All aboard the atheist bus

studiorat · 25-11-2008 5:56pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Apparently we're the bad guys now.

Aw'right!

Fallen Seraph · 25-11-2008 6:05pm

To be fair, we ARE only using the ad campaign as a yet another method to entice people into the servitude of our glorious master Satan. Lets call a spade a spade here.

studiorat · 25-11-2008 6:26pm

We? paleface.

condra · 25-11-2008 8:23pm

Fair play Charco

pH · 26-11-2008 12:48am

I tell you what, this bus thing sure has rattled a few cages, now from the Telegraph :

£35,000 of taxpayers' cash given to 'atheist bus' group
An atheist group planning to put adverts on London buses declaring that "there's probably no God" has been given £35,000 in taxpayers' money.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/3521024/35000-of-taxpayers-cash-given-to-atheist-bus-group.html

Highlights include:

"Critics say it is wrong for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to give taxpayers' money to a controversial organisation whose stance would be found objectionable by many members of the public."

"Neil Addison, a Roman Catholic barrister who specialises in religious discrimination, said: "It's a bit like paying the Taliban to lecture on women's rights."

It's pathetic, as far as I know 35K is the total grant to the BHA, not the amount that BHA are spending/donating to the bus campaign. The money is distributed under the banner of "ending discrimination", and judging by the tone and dishonesty of that article it's probably needed.

Galvasean · 26-11-2008 12:53am

telegraph.co.uk wrote:

The BHA could not be contacted for comment last night.

Yeah, try ringing them when their offices are open. :rolleyes:

eoin5 · 26-11-2008 1:13am

pH wrote: »

"Critics say it is wrong for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to give taxpayers' money to a controversial organisation whose stance would be found objectionable by many members of the public."

"Neil Addison, a Roman Catholic barrister who specialises in religious discrimination, said: "It's a bit like paying the Taliban to lecture on women's rights."

Fantastic! they should put those on the next load of busses, especially that first one.

Let me have a go:

"Critics say the Red Cross should provide aid to the upper classes instead of poor african people whom many members of the public would deem as 'slackers'."

rockbeer · 26-11-2008 1:14am

pH wrote: »

...a controversial organisation whose stance would be found objectionable by many members of the public.

They could have been talking about the Catholic church.

Galvasean · 26-11-2008 1:32am

rockbeer wrote: »

They could have been talking about the Catholic church.

They could have been talking about ANY organization on Earth.

Pompey Magnus · 26-11-2008 10:42am

Another letter to the Indo:

Atheism made a scapegoat for ills

Dave! · 26-11-2008 10:49am

So who did that one then?

5uspect · 26-11-2008 11:45am

ooh that's me!

lostexpectation · 26-11-2008 12:55pm

brilliant letter

Dades · 26-11-2008 12:56pm

EDIT: Just noticed Charco made "Post of the Day" with all his thanks! Surely 5uspect deserves that honour too? Lets go for 2-in-a-row for the A&A forum!

Pompey Magnus · 26-11-2008 1:36pm

5uspect wrote: »

ooh that's me!

Nice one

.

toiletduck · 26-11-2008 1:48pm

Great letter.

5uspect · 26-11-2008 3:24pm

Aw chucks.

Ste05 · 26-11-2008 5:31pm

Great letters guys, really well written.

Galvasean · 26-11-2008 11:52pm

Dades wrote: »

EDIT: Just noticed Charco made "Post of the Day" with all his thanks! Surely 5uspect deserves that honour too? Lets go for 2-in-a-row for the A&A forum!

I see After Hours are actively looking for a new Mod. maybe we should campaign for one of these guys to do it, might be nice having a mole in that place...

Zillah · 26-11-2008 11:59pm

I heartily approve of such underhanded shennanigans.

Fallen Seraph · 27-11-2008 12:02am

Fair play, but at the same time I'm really inclined to feel that arguing with the indo is basically arguing with a red top; a sisyphan task, tbh.

Still though, very eloquent. Well done.

AtomicHorror · 27-11-2008 12:09am

5uspect wrote: »

ooh that's me!

Nicely done!

Dades · 27-11-2008 12:21am

Galvasean wrote: »

I see After Hours are actively looking for a new Mod. maybe we should campaign for one of these guys to do it, might be nice having a mole in that place...

Why anyone would want to mod that place I can't imagine. Volunteers must be trying to make up for some horrible past or something.

AtomicHorror · 27-11-2008 3:03am

I've probably missed the bus on this one, but I sent a letter off to the Independent tonight. I'd say it's rather too long and probably doesn't really tread any new ground, but I really wanted to get it off my chest anyway. If they don't run with it I'll stick it up here anyway. Maybe it's my tiredness at 2am but I think I went off on a pretty grandiose tangent in there. Might be better if they don't print the thing...

condra · 27-11-2008 4:22am

Great letter man.

Did anyone call her a stupid bitch? I was so tempted, but I just ranted instead.

AtomicHorror · 27-11-2008 12:46pm

womoma wrote: »

Did anyone call her a stupid bitch? I was so tempted, but I just ranted instead.

Nah. I started out angry with her but ended up feeling sorry for her. She reckons the atheist world where we define morality for ourselves is chaotic and terrifying, hence her anger. She just hasn't twigged that, right or wrong, we reckon the world always has been the atheist world. We've always defined our own morality; we just gave the credit to God.

I more or less summed up my own letter with that sentiment, that she sees no hope in humanity itself. I find that really saddening.

5uspect · 27-11-2008 1:16pm

Today's paper:

Ian O'Doherty, Irish Independent, 24 Nov wrote:

IN HONOUR OF MARY

This column is a big fan of the Indo's Mary Kenny, but her recent column on atheists (we're all horrible, miserable people apparently, apart from one atheist she knows who is cordial because he's pissed all the time) has driven some of the heathen Godless into a tailspin of fury, which no doubt amuses Kenny a great deal.

But it may have also backfired on her -- donations to the fund to bring the frankly ridiculous 'Atheist bus' to Dublin have rocketed, with dozens of donations all given in honour of Mary Kenny.

Will she attend the official reception when it arrives?

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/ian-odoherty/nice-work-if-you-can-get-it-1554634.html

Dave! · 27-11-2008 1:35pm

The woman who started the campaign made a post about Mary here
http://www.atheistcampaign.org/

A similar ad was apparantly rejected in Australia (again, in the link).

BTW,

Simon Bishop 25/11/2008 £2.00 n/a Mary Kenny thinks atheists call her stupid because she is religious. I disagree. It has nothing to do with her religion. If the cap fits ...

Simon Bishop 25/11/2008 £2.00 n/a Each time I reread that Mary Kenny article I get more and more angry. I can't control my OCADD when I get angry.
Simon Bishop 25/11/2008 £3,000.00 n/a Mary Kenny ...
:eek:

robindch · 27-11-2008 1:52pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3a0g4-gHfQ

AtomicHorror · 27-11-2008 2:39pm

5uspect wrote: »

Today's paper:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/ian-odoherty/nice-work-if-you-can-get-it-1554634.html

Brilliant :pac:

Not really a supporter of the campaign myself- but the like of Kenny would certainly tempt me to contribute.

MooseJam · 27-11-2008 2:53pm

so where do you donate to get this bus to come to dublin

condra · 27-11-2008 4:10pm

I want to support a Dublin bus too.

Galvasean · 27-11-2008 4:23pm

Gotta say I'm loving Womoma's sig right now.

jimbling · 27-11-2008 4:40pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Gotta say I'm loving Womoma's sig right now.

I know... got a good laugh out of that.... but it seems to have suddenly disappeared

Galvasean · 27-11-2008 5:08pm

Actually i don't think it is a sig after all, but rather an image with a line above it.

robindch · 27-11-2008 5:11pm

MooseJam wrote: »

so where do you donate to get this bus to come to dublin

Ach, donate my ass! Let's hijack a 46A this evening. We're supposed to be militant, aren't we?

Pompey Magnus · 27-11-2008 5:24pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Actually i don't think it is a sig after all, but rather an image with a line above it.

Thats what I thought as well, but if that was the case then when you go to quote the post the text and picture below the line should appear in the quote box, and they don't.

It has me confused

.

condra · 27-11-2008 10:24pm

The theists have gone fairly quiet in the After Hours thread.

The Mad Hatter · 28-11-2008 12:49am

Charco wrote: »

Thats what I thought as well, but if that was the case then when you go to quote the post the text and picture below the line should appear in the quote box, and they don't.

It has me confused .

You can turn your sig on or off when you post. I'm guessing womama has hers(?) off by default.

condra · 28-11-2008 4:35am

womama has hers(?

I'm a member of the male gender, despite my name, feminism (not to be mistaken for femininity). The sig only comes out now and then for maximum impact.

Anyway, I'm still pissed about Monkey Kenny. That article will be looked back on and laughed at in years to come. Pathetic bint. (Can I say 'bint'?)

pH · 28-11-2008 11:01am

Right then, can we get 3 for 3? The very idea that someone writes to the Indo on this topic and doesn't post here seems unbelievable! ... who's Hugh?

Friday November 28 2008
I was both surprised and amused by Mary Kenny's article 'Atheist bus more like a bandwagon on a highway to hell' (Irish Independent, November 24).

Although an atheist, I found the article so biased and, quite frankly, ignorant, that I refused to become fussed.

Mary claims surprise at discovering that £90,000 was raised for the atheist bus by 'Guardian' readers.

Are atheists not allowed to sponsor their beliefs, given that so many baskets are handed around churches every Sunday? While I dislike the idea of an atheist bus, as the organisers, like preachers, attempt to change peoples' views when it is none of their business, we must be aware that the same thing occurs every day for Christians.

She later claims that the phrase "relax and enjoy life" is implausible, and that we are miserable blighters. I have found most atheists I know to be happy.

She claims that so-called "militant atheists" are "caustically intolerant" although she makes several untrue and unfounded statements herself.

Finally, her statement about our lives being a living hell calls for some proof. I know plenty of law-abiding atheists, and many drug-taking, smoking, drinking and downright unpleasant people who claim they are Catholic.

HUGH WALLACE

KILDARE

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/remarks-about-atheists-biased-1556262.html

CerebralCortex · 28-11-2008 11:22am

Has anyone sent a complaint to the ombudsman? There is a thread in atheist.ie detailing how.

ChocolateSauce · 28-11-2008 11:44am

Out of interest, has anyone here ever got a secularly-themed letter into a national paper?

Dave! · 28-11-2008 11:46am

pH wrote: »

Right then, can we get 3 for 3? The very idea that someone writes to the Indo on this topic and doesn't post here seems unbelievable! ... who's Hugh?

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/remarks-about-atheists-biased-1556262.html

That's me!

Okay maybe not ¬_¬

AtomicHorror · 28-11-2008 2:07pm

Dave! wrote: »

That's me! Okay maybe not ¬_¬

It's not me, I wrote an essay of a letter

Galvasean · 28-11-2008 3:55pm

womoma wrote: »

The theists have gone fairly quiet in the After Hours thread.

Cause we battered them!

Well the discussion has been moved off topic again (guess who....). Now we're talking about what to do with our bodies when we die.

AtomicHorror · 29-11-2008 8:36pm

Sigh... Published in the Indo letters today:

According to Mary Kenny the 'atheist bus' is coming to Belfast soon and has a slogan on it saying: 'There is probably no God. So relax and enjoy life.' (Irish Independent, November 24).

The implication of the statement is that if one accepts that there is no God, relaxation and the enjoyment of life is a natural. This is nonsense. It would have made much more sense to say: "There probably is a God. So relax and enjoy life."

The reason for this is that most genuinely religious people are very happy and many are even Christian in their ways.

Atheists come across as people who are profoundly sad and need other people to join them to give them support. Pathetic.

These people need to stop thinking in purely scientific terms and start thinking laterally. Spirituality will follow emotional awakening.

The simple fact is that there is no evidence whatsoever (as distinct from trenchant argument) for the existence or non-existence of God.

Therefore, a logical person would deduce that the probability of God's existence is exactly 50/50.

PATRICK FINN

GLASNEVIN, DUBLIN 9

Highest density of stupid points. Ever.

condra · 29-11-2008 8:57pm

What an idiot. So stupid it's almost funny. He puts shame on all of Glasnevin. :P A plague of logic on both his houses.

rockbeer · 29-11-2008 8:57pm

AtomicHorror wrote: »

Sigh... Published in the Indo letters today:

Highest density of stupid points. Ever.

Was that honestly the best they got in support of MK?

I find that thought strangely encouraging

AtomicHorror · 29-11-2008 8:59pm

womoma wrote: »

What an idiot. So stupid it's almost funny. He puts shame on all of Glasnevin. :P A plague of logic on both his houses.

Guess they have to show all sides of the argument... but it stings a little that my overwrought masterpiece is rejected in favour of something a kid could dismantle.

rockbeer wrote: »

Was that honestly the best they got in support of MK?

I find that thought strangely encouraging

I'd imagine most rational Christians would back away from supporting Kenny's bigoted rant. All that's left are the logical clusterf*cks.

All aboard the atheist bus

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