Desecrating the Atheist Bus Ad
Does atheism need be considered sacred, for defacing of an atheist ad to be considered desecration? I noticed this on my way home on the subway last night, and am actually surprised it's the first I've seen (considering the Athiest Bus ad campaign has been around since the middle of February).
Clearly atheism ads on pubic transit are a contentious issue.
This one had a black marker taken to it:
There's probably no god.
The posted paper reads:
"The most important thing in life is to do everything you do with the most love for others. It is not how much you do, but rather how much love you put into it that really counts."
Has anybody seen any other incidents of sign modification?
I think it's kind of cute. I didn't have my camera with me, so I took the pic using my Macbook. If you see any other vandalism, snap a pic and add it to the Flickr pool.
Comments (35)
Maybe I'm missing something, but the posted message doesn't seem to be at odds with the original bus ad. It's something most atheists would probably agree with, and many who believe in God would disagree with (e.g., because they believe the most important thing is not love for others, but faith in Jesus).
IMHO, hooray for both signs!
Interesting that the person wrote what they did -- not terribly eloquent, but a great sentiment -- and then felt the need to connect it back to a supernatural power, when it would stand on its own merit. Or did they? Maybe this was the work of two different people.
what @WhatLaw says is an interesting point. Imagine if the poster above belonged to UJA or Canadian Islamic Congress, or any other mainstream religious group. I think a large number of people would be up in arms about the "hate crime". I think it's time we afford the same deference to all viewpoints and give the right to free speech to everyone.
It looks to me like this ad has been vandalized twice; once by the person with a blue marker who scribbled out the words "probably no", and once by the person with the green marker who scribbled out the whole ad and replaced it with their own sign. So it started as an atheist ad, was vandalized to become a religious ad, and was replaced by an ad that is saying that instead of worrying about god we should worry about love.
I could be mistaken about the different colour markers though....
Though I agree with the sentiment in the original ad, it is a poor and insensitive choice of words. I think that it is less than ideal to say something doesn't exist or is not valid than to say something exists or you support it. Its like saying 'Christianity (for example) doesn't exist'. Rather than demoting others in support of yourself, why not just promote yourself.... hmmm, like: "I support a world where people (for example) are ultimately responsible for their own choices and futures, so take care with that choice.' A lame, off-the-top-of-my-head example. But you get the point.
Nice sentiment on the posted item. Simple. Unsophisticated. But good.
Though, of course this is advertising. The more controversy the better. Bad attention is better than no attention at all, as they say. sad.
I'm with you on that one, cuz the note just doesn't make any sense if it was written by the religious vandalist... they would've said something along the lines of "love of God" or whatever, rather than love of others.
Didn't the United Nations pass a non-binding anti-blasphemy resolution that critics say will undermine freedom of speech around the world?
There's a bit of a difference between saying "Christianity doesn't exist", which is demonstrably false, and "God doesn't exist", which is as unprovable as "God does exist".
Could it be that someone scratched out the ad on the subway and another person, upon seeing the scratched out ad, wrote out the attached note?
From what I can see in the picture, they weren't written with the same pen/marker at all.
On an unrelated note, I went from reading this posting to this on FAILblog:
http://failblog.org/2009/03/06/fail-owned-disease-fail/
It made me giggle a bit more since I read them in order.
The ads have succeeded if they cause faith-heads to want to blot them out. Religion can't withstand even the slightest, gentlest criticism.
Besides the obvious that vandalism itself is a crime, as an atheist I consider violence to be abhorrent in favor of rational discussion, and this person chose the former rather than the latter, because of one very important reason, because religion is a tool of tyranny, it encourages violence, not rational thought or evidence based knowledge, and there's just no excuse for an archaic "might makes right" attitude in a civilized, democratic, society.
I saw an ad on the bus just yesterday for 'Bus stop bible studies', which had a phrase from the bible quoted on it. On top of this ad was a sticker with just the word 'Propaganda'.
You don't have to be religious to be a dick.
Was this photo taken in the UK? Cause i thought they were thinking of the same thing here but were awaiting donations.
Another point, is graffitti considered free speech? And if so, would free speech be more important than breaking a law?
I fully expect religious people to behave like this - kicking and screaming as their belief in mythology is exposed as nonsense. How is this any different than the RIAA suing grandmothers and tweens for disrupting their established world order of wealth and power? Remember how you felt when you learned Santa Claus was not real?
Same thing.
Thus the word "probably." In the same vein, there are probably no leprechauns, and probably no hobgoblins.
No-one is saying that since you can't prove leprechauns don't exist that it is therefore reasonable to believe they do.
They're free to go through the same process to get their own ads on the TTC. Vandalism is vandalism, not free speech.
"I think that it is less than ideal to say something doesn't exist or is not valid than to say something exists or you support it. Its like saying 'Christianity (for example) doesn't exist'. Rather than demoting others in support of yourself, why not just promote yourself"
The entire premise of atheism is that God doesn't exist. There's absolutely no way to promote atheism without demoting all religions. Of course, the same goes for almost all religious positions. For example, "Jesus Loves You" should almost always be taken to imply, among other things, "Buddha doesn't love you (because he either never existed or is currently dead)".
This would be an issue of freedom of speech, but of freedom of expression. Even then, freedom of speech has its limitations. It is -not- absolute.
Relevant info:
"2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: ... (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication"
"The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."
Breaking a law to make your voice heard would likely be affected by that last one. I can see exceptions being made however when breaking the law is your only option to make your voice heard (And this person who left the message is no Rosa Parks). Even if your right to free speech/expression is upheld, that doesn't mean you're exempt from the law you broke.
Isn't a belief in no God as much a religious expression as a belief in one? Shouldn't Atheism be protected by the same freedom that protects every other religion?
Mathew Hayles,
I love how you term this "sign modification" and "cute".
Do you think either would apply if I hacked your site, in a "cute" way of course, and "modified" your site to delete your posts and place mine up instead?
I have a feeling that the way you framed the vandalism minimizes what it is, because you disagree with the statement.
You sir are an idiot.
There was a Ryerson student who was assaulted last year while putting up posters promoting a secularist event. He claimed it was a hate crime but I don't think anything came of it.
I love these Athiest Bus ads, but I am worried over the Islamic Fundamentalism movements planed ads to be launched in BC... the guy speaking on Canada AM suggested that messages telling people to obey God or else suffer would be the focus of their campaign, as an affront to the Athiest Bus ads...
interesting fodder for my apathetic beliefs :)
p.s. I think Toronto is mature enough to handle petty vandalism, we can all agree that it's cute without mortally wounding anyone's feelings.... now I happen to be in Arizona right now, where they arrest you for making God jokes.
Let's be thankful for the tolerance of our love-filled petty vandalism :)
Awww... poor little superstitious person had their feelings hurt.
In San Francisco, there's an Islamic bus campaign - "Submission to God." While highly offensive, I have yet to see anyone take a marker to those signs.
The de-deification of western culture (including the sciences) is our task for the next two hundred years.
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