Monday 19 January 2009

The Atheist Bus Campaign

"There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

Whether you agree with the above statement or not it has caused numerous debates over the past couple of months. As a Christian I don't have any problems with the advert; if we can advertise God then the Humanists should be allowed to advertise themselves.

Tomorrow I will be interviewing a man called Ron Heather. He is a Christian bus driver from Southampton and he has refused to drive the buses carrying the advert. Mr. Heather told BBC Radio Solent: "I was just about to board [the bus] and there it was staring me in the face, my first reaction was shock horror.
"I felt that I could not drive that bus, I told my managers and they said they haven't got another one and I thought I better go home, so I did.
"I think it was the starkness of this advert which implied there was no God."

First Bus responded to Mr Heather's actions by saying As a company we understand Mr. Heather's views regarding the atheist bus advert and we are doing what we can to accommodate his request not to drive the buses concerned."
It added: "As an organization we don't endorse any of the products or sentiments advertised on our buses."

I appreciate the fact that he wanted to make a stand and am looking forward to speaking with him. What upsets me though is some of the comments that have appeared on the Internet over the last few days about Mr Heather on Atheist websites. Just type his name into google and have a look.

To me, it seems that these Atheists (not all atheists) are turning into what they are hoping to destroy. Once again we are entitled to freedom of speech but is harassment of an honest working man the way to go about it?

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