Well, is it weird. I'm having trouble thinking of a decent title for this post...
They say you should never talk about sex, religion or politics. However, every now and then a story appears that you just can't help but have a giggle at.
My attention was recently drawn to the BBC headline 'No God' slogans for city's buses. The story itself sounds fairly straight-forward... We've all seen the religious advertising out and about, so a campaign group decided to attempt to raise money to put forward the atheist/agnostic point of view in a set of adverts on some of London's infamous bendy-buses.
First point of interest is that the campaign only set out to raise £5,500 but actually managed to raise six-and-a-half times this amount. Was this a case of underestimating, or is it a sign that as a nation we are starting to tire of religious debate dogging our daily lives?
But the part that made me laugh was the response from Christian Voice:
"Bendy-buses, like atheism, are a danger to the public at large.
I should be surprised if a quasi-religious advertising campaign like this did not attract graffiti.
People don't like being preached at. Sometimes it does them good, but they still don't like it."
So let's take it a line at a time...
Why are bendy-buses a danger to the public at large? For that matter, why is atheism? Surely a free society is about letting people choose; and when did you last hear of atheists persecuting other religious orders?
Given the amount of public support that is suggested by the size of the donations, I'd be very surprised if these adverts attract graffiti. In fact, if we stereotype for a moment and say that the people most likely to graffiti these adverts are the "yoof" of today, I'd say Christian Voice adverts are more likely to fall victim given how organised religion is becoming less and less important to today's young people. And anyway, so what if the ads attract graffiti... This is a risk of any advertising!
But it was the last line that actually made me laugh... That people don't like to be preached at... I'm sorry, but how many time do you see Christian groups advertising on billboards? How many "nutters" (and I use that term in an affectionate way) do you see in town and city centres spouting on about how we need to turn to Christianity to save our souls? Now think how many times you've seen an advert or heard someone preaching about how there is no "supreme deity"... Still thinking on that last one, aren't you?
At the end of the day, in the UK your religion is a personal choice. I, personally, am quite happy for you to believe what you want; just as long as you don't force your ideals on me or judge me for my own beliefs. Yes, religious debate can get emotional, but the fact that we can have these debates and challenge each other is surely a good thing; just as long as we don't then go around feeding each other to the lions!
I think Christian Voice have probably done themselves a certain amount of harm and opened themselves to a great deal of ridicule with their reaction as it implies they feel that only Christianity should be allowed and that any debate on the matter should not be allowed. Yes they say "Sometimes it does them good," but isn't that just like saying "I'm not a [sexist|racist|etc] BUT..."?
And just remember, this is a country where 0.7% of the population claim their religion is... "Jedi Knight"! [2001 Census Report]