All Aboard the Atheist Bus?

Anyone who reads Boing Boing (or, y'know, the news) heard about the atheist bus-ad campaign that rolled through London early this year with an (un)holy fervour.

The UK campaign took out ads on public transit featuring quotes from famous atheists, with the chaser slogan of "There's Probably No God. Now Stop Worrying And Enjoy Your Life."

When fundraising for their ads, the UK campaign raised 2400% of their target (*cough*miracle*cough*). So instead of 30 buses spreading the word, they had enough for 800. Would you like a loaf with that fish?

Now a group has formed to spread the hellfire-free word to Canadian cities, comme Toronto.

The Canadian Atheist Bus Campaign is a collaboration between Chris Hammond, a first-year political science student at York, Katie Kish, and the Freethought Association of Canada.

In the one week they've been live for donations, the campaign has raised more than $20,000. They had hoped to raise $7,000 by May.

The proposal is currently waiting for blessing from the powers-that-be at Toronto transit. They've been told to expect the (lower-case) judgment by the end of this week.

Personally, I'm thrilled. I developed deep Brit-envy when I heard about London's ads. It seemed so... fair. Atheists went a bit nuts when Richard Dawkins rose to prominence, because finally they'd found an articulate figurehead to call their own. It can wear on a soul if your position is almost always described by negation. Many atheists have already reclaimed "godless" and "heathen" (and the twofer "godless heathen") as their own, but still, it's nice to see a more uplifting message being spread in our name.

What do you think? Would these ads on the TTC make or break (or have no effect on) your day? Take our poll below.

UPDATE: They have approval.

Photograph by bonbinibabe1 in the blogTO photo pool.