By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
More than 25 public buses traveling through the crowded streets of Chicago are now sporting signs that proclaim, “In the beginning, man created God.”
According to a report by The Christian Post, the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign says the slogan “espouses the idea that man created God as well as all religions, and encourages public and critical examination of the merits of religious belief.”
Reba Boyd Wooden, executive director of the Center for Inquiry, an organization that promotes secularism, believes this is a great message to bring to the people.
“Too many people think that you have to be religious to be a moral person,” she said. “They don’t know they have a choice. They think that it is a given that there is a god, that everyone believes there is a god, and if you don’t believe in god you are a bad person. We secular humanists know that is not true.”
This was the rationale behind a similar ad campaign in South Bend which featured signs that read: “You can be good without God.”
Members and supporters of the bus campaign say the motivations behind the project are to promote a positive message about atheism and encourage atheists to “come out.” Others think the ads help them to confront religious belief with a more evidence-based approach.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the group was “inspired” by a campaign launched in Europe last year by the British Humanist Association which sponsored bus ads reading: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
The Chicago bus ads are part of a trend among atheists to become more open about their unbelief and the need to challenge the Christian worldview.
Christian organizations are responding by producing a myriad of new resources directed at training believers to be good apologists for the faith and, in the process, strengthening their own faith.
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