More Good Stuff from the UK

This comes from The Telegraph UK. The campaign started at the start of the year, so this article is a little dated. Richard Dawkins was there to start it off. We have something similar in Canada, but it has not gotten quite the exposure and support. Here it is:

ASA clears Atheist Bus Campaign ads

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• Mark Sweney
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 January 2009 14.44 GMT
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Professor Richard Dawkins on a bus displaying an atheist message in Kensington Gardens, London Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

The advertising watchdog has ruled that a controversial atheist ad campaign, which sparked the ire of Christian groups for proclaiming "There is probably no God", did not break its code.

Religious groups including Christian Voice complained to the Advertising Standards Authority arguing that the Atheist Bus Campaign, which ran on buses with the strapline "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life", broke the advertising code on the grounds of substantiation and truthfulness.

The ASA, which said that some of the complaints were that the ad was offensive and denigratory to people of faith, faced the prospect of having to decide if God existed in order to rule on Christian Voice's complaint.

However, the watchdog said today that the British Humanist Association's campaign did not breach the advertising code or mislead consumers and that it therefore would not launch an investigation.

"The ASA council concluded that the ad was an expression of the advertiser's opinion and that the claims in it were not capable of objective substantiation," said the ASA. "Although the ASA acknowledges that the content of the ad would be at odds with the beliefs of many, it concluded that it was unlikely to mislead or to cause serious or widespread offence."

Writer Ariane Sherine first suggested the idea in a Guardian Comment is Free blog last June, saying an atheist bus campaign would provide a reassuring counter-message to religious slogans threatening non-Christians with hell and damnation.

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We clearly need to get more active with this in Canada. I cannot count how many times I have been solicited on public transit with Christianity.