Comments on: Atheists hope (don’t pray) to bring ads to Toronto: Religious Canadians are Cool With It

By: placidwater

placidwater — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:31:55 +0000

I'm pretty sure “jason” was either:
a) being sarcastic, or
b) just being a troll

And I'm leaning toward the latter option, given (the Globe & Mail article) + (the link to a book on amazon — which, you might notice, has a link code …) + (the double-posting of an identical comment).

By: fumf

fumf — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:28:35 +0000

Actually a few years ago this guy tried to convert a lion to Christianity at a Taiwan zoo! Needless to say, he was bitten and I'm pretty sure the lion was not converted.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/3887764/detail...

By: Just another Canadian bigot

Just another Canadian bigot — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 05:44:18 +0000

Canada's bigotry? Did you read the articles? Have you been to Canada and/or the US?

By: placidwater

placidwater — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:31:55 +0000

I'm pretty sure “jason” was either:
a) being sarcastic, or
b) just being a troll

By: fumf

fumf — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:28:35 +0000

Actually a few years ago this guy tried to convert a lion to Christianity at a Taiwan zoo! Needless to say, he was bitten and I'm pretty sure the lion was not converted.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/3887764/detail...

By: Just another Canadian bigot

Just another Canadian bigot — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:44:18 +0000

Canada's bigotry? Did you read the articles? Have you been to Canada and/or the US?

By: neutrality

neutrality — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:05:24 +0000

i think it should be banned because in a way it attacks people who do believe in god but by banning it attacks athiests i think the soloution is to ban advertiesment of religons, a person beliefs are theyre own, it should remain that way.

By: anon

anon — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:39:49 +0000

“you can go back to masturbating now.”

– there, fixed it for you.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:38:55 +0000

I live in the UK… unfortunately we have no 1st amendment, you are right, the censorship is worse than the states. The dude said he'd drive the bus with the ads on it in the article if there were no other buses without the ads, so I guess the situation worked out.

By: Chris Charabaruk

Chris Charabaruk — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:29:00 +0000

LOL, but we aren't all ice fishers. Some of us are polar bear wrestlers and igloo builders. :p

By: Chris Charabaruk

Chris Charabaruk — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:27:27 +0000

The American penchant for greed, while often a bad thing, sometimes works in good and mysterious ways. Almost makes you want to believe in an invisible sky father sometimes, doesn't it?

By: farkinga

farkinga — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:55:11 +0000

I figure the bus driver can choose to not drive a bus with ads they
don't support... knowing that said driver will have to be fired for
not doing their job.

I think it's reasonable to ask the managers for a special arrangement
to not drive any of those buses, and to accept that they'll drive it
if there are no other buses.

...but all the same, it's totally intolerant, and back in the 100s,
Christians were volunteering to be eaten by lions in order to
demonstrate their faith. While that's a totally retarded thing to do
(IMO) they've descended pretty far from that principled stance, and
if they're currently unable to remain faithful while driving a bus
with a certain advertisement, well, then their faith is pretty fucked.

By: placidwater

placidwater — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:46:01 +0000

Regarding the article you linked to, it's an interesting situation. This is a British Evangelical Christian bus driver who refused to drive a bus that carried the atheist ad. Personally, I believe that's a strong stance of individualism, and think that's the beauty of humanity -> the right to act in accordance with your ideals. That's the exact same reason why the atheist ads are beautiful, too. It's people standing proudly behind their belief system.

I mention that he's British, because I'm going to take freedom of speech as an axiom (where freedom of speech is in the US constitution, so, you know, take this with a grain of salt in terms of its applicability). But, if you do invoke Amendment 1, then you end up with the answer "Both the Metro and the Bus Driver are right."

Here's how it follows: Freedom of speech according to amendment 1 to the US Constitution states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Given this, then the atheist ads must be allowed to be displayed, as we can neither favor one religion in particular nor prohibit any religion in particular, and the freedom of speech cannot be abridged. Also given the freedom of speech, it is the bus driver's choice not to drive a bus that promotes a message he is strongly against. Would you wear a sandwich board around town that promoted an antithesis to your fundamental beliefs? It's beautiful that he refuses. That's the right response. The wrong response is to try to suppress the ads altogether.

However, I will say his reasoning is a little messed up. In the article he is quoted as saying, "I have a lot of passengers who are over 90 or are seriously ill, and to tell them there is no God seems a bit insensitive, when God is probably all they have left in the world." Errr ... God is all they have left in the world? Perhaps if they did nothing within this lifetime except wait for death. Old people who have spent their lives dedicated to great works, great ideas, and maintaining loving relationships with friends and family have a lot left in the world: Pride in the good they have done in the time they were here. Sheesh!

By: jumbalo

jumbalo — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:57:07 +0000

You have to laugh at Canada for their bigotry. Americans finally seem to be seeing the light, including former preachers turning atheist and finally coming out to talk about it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569756775?ie=...

By: jason

jason — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:52:49 +0000

You have to laugh at Canada for their bigotry. It does seem that Americans are seeing the light a little faster, with former pastors now turning Atheists and making the best seller list while they write about their change.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569756775?ie=...

By: jason

jason — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:47:11 +0000

You have to laugh at Canada for their bigotry. I think America is changing their ways a little faster, after all you now have former preachers turned authors really making people think twice.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569756775?ie=...

By: fumf

fumf — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 11:06:53 +0000

You gotta love America, money rules, no matter what. While there was a huge outpouring of negative attention to the ads, they still stayed up! The worst that happened was people bitching about it on the radio, calling on the phone to the advertisers, or buying their own competing ads. Too bad their efforts created a "barbara streisand effect" and made the issue more important from all the attention.

In fact:
"bus advertising for Metro asked us this week if we would be so kind as to quantify all our results for them so they can inform would-be clients just how effective bus ads can be!"

The religious decided to fight back with their own ads... perfect! People talking (advertising), instead of censoring, is a good thing,

Compare America to Italy (or Iran, where they'd probably jail your ass). I read this article earlier today that is relevant to this post:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/17/ath...
"Christian driver refuses to board bus carrying atheist slogan"

I'm not really sure how I feel about this, should anyone involved with marketing be allowed to protest their job without consequence when they don't believe in the product?

Obviously Canada's reaction was better than America's, but that's not too surprising given the major conservative population residing in the U.S.

By: Reddit

Reddit — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 09:01:24 +0000

article i mean

By: Reddit

Reddit — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 08:21:07 +0000

I found this artical on Reddit

By: farkinga

farkinga — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:21:43 +0000

Don't forget to digg it!