Atheist Bus Campaign in… New Zealand?

December 11, 2009 By Guest Contributor 12 Comments

The New Zealand Atheist Bus Campaign wanted to raise $10,000 to put the classic ads on NZ buses — they surpassed that goal in 48 hours.

Looks like these will soon be seen in the Land of the Kiwi:

The campaign was launched here yesterday. New Zealand Atheist Bus Campaign spokesman Simon Fisher said it would provoke discussion on religion and take away the stigma of atheism.

…

Mr Fisher hopes to raise $10,000 to pay for six bus advertisements in Auckland, four in Wellington and two in Christchurch. He hopes the slogans will be on buses by March 1.

You can donate to them by going here.

I fully expect these ads to be seen on next season of Flight of the Conchords.

(Thanks to Dave for the link!)

Filed Under: Atheist Advertising, General 12 Comments
  • http://feveredintellect.blogspot.com Viggo the Carpathian

    I think that a series of ads that simply has a picture of a smiling person and the words “I am moral and I am an atheist.” or “I lead a happy full life. I am an atheist.”
    Something like that would be more affective.

    I support these campaigns but I have to wonder how much an assertion like “There probably is no god” achieves. Do theists regard it like I do a “Jesus Saves” sign? I start singing ‘Jesus keeps his money in the first national bank’. I find it absurd.

    I want people to think.

  • Jessica

    Flight of the Conchords is sadly no more. The TV show anyway. :(

  • http://theflightlessgeek.squarespace.com/ James

    I’d have preferred either “Millions are good without God” or “Just be good for goodness’ sake” but this still gets the idea across and hopefully will get discussion started.

    And to be honest the farily positive response from the religious groups is what I was expecting down here in NZ. Thankfully we don’t have so much of the vicious religious types. :)

  • http://infalliblefailure.blogspot.com Jeff Satterley

    Don’t think we’ll see this, or anything on the next season of Flight of the Conchords…

    http://flightoftheconchords.co.nz/2009/12/december-10th/

  • sophia b

    this has made me quite pleased. guess would have been that there’d be no major complaints form religions but that it’d take some time for them to get money, as a lot of people don’t care much one way or the other. So i’m pleasantly surprised.

  • http://mingfrommongo.livejournal.com mingfrommongo

    I want to go to New Zealand and ride a bus.

  • Sam

    @Viggo: NZ is already shifted more towards a non-theist stance than the US so it is a lot less controversial to make statements about the probable non-existence of god(s).

    “The New Zealand Atheist Bus Campaign wanted to raise $10,000 to put the classic ads on NZ buses — they surpassed that goal in 48 hours.”

    Another reason why NZ is awesome.

  • Gibbon

    In a country like New Zealand this campaign is not exactly necessary. For one thing there is no stigma to dispell, both the current prime minister and the previous one are agnostics. And secondly, a person’s religiosity, or lack of, is something that most Kiwis aren’t bothered about; there is no issue. The only concern here in NZ related to religion is religious fundamentalism, but even then those people are an extreme minority, and no one outside their insular communities holds a favourable opinion of them.

    Aside from fundamentalism there is nothing to discuss here in New Zealand. This bus ad campaign is more likely to create rifts and enhance divisions rather than blur them. Religion is an issue that we Kiwis don’t need to discuss. We’ve manage to keep ourselves out of this war, so why get involved?

  • viggo the carpathian

    I am glad NZ isn’t as religious as here in the bible belt.

    Here are some ad ideas I would like to see run.

    Q: If god cured your cancer, why didn’t he cure other 1.14 million
    cancer patients who died last year?
    A: Because he isn’t there, thank your doctor.

    That silence you hear when you pray, that’s god not existing.
    Try helping yourself.

  • awesomerobot

    The Flight of the Conchords takes place in America.

  • http://hepatea.blogspot.com/ Tk

    Yeah i pretty much have to agree. Religion is barely a thing down here. I don’t even think the buses will have an effect. To say it would dispel a stigma would require a stigma to be there in the first place.

    I know many people round here who are religious in such a way that they believe in a god and nothing more, except maybe the occasional church visit.

    Come to think of it about 26% of people claimed no religion on our last census. And at that the only religious nut jobs we have are our friends at Destiny Church with “King” Brian Tamaki.

  • http://a.es José

    I’m from Spain and I am an atheist. The campaign bus is made of a first-stair, so have the slogan “God probably does not exist ….”. It has thus to be less offensive to believers, but as a first step, is important. Worse would be that nothing is done. Believers in a god have spent centuries without regard to atheists.