Atheist bus ads on display in cities across Canada

Atheist bus advert in London. Photo: Reuters.

An idea imported from the UK and sweeping many of the world’s larger cities has come to Canada: adverts on public transit vehicles suggesting there just might not be a god. The advertising campaign has been turned down by some, and in most cases organizers were forced to insert ambiguous words like “might not” or “maybe” in the adverts, lest believers should feel slighted. La Presse reported that the ads would run in Montreal for the month of March, while the Montreal Gazette reported two days ago that Toronto and even Calgary have joined the list of cities willing to reap advertising dollars from a campaign that questions divine creation.

From the Gazette:

Signs bearing the message, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life,” will appear for four weeks. “It’s time that we show our point of view,” said Cliff Erasmus, executive director of the Calgary Centre for Inquiry.The campaign started in European and American cities in recent months, and made its way to this country when the Freethought Association of Canada, a national atheist organization, raised $43,000 in donations across Canada to buy similar ads.

For my money, I say they up the ante to: “There is no god. Now stop blowing each other up and make peace.” But that would be, well, very un-Canadian.

• The Yes Men Snafu Oil Giants at Largest Petrol Industry Trade Show in Canada
• Experimental film documents Aboriginal workers in Canada
• From Grassroots to Global Networks: Cinema Politica & the Cultural Reprise of Political Documentary
• Public tragedy, corruption and the news: Sexy beton II opens in Montreal
• Sexy béton play commemorates overpass collapse in Laval, Quebec