Posted by Hemant Mehta in The Detroit Coalition of Reason’s atheist bus ads were saying, “Don’t Believe in God? You’re Not Alone.”
Some vandals couldn’t deal with that message so they decided to change it themselves, presumbly to suit their own point of view:
“Acts like this give a striking reminder that our message is necessary,” said Ruthe Milan, coordinator of Detroit CoR. “Without a doubt, prejudice against atheists and agnostics is still very real in American life.”
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“Because this has happened, we stand even more resolved in our goal of being outspoken about our ideas,” Milan added. “And we expect that this vandalism will convince even more nontheistic Detroiters that getting organized is important for the cause of religious liberty.”
The Detroit SMART bus company replaced the ads free of charge, which was the right thing to do.
Does anyone wonder if these petty criminals realize that their idiotic actions just give the ads more publicity…?
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Yeah, me neither.
I don’t understand the fear since the religious believers are very much the majority in this country.
Maybe it’s the fear that others don’t believe as they do and that someday, we’ll have a reasonable voice that others may see as sane.
Why did they leave the website on the first one? You’d think if they have a problem with the message, they wouldn’t want people visiting the website either. What ignoramuses (as if that wasn’t apparent already).
Well people who vandalize things don’t have reputations as very profound thinkers.
Actually, this is encouraging. We now have proof that at least one person in Detroit can read.
I think it’s awesome that atheist bus ads keep getting vandalized. It proves our point so much better than the ad alone can.
Strange that some people think an omnipotent being needs to be defended.
I think that comment was a little low. Yeah it’s easy to kick someone when they are down.
-Matt, Proud Detroiter
That last picture looks like the vandals have cut right into the panelling. That goes beyond defacing a poster and into criminal damage. I would laugh and laugh if someone were to get arrested for that.
Think of the publicity.
@mattrdesign
Yeah, I’m just evil.
I was born in Detroit, went to school in Detroit and am intimately familiar with it’s situation. Having partaken of the Detroit “experience”, I’m more than entitled to my opinion and to make a crack or two about it. It’s a dump and most of its politicians are corrupt. It’s not a person, so its feelings can’t be hurt.
Detroit would be a better place if it’s inhabitants spent less time blaming the suburbs for their woes and took responsibility for their own problems. Stop whining and fix your city. Then you can be proud.
It has been said before, but bears repeating, that the fear is from the weakness of their own thin, flimsy faith. Seeing that poster puts the question into their minds, and they don’t like the doubt it stirs. Majority or not, they are fragile inside.
Well put, as always, Mr. Wade. I suppose it might have something to do with a potential fear that doubt could be contagious, simply from the mere suggestion of the doubt (or, more often, outright rejection) expressed by others. I’ve dealt with plenty of that sort of mindset in my own area, which is not Detroit, but is in the same state. It hasn’t been very easy coming out around here. Kudos to Detroit for their excellent sense of honor in this matter!
For many years (in the U.S.,at least) atheism has been equated with the very worst that mankind has to offer. Many of us from the baby boomer generation were raised in a culture that actively portrayed atheism as depraved and evil. Overcoming that will take a lot of positive PR, not just “in your face” exposure.
[...] tip: Friendly Atheist. Feel Free to [...]
I worry… because all these bus companies are replacing the ads with their own money… are future bus companies NOT going to put up ads in the future because they don’t want to risk having to put their own money up for replacements if these future ads also get defaced?
@Dan,
That is indeed a risk. At some point in time, insurance companies will give their input, and we all know how that will go…
We know that the argument of the believer boils down to “I know it ’cause I feel it in my heart.” They can’t logically refute any counter message. Therefore they try the Orwellian approach of expunging the message itself. If the opinion of the nonbeliever can be blocked completely, it never happened. Praise Jesus and the Ministry of Truth.
Even if the insurance companies have their say, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll have the ability to censor messages. Direct editorial control can be very bad for organizations who would prefer not to be “on the hook” for lawsuits about those messages. It’s probably more likely it’ll simply mean higher insurance premiums, and therefore higher costs for running ads.
This is a hate crime and should be covered on the news as such.
I love the irony.
If there was ever a city in the US that, by it’s very existence in it’s present state, argues against the presence of a loving, compassionate god, it is Detroit.
If he exists, god obviously doesn’t give a shit about detroit.
Richard Wade replied to martymankins:
Very well stated/repeated, Richard.
@ ATL-Apostate,
In its “present state”?
Detroit has been a shithole since the late 1960′s. This is a great clip from Kentucky Fried Movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVDDYQlmq0w