~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4141765/Atheist-buse
s-denying-Gods-existence-take-to-streets.html

Atheist buses denying God's existence take to streets

By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 5:34PM GMT 06 Jan 2009

The campaign's modest £5,500 target was met within minutes and more than
£140,000 has now been donated Photo: PA

Organisers originally hoped to put the message on just a handful of London
buses, as an antidote to posters put up by religious groups which they
claimed were "threatening eternal damnation" to non-believers.

But after the campaign received high-profile support from the prominent
atheist Prof Richard Dawkins and the British Humanist Association, the
modest £5,500 target was met within minutes and more than £140,000 has now
been donated since the launch in October.

Enough money has now been raised to place the message – "There's probably no
God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" – on 200 bendy buses in the
capital for a month, with the first ones taking to the streets .

A further 600 buses carrying the adverts will be seen by passengers and
passers-by in cities across England, Wales and Scotland, from Aberdeen and
Dundee to York, Coventry, Swansea and Bristol.

In addition, two large LCD screens bearing the atheist message have been
placed in Oxford Street, central London, while 1,000 posters containing
quotes from well-known non-believers will be placed on Underground trains
for two weeks starting on Monday.

They feature lines doubting the existence of God, and celebrating the
natural world, written by Albert Einstein, Katharine Hepburn, Douglas Adams
and Emily Dickinson.

It is the first ever atheist advertising campaign to take place in Britain,
and similar adverts are now also running on public transport in America and
Spain.

Ariane Sherine, a writer who first thought of the atheist bus adverts, said:
"You wait ages for an atheist bus, then 800 come along at once. I hope they
will brighten people's days and make them smile on their way to work."

The campaign has even been welcomed by religious groups for increasing the
profile of debate about faith, and although there was tight security outside
the launch event by the Royal Albert Hall, the campaigners have not received
any threats from fundamentalists.

Paul Woolley, director of Theos, a theology think tank which donated £50 to
the cause, said: "The posters will encourage people to consider the most
important question we will ever face in our lives."

Some atheist supporters of the campaign were disappointed that the wording
of the adverts did not declare categorically that God does not exist,
although there were fears that this could break advertising guidelines.

Prof Dawkins, the renowned evolutionary biologist and author of The God
Delusion, said: "I wanted something stronger but with hindsight I think it's
probably a good thing because it makes people think. It's just food for
thought – people will have conversations in pubs when they see these buses."

Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, said the
adverts were "overwhelmingly positive" and were intended to reassure
agnostics and atheists that there is nothing wrong with not believing in
God.