Gov. Chet Culver weighed in on the controversial Des Moines bus ad that has been yanked after multiple complaints.
“I was disturbed, personally, by the advertisement and I can understand why other Iowans were also disturbed by the message that it sent,” Culver said.
The question will likely become a legal battle, Culver said. He deferred questions of whether the group deserves the same free speech rights as Christian organizations to advertise on the buses to the Iowa Attorney General.
Culver also declined to answer if he would also have gotten off the bus had he been a rider, but noted that he would have been offended by the ad’s message.
The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority, better known, as DART, began running the ad on the side of some buses this week. It read, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone,” and was sponsored by the Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers group.
DART Advertising Director Kirsten Baer-Harding said the agency’s board never approved the signs and that they were put up by mistake.
The ads were removed Tuesday.
I’m pretty sure that the ad was styled after this billboard:
How is this offensive?
This is clearly not some vast conspiracy to convert people to atheistism as it’s only targeting those that are already atheists. If only Christians would do the same and only target people who are already Christian.
Because athiests only tell other athiests there is no god, and they never try toput their thought on others? Haha, yeah right. We all do the same thing.
I’m aware. But if you look at ad in question it’s only trying to help out people that already don’t believe in God, by telling them that there are others out there with similar ideas.
Im trying to think if ive seen any Christian billboards here in town, and just in general, but I cant think of any. There was a christian radio station advertised on a billboard a few years back, but thats it.
I dont really mind the ads really. Its a little off putting cause it goes against what I do go for, but I also go for acceptance, so it isnt too bad.
The average American, especially in the Midwest, finds it scary or threatening. It is normal to fear what you don’t understand, and most Americans don’t understand atheism.
That’s a rhetorical question, right? Anti-religion/anti-God messages will generate the same type of reaction as anti-gun messages do from the gun lobby.
It sounds like they’re trying to avoid the “censoship” approach, by claiming the ads were put up by mistake. It will be interesting hearing the explanation of what exactly the mistake was. I figure it will be similar to what was the “wardrobe malfunction” in the Superbowl a few years back. If what happened wasn’t supposed to have happened, what was supposed to happen???
Meanwhile, the Iowa Governor seems more interested in reminding his constituents that he’s a Christian than he is in any freedom of speech issues that may be involved. Like all those legislators that hastily went out on the U.S. Capitol steps to recite the Pledge of Allegiance when the “under God” part was being questioned. To me, that smelled of fear; fear that those legislators’ constituents would perceive them as anything other than “good Christians”. They swore and oath to protect and uphold the U.S. Constitution, but they also have faith in their churches. It’s a struggle that is still traditionally won by the church.
If it were a private company, they would have much freer reign to choose which ads went up on their buses and which did not. But I assume this bus company is government-owned, which means it probably has a much more sticky, complicated situation as to what’s considered “acceptable” on the side (or inside?) of city/county buses.
Not exactly. It also speaks to anyone who’s on the fence, or feeling disillusioned about their current church or religious situation. It’s reasonable for most churches to see it as a threatening message.
Missing from the article is any information about who put up the ads, and what do they want to say? Are they mostly trying to churn up some controversy? If not, they should try some privately owned billboards, or taxi signs or something.
I’m taking up a collection from those atheists who wish to let other atheist know they are not alone.
It’s funny, but how many times have you shown up at the Atheist Anonymous meetings, and find people saying: Until I found this meeting, I thought I was the only atheist. I didn’t even know there was a name for us people.
Please send me money so that no atheist has to feel alone again, ever.
And if you can find out who paid to create and post those bus ads, send me their name. I’m looking for wealthy atheists.
I’m sure there are tons of them out there. The hard part is figuring out who they are. Most probably keep it to themselves, just like gay people had to do until relatively recently, non-racists had to do before that, and Christians had to do in the early 1st century.
My opinion: the ads were paid for and were an expression of free speech, thus should not have been censored. However, if the bus company were losing business because of them, the best tactic for them would be to repay the money for the Atheist groups, and pull the ads. The response of the Christians in the community should have been decide to boycott that bus system, launch their own ad campaign (as it looks like some did, in Chicago), or just know that they believe differently. Trying to get the ads censored is hypocritical, since they’d throw a fit about “free speech violations” if they had something pulled because of complaints from non-christians.
when will you learn to stop expecting rationality from religious tards. there is no room in their pathetic faith lives for anything that could burst their illusion and slow the perpetual growth of ignorance.
if you could tap the vast resource that is religious idiocy you could probably power a small nation easily. maybe science will bring that day forth, and all the religious fools won’t be useless mouth-breathers after all.
This would be true for a normal, non-government business.
It occurs to me that the reason the ads were pulled could be that it was “religious” content on a government vehicle. They might have rules/laws about that too. Since it talks about God, it may fall into that category.
I have offended liberals, conservatives, homophobics
People have brought this discussion into censorship, science, being offended, etc, and I’d like to comment on these points:
Being offended is something we do by reflex (according to Scientists). We get offended whether we want to or not, like when our hand inadvertently touches a hot stove, and we reflexively pull it away.
I have offended liberals, conservatives, homophobic atheists, homophobic persons of other religious Faiths. Atheists don’t display concern that the Catholic Church is STILL running a pedophile protection racket.
I paid for bus ads with variously 2 men kissing, 2 women kissing, with the tag line: If you’re gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or queer, you are not alone. (Paid for by Religious in Support of the GLBTQ Community). Can you believe THAT offended some atheists and free speech advocates?!
Free speech advocates have permission to be offended by anything I do or say. I am a free speech advocate, but unlike the ACLU, I might move to block ads by hate groups like the KKK. My mission is to teach peace and love, and those who teach hate impede my mission.
The person or organization who paid for these ads may be public information. If there was a firestorm that led to the ads being pulled, there’s probably a news story about them that lists who paid for the ads. The campaign I want investors for runs the tag line:
Atheists will consider you ignorant/silly/dumber than them if you believe in GOD. Become an atheists. We’ve got it all figured out!
