Well, I’m an atheist and never heard of that campaign…
Oh, wait. The amount is in pounds. You’re talking about something that was going on in England.
Well, I just love the conflicting insults of atheists. First, they’re a ‘religion’, with their belief in the non-existence of something. Which you would think would imply a bit more organization and conformity than the above suggests. But now they can’t agree enough to get a few thousand (and believe me, there’s far more than a few thousand atheists in England) pledges for a bus ad.
Myself, I go for option two. Including in the US. It is a lot like herding cats. Got nothing to do with agreement with the sentiment. Myself, just not much of a ‘joiner’.
Besides, in the UK, from what I keep getting told, they don’t need a sign, they’re more or less the status quo. Why bother to advertise? (Take a peek at church attendance stats in the UK.)

And I’ve never met a theist online who wrote tentatively about the existence of god. Is there supposed to be some kind of inference about the character of a person based on their lack of tentativeness in their statements?
That original statement, after all, didn’t say, ‘If there was a son of Man and if he were to come back to Earth..’ did it?

You posted a recent poll which had 15% of Americans stating they had no religion while only low single digits (3% maybe) declare themselves atheist/agnostic. So I think it is a pretty safe bet that there are few atheist fundamentalists here or in England. They’re more likely to be apatheists (a portmanteau of apathy and theism/atheism) which means they just don’t care one way or the other. But they won’t show up on your blog for you to know about them because of disinterest.
Michele McGinty: “I’ve never read an atheist online who was that tentative about it.”
I don’t declare myself an atheist but I do say I’m not religious and that the term agnostic is probably a better fit depending upon my mood. How’s that for a definite answer?
In any event if the ad campaign was in the US I wouldn’t give them any money. I don’t see the point in talking people out of their beliefs which give them meaning. Online I mostly like to point out my point of view and I’m curious about the other viewpoints. I tried apatheism but I’m to curious to pull it off.

There’s probably no God.
Not a terribly compelling slogan there, and hardly atheistic – agnostic maybe.

You shouldn’t be surprised, Karen Brown. This blogger is so starved for content that most of her posts are filled up with words that are not hers, just a youtube video or an AP story taking up most of the post with a few sentences of original material on the margins. It leads one to wonder if there really is a Reformed perspective, or at least one that isn’t just what the news wires say.
As for atheists not wanting to put up money for a pointless ad – what do you expect? Myself and most other atheists I know are perfectly fine with letting people believe what they believe..especially when it gives us entertainment in the form of people bowing their heads, holding hands, and talking to themselves. Most of us are perfectly fine with just snickering and going about our lives.

“It’s easy to sit on the Internet and blather on about helping the delusional but it’s another thing to actually foot the bill for it.”
Oh darling, it’s not that. It’s just that we realize most of you are beyond help.

Is apathy attractive? It’s natural. But zeal is much more exciting … Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn. – attrib. John Wesley
or, better, this quote:
Faith is an excitement and an enthusiasm: it is a condition of intellectual magnificence to which we must cling as to a treasure, and not squander in the small coin of empty words, or in exact and priggish argument. – “George Sand”
“exact and priggish argument” – yeah.

As an American, watching real or perceived battlegrounds in the UK between Atheists and Christians even getting down to adverts on the sides of public transportation makes me want to see more publicized interactions (and I suppose inevitably, confrontations) between the two. I’m looking for a more honest and formal release of the energy and tension created by the friction between the two.
There is a debate coming up in Oxford on October 21 between Professor Richard Dawkins, Fellow of the Royal Society and Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, and Dr. John Lennox, (MA, MA, Ph.D., D.Phil., D.Sc.) Reader in Mathematics and Fellow in Mathematics and Philosophy of Science, Green College, University of Oxford. Here’s the link:
http://www.fixed-point.org/billboard/billboard.asp?ItemID=47
And for those reading this from the states, there is another great debate being sponsored by the same organization, Fixed Point Foundation, in St. Louis on September 10 between Dinesh D’Souza and Christopher Hitchens. This one has its own webpage:
http://www.godontrialdebate.com/

“Michele McGinty: “I’ve never read an atheist online who was that tentative about it.”
I don’t declare myself an atheist but I do say I’m not religious and that the term agnostic is probably a better fit depending upon my mood. How’s that for a definite answer?”
I should have said atheist fundamentalist because they are militant than the run of the mill atheist who doesn’t really care what you believe, they just want to be left alone. Those guys would be the ones that I think would want to pay for a sign to proclaim their view and wouldn’t be wishy washy about it.

“Oh darling, it’s not that. It’s just that we realize most of you are beyond help.”
Then why not give up? Why even put the sign on the bus?

“This blogger is so starved for content that most of her posts are filled up with words that are not hers, just a youtube video or an AP story taking up most of the post with a few sentences of original material on the margins.”
*Sigh* You’d think that people would get what current events blogging is all about but no, they think that I need to blather on for pages for this blog to be read. It’s as if no one has ever heard of Instapundit.

“they are militant than the run of the mill atheist who doesn’t really care what you believe, they just want to be left alone. Those guys would be the ones that I think would want to pay for a sign to proclaim their view”
so… does that go the same for the christians who want to pay to advertise on the sides of buses and on blogs and in books and on billboards across the country? militants who will pay to proclaim their view.

“so… does that go the same for the christians who want to pay to advertise on the sides of buses and on blogs and in books and on billboards across the country? militants who will pay to proclaim their view.”
No, they are being evangelical. I would use the word “evangelical” with the atheists but it means “one who proclaims good news” and I don’t think their message is good news.

So, if an atheist and a Christian do the exact same thing.. one is ‘militant’, the other is ‘evangelical’.
No different standards there. Naw…

They have well over 4 times the amount needed now, so they can have more busses, in more cities. Enjoy.