The Atheist Bus Ads

Last week in Fort Worth, Texas, large ads appeared on four buses, which say "Millions of Americans are Good Without God".  These were paid for by an atheist organization in the area.  Starting a few days before these were to appear, people began getting outraged, and there was daily news coverage for a week in the local news.  Many people were claiming to be extremely offended by these ads and one even said they were an attack on Christian values.


However, all that these ads say is "atheists exist"  and "atheists are good people".  If so many people find it offensive that atheists exist at all, then that says quite a lot about the intolerance and immaturity of so many people in our society, and those hateful attitudes are quite offensive to atheists, who have just as much right to exist as anyone else.  If they are offended by the idea that atheists are good people even though they don't believe in God, then they are being deeply offensive to atheists by claiming that they are not good people.


The reactions to these ads have actually been quite hostile, and even a television news reporter  interviewing one of the atheists behind the ads was extremely rude, confrontational and sarcastic to that person.  Other people tried to organize boycotts of the buses with the ads, and many of them have even hired a mobile billboard truck to follow one of the buses around, with a large message, claiming to be from God, saying "I still love you".  


The purpose of these ads is to reach out to other atheists in the area and let them know about the atheist group, in case they are interested in getting involved.  They are also about raising public awareness of atheists.  Based on the extremely hostile reaction to the ads, it's obvious that such public awareness is badly needed.


Consider if that sort of behavior had been directed towards ANY other group.  Imagine if a Jewish group put up a few ads, claiming that there were millions of Jewish Americans and they are good being who they are.  Now imagine that people started protesting the ads in the same way and that news reporters were openly hostile and rude to the Jews who put up the ads and that trucks started following the ads around with messages contradicting the Jewish ads.  That sort of immature and aggressive behavior would be widely renounced for what it is.  Yet when that behavior is directed towards atheists, it is allowed and approved of.


Consider the fact that when George Bush Sr. was Vice President, he publicly announced that atheists should not be considered to be citizens of the United States because it is "one nation under God".  Can you imagine the public outcry had he said ANY other group should have their citizenship stripped from them?  Even if he had said some hateful neo-Nazi group should not be considered citizens, there would be widespread public discussion and debate, and people would be upset at the very idea that the government could just strip the citizenship of entire groups of people.


Yet, when atheists are under attack like that, no one is concerned about the injustice or cruelty of it.  No one says anything.  There is a general hatred towards atheists, so no one wants to stand up to defend this hated group and be hated by association.  The atheists certainly don't want to stand up, because they are acutely aware of how much they are despised, and standing up to these injustices would also mean letting friends and family know they are atheist, so it seems better to just be quiet and let the injustice stand.


This is exactly why we need these ads and we need more atheists speaking up and not being shy about their beliefs.  We have just as much right to speak up about our beliefs as the Christians do who have millions of billboards, ads and other public displays of their beliefs throughout the country.  Atheists don't need to hide.  We are here and we aren't going away just because you hate us.


The fact that people find us "offensive" doesn't mean that we are doing anything wrong.  It means that there is something wrong with them for feeling threatened by a perfectly peaceful human being.  And the fact that they think we are horrible people and that they think it's perfectly fine to publicly lament our existence is extremely offensive to us.


It is okay to be atheist and it is okay to publicly state that you think God is a fictional character and that all the holy books are works of fiction.  It is no different than religious people publicly stating their beliefs, building churches in full view of the public, building statues of religious figures, displaying religious billboards, printing "In God We Trust" on our money and saying "God bless America" every chance they get.  


We have just as much right to publicly air our beliefs, and it's no more offensive when we do it than when they do it.  And if someone is offended by hearing our beliefs while they think it is perfectly fine for them to parade their religion in front of the world, then they are acting like spoiled children who just want everything their way and don't care what's fair for others.