You Are Probably Perfectly Safe

(AP Photo)

I find this story amusing on several levels. It seems, according to this AP story at Fox News,
that atheists in London plan to buy advertising – in the form of
posters – on thirty or so city buses, in order to promote their cheery
and robust philosophy.

The signs are to read "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.".

Probably.

They
hope, I'm sure, to present the bright side of the idea that the
universe is meaningless and empty. That is to say, since your life and
your relationships have no ultimate meaning at all, you can do as you
please and enjoy yourself. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you
(and everyone) will be a mere sack of inert chemicals and will
thereafter dissolve into your composite elements and that will be
that… probably.

You can rest assured that there is no eternal
judge, no one to pay out justice and mercy, no life after death, no
heaven or hell… that is, very likely not.

At least
these signs acknowledge, in a backhanded way, that this is the most
that Science™ could possibly have to say against the existence of
God… "we see no scientific evidence for it". Admittedly, Richard
Dawkins (who contributed a good chunk of the money for this charitable
enterprise) doesn't like the "probably" part, which was a qualifier
more or less forced on the atheists by the bus company in order (in
their view) to keep from positively offending religious folk. He sees
no reason to place these kinds of limits on his philosophical hubris by
leaving room for the possibility of being in error. He knows
there is no God with exactly the same level of self assurance that
Pierre Pachet had when he declared that Louis Pasteur's theory of germs
was a "ridiculous fiction" or that Lord Kelvin experienced as he
announced that "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.".

But
the bus company (apparently afraid of running afoul of their own
advertising guidelines) insisted on some kind of qualifier, which turns
out to be the only sane or entertaining bit of the entire sentence in
which it appears. The second sentence is simply inane and could have
been tagged on by any group; Buddhists – "Life is an illusion. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."… Muslims – "There is no God but God, and Mohamed is His Prophet. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."… Insurance companies – "ABC Insurance is rated #1 in customer service. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.".

There
is entailed in this also the curious idea that atheists now find
evangelism and missionary work – that is, assertively trying to convert
people out of their own presently held beliefs – to be quite
commendable. Given that this has been a favorite charge against the
Church – that we don't respect others' right to their own beliefs and
culture, that we won't let things be – this is quite a step for
atheists. They now give tacit assent to the importance of "spreading
the good news", and it is refreshing and comforting that we now enjoy
their understanding and sympathy, at least on that point. Truth is
truth, after all, and sharing the truth with people is a good thing in
itself, apart from concerns about cultural niceties or hurt feelings.

The campaign was conceived, appropriately enough, by a comedy writer, Ariane Sherine, who the article states

"I
thought it would be a really positive thing to counter that by putting
forward a much happier and more upbeat advert, saying 'Don't worry,
you're not going to hell,'" said Sherine, 28. "Atheists believe this is the only life we have, and we should enjoy it."

She goes on –

"A lot of people say trying to organize atheists is like herding cats. The last couple of days shows that is not true"

This
concept of organized atheists made two things spring to mind; for one
thing, I wondered if later generations of young free-thinking atheists
will be fond of saying to their exasperated atheist parents, "I believe
in atheism, just not organized atheism".

Secondly,
I tried to remember what organized atheism has looked like in recent
history and couldn't get out of my head images of the disciplined,
assembly-line columns of Hitler's stormtroopers, the gulags of Soviet
Russia and the killing fields of Pol Pot. They kept appearing behind my
eyes, like a cloud of gnats that won't be waved away. But then, history
has never been my field, and I'm sure I must have overlooked the
numerous benevolent regimes of the more kindly organized atheist states.

There are some sensible London theists who are responding, I think in an appropriate way to the hubbub;

The religious think tank
Theos said it had donated $82 to the campaign, on the grounds that the
ads were so bad they would probably attract people to religion.

"It
tells people to 'stop worrying,' which is hardly going to be a great
comfort for those who are concerned about losing jobs or homes in the
recession," said Theos director Paul Woolley.

"Stunts like this demonstrate how militant atheists are often great adverts for Christianity."

(Visit Tim Jones' blog Old World Swine