in hell, unless they accepted Jesus. And, they came up with their slogan ("there's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy life.") to encourage people just to live, and not to worry about the lake of fire that may or may not be waiting for us when we die. Which...I think is kind of cool.
It reminds me of a conversation I had with a devout Christian friend a few years back, where she asked me if I'd ever be scared of going to hell if I left the faith? To which I replied, "Honey, I have enough to fear from this life, never mind the next." Seriously, we humans have enough to angst about here on earth, without worrying about where we're headed once we've shuffled off the ole mortal coil. And, there is nothing I loathe more than hell-fire preaching and fear tactics as a means of converting people to the faith. Not cool. So, anything we can do to encourage people just to live their lives without fear is pretty a'ight.
Aw, and by the way, I'm not an atheist. More of a Deist-Humanist. I'm also very interested in exploring Christian Druidism. And, no, I am not afraid of going to hell. To quote one of my favourite Irish sayings, "Here's to Hell: May the stay there be as fun as the way there!"
Thoughts, guys and gals?
Hmmmm. Interesting. I myself have done a fair bit of soul searching of late and, for many reasons, I don't identify as a Christian anymore. Not a traditional, conservative Christian at least. So, this doesn't offend me at all really, and I can definitely see where the organisers of this campaign are coming from.
But...yeah. Obviously, there are going to be religious communities who are going to get well pissed off. And, I'm guessing there may even be some spiritual people, who aren't strictly religious, that may not be entirely comfortable. And, to be honest, I'm wondering if there's a massive *need* for these slogans in New Zealand? I know they started up in the UK in response to Bible quotes being splashed all over busses, but I personally, haven't seen any of those kind of religious messages being blatantly advetised in public. Not in Wellington anyway, unless I've been living under a rock. If we had a whole lot of blatant religious propaganda written everywhere around the city, on busses and whatnot, then I would certainly be able to see the need. But...hmmmm. Am I making any sense?
HOWEVER. On reading the campaign's website, I saw that the busses in UK also advetised websites, which would warn people that they were going to burn in hell, unless they accepted Jesus. And, they came up with their slogan ("there's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy life.") to encourage people just to live, and not to worry about the lake of fire that may or may not be waiting for us when we die. Which...I think is kind of cool.
It reminds me of a conversation I had with a devout Christian friend a few years back, where she asked me if I'd ever be scared of going to hell if I left the faith? To which I replied, "Honey, I have enough to fear from this life, never mind the next." Seriously, we humans have enough to angst about here on earth, without worrying about where we're headed once we've shuffled off the ole mortal coil. And, there is nothing I loathe more than hell-fire preaching and fear tactics as a means of converting people to the faith. Not cool. So, anything we can do to encourage people just to live their lives without fear is pretty a'ight.
Aw, and by the way, I'm not an atheist. More of a Deist-Humanist. I'm also very interested in exploring Christian Druidism. And, no, I am not afraid of going to hell. To quote one of my favourite Irish sayings, "Here's to Hell: May the stay there be as fun as the way there!"
Thoughts, guys and gals?