Christian Refuses to Drive Buses with 'No God' Ads
By Jenna Lyle
Christian Today Reporter
Sat, Jan. 17 2009 11:09 AM EST
A Christian bus driver refused to drive buses carrying an advertisement that declares “There’s probably no God.”
Related
• 'Why Believe in a God?' Ads to Hit U.S. Buses
• Atheist Ads Hit London Buses
Speaking to BBC Radio Solent, Ron Heather said he felt “shock” and “horror” at the slogan on the ads when he turned up for work last Saturday.
The ads have been put up by the British Humanist Association on buses across the United Kingdom with the support of prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins. They proclaim: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
Heather returned to work on Monday with bus operators, First Bus, who said they would try to ensure he did not have to drive buses carrying the ads.
"I was just about to board and there it was staring me in the face, my first reaction was shock horror," Heather told BBC Radio Solent.
"I felt that I could not drive that bus, I told my managers and they said they haven't got another one and I thought I better go home, so I did," he said. "I think it was the starkness of this advert which implied there was no God."
The atheist posters are in response to a number of high profile Christian advertising campaigns on buses and billboards, notably ones by the Alpha Course, whose posters ask, "Is this it?" and "If God did exist, what would you ask him?"
Christians have generally welcomed the atheist ads, saying they provide an opportunity to talk about God.
The Methodist Church's Spirituality and Discipleship Officer, the Rev. Jenny Ellis, said: "This campaign will be a good thing if it gets people to engage with the deepest questions of life … Christianity is for people who aren't afraid to think about life and meaning.”
The director of Faith-based think tank Theos, Paul Woolley, said the ads were “hardly going to be a great comfort for those who are concerned about losing their jobs or homes in the recession.”
"And what does it tell us to do when we stop worrying?” he continued. “Volunteer overseas? Give money to charity? Campaign for the environment? No. It tells us to enjoy ourselves. It would be hard to come up with a more self-centered message than this."
ChristianNanna
Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:03 pm
Maybe this bus driver is simply giving back what has been done and is being done to Christians in the UK and other places around the world....muslims won't do this or that because it offends them...well this sign about there being no God would have offended me too. It is about time that Christians or not start standing up to be counted and tell these islamists that they come to our homelands and therefore should respect the religions and culture of the peoples of said homeland....just as we all try to respect their ideology/political/religion system. They migrate then expect everyone not to insult them but they have no qualms about the insults they heap on everyone else. And all the concessions they insist upon regardless of the inconveniences it causes to the natives of the host country. If they don't like it they are more than welcome to return to where they came from.
