14 DAY TRIAL // Less than a week ago, a somewhat peculiar idea, proposed by a writer from The Guardian publication, Ariane Sherine, in a June blog post, has been brought to life. As she suggested, the freedom of religious affiliation should be publicly displayed on local buses in the form of a message stating “There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” The funding for the atheist campaign that started on October 21 consisted of public donations administered by the British Humanist Association.
Surprisingly, the target sum of £5,500 (about $8,500 or 6,750 Euros) required for displaying the message on 30 vehicles for a duration of 4 weeks was raised in a record amount of time, less than 24 hours. One day later, £47,900 ($74,000 or 59,000 Euros) had already been collected, showing the massive interest sparked by the endeavor. Sherine believes this would act as a counterargument to the ideas proliferated by the church, according to which hell and eternal damnation are what all non-believers should expect.
In her own words, “Ours is a fun and light-hearted message but it does have a serious point to it: that atheists want a secular country, we want a secular school and a secular government. The strength of feeling has been shown with so many people willing to pay for this campaign.” The whopping sum even exceeded her boldest expectations, providing even more fuel to her ambitions. “We could go national, we could have tube posters, different slogans, more buses, advertising inside buses. The sky's the limit - except, of course, there's nothing up there.” she says. Starting next January, some of the buses in Westminster will carry these slogans.
The response from the church has been even more surprising: instead of condemning the campaign, spokesmen for the church indicated that this would renew faith in existing believers, and encourage people to give this matter a more serious thought. More specifically, such a spokesman was quoted as saying, “Christian belief is not about worrying or not enjoying life. Quite the opposite: our faith liberates us to put this life into a proper perspective. Seven in ten people in this country describe themselves as Christian and know the joy that faith can bring.”
Objectively speaking, this is both a good and a bad idea. The good would derive from encouraging free-thinking and thwarting the narrow views that tend to discredit people who don't believe in (any particular) God. Let's face it, most politicians and public persons are judged by this aspect, while atheism is frowned upon at any level and in any circumstance. Furthermore, as religion is allowed, tolerated or promoted, so should be non-religiousness.
On the other hand, issuing a debate on such a large scale can't prove constructive, as the initiative is perceived rather as a declaration of war. This sort of sensitive matters should perhaps be treated calmly and objectively, under proper circumstances. Moreover, although associated with a more scientific approach to life and universe, let's not forget that the greatest minds that dedicated themselves to science did not rule out God's existence. In Albert Einstein's words, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” One can only wonder whether the bus companies in question will lose the customers that will refuse to get on the vehicles bearing the message.