Pledge “atheistbus”
"I will pay £5 towards the campaign to put an atheist advert on the side of a London bus but only if 4,678 other people anywhere will do the same."
— Jon Worth, Political Blogger
Deadline to sign up by: 31st July 2008
877 people signed up, 3801 more were needed
Country: United Kingdom
Place: London (view map)
More details
Ariane Sherine wrote an article for Comment is Free on the website of The Guardian reacting to religious adverts on London buses.
Her suggestion: put an advert on a bus for a fortnight stating "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and get on with your life."
The cost would be £23400, so £5 each for 4680 atheists. I'm the first one pledging, so how about you too?
More info at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/...
http://www.jonworth.eu/in-your-face-athe...
This pledge is now closed, as its deadline has passed. You might be interested in these other pledges:
- vote in Durham's local elections
- stay clean for ever!
- pledge to give people a chance before I judge them, to help others when I can fill a need in their lives, to promote a positive outlook on life, and to spread a little more love in a world that could really use it.
- be peaceful and kind to all those I meet
See more pledges, and all about how PledgeBank works.
Things to do with this pledge
Current signatories (
= they've done it)
Jon Worth, the Pledge Creator, joined by:
- John Band
- Chris Mounsey
- Martin Hewitt
- Frank O'Dwyer
- John Moseley
- Adam Rutherford
- Damon De Ionno
- Alan Crowe
- David Beattie
- Marion Worth
- Ariane Sherine
- Michael Hollis
- Peter Jackson
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- Joe Kerr
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Comments on this pledge
http://www.polldaddy.com/ would do the trick.
http://arianesherine.blogspot.com
£23400 seems rather expensive - someone in that thread points out that an ordinary bus only costs £508. Wouldn't this be better? People would be more likely to sign up (with the currently proposed figure, many may see it as a huge waste of money); you'd get far more advertising time/buses for the same money; and if it falls short, you could still use whatever money you get to buy some buses. There's already enough signatures for 1 bus at this rate, but a long way to go to get £23400...
I concur with other's thoughts about the cost. We should basically see what figure we get to at the end of July and buy what we can with that, rather than not doing anything if we don't reach the target.
http://arianesherine.blogspot.com/2008/0...
God created man/False
Man created God/True.
God is nothing but human imagination.
I would prefer a more assertive slogan which if possible conveys a caring attitude. Whatever we do as non-believers and humanists needs to be thought through. We need to be constructive. This slogan is not the right one, though the principle of advertising this way is fine, especially if we've decided exactly why we are doing it and what we want to achieve.
affirming and slightly less antagonistic sounding pledge. I
have read lots of comments to this effect. I would be more
than happy to sign up to something that truly reflected my
values as an atheist but am hesitant to support a slogan which
reads a little like a backlash
I'd have gone for it.
Would have liked to see a little more examination of the advertising opportunities - which buses, where, when, etc - when the total money was pledged.
But I'm not a regular or frequent Guardian reader. Only saw this in The Times.
Too late.
(quite literally too!!!)
Right up there with the other famous Bushizms, like threatening suicide bombers with the death penalty, why would I care about other peoples' 'misguided beliefs' if there is no 'reward' in it for me???
Their self-imposed restrictions mean all the more opportunities for betterment of my life! :D
Thank you very much if you signed up. You helped the slogan to reach the national news, and many more people saw it than would have otherwise.
The latest post on the campaign is here:
http://arianesherine.blogspot.com/2008/0...
Theists, on the other hand, are quite the opposite. They are very easy to mould, muster and arrange - hence the collective noun - 'flock'. They seem to require someone, or something, to tell them what to do, and to follow it with little or no question. Compliance and malleability seem to be necessary components of the religious.
However, I'd be interested to see any evidence for these 'studies' about comparative charitable giving between atheists and theists. A quick search produced nothing to support this claim, although it did show that two of the largest charitable donations in history have come from atheists: Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, who between them, have stumped up ~$40 billion. Not too shoddy. Perhaps Tom simply has 'faith' that his claim is true? Evidence, of course, has always been optional for the religious....
The reason for so few donations here, is likely to be that most Atheists don't see the need to advertise the truth. Those that want to send a message will find it tough to agree on a message because their are individuals and not an slavish group of followers.
How about: "No Santa. No fairies. No god.".
Wouldn't want to upset the little kids who can read though...;)
No, the so-called radical atheists aren't as numerous as theists claim they are. We're not out to invade your lives and convert your children, unlike many theists.
And this pledge isn't a charity. Perhaps instead atheists are giving their money on charity, whilst some Christians spend vast amounts of sums on preaching... (at £23,400 an advert for just two weeks, it scares me to think just how much Christians are spending on this).
I would pledge a £5
/100% Natural