Atheist Bus Ads, Rejected In Several Canadian cities, Set To roll out In CalgaryBy Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
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CALGARY - The debate over whether they should be allowed has been settled. Now, the battle to influence the minds of the public will begin as a series of atheist bus ads is set to roll out in Calgary Monday.
The ad campaign, paid for by the Freethought Association of Canada, features ads reading: "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
A similar campaign generated controversy and anger in the United Kingdom and Australia and several Canadian cities have rejected the ads including Halifax, Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, B.C., London, Ont., and Ottawa.
Only Toronto and Calgary - the bastion of conservatism and the land of cowboys, oil wells and rodeos - are allowing the atheists to get their message out on the side of city buses.
"Possibly the sort of red-neck reputation and the enthusiasm for free speech aren't entirely incompatible," chuckled Janet Keeping, president of the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, a non-profit organization that looks at activities involving human rights and free speech across the country.
"You could say that standing up for free speech is completely consistent with protecting fundamental values of our system," said Keeping. "The ads are pretty mild stuff. Some of the other jurisdictions are just ready to run roughshod over fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech."
Not everyone sees the bus ads as a threat.
The United Church of Canada launched its own tongue-in-cheek campaign which includes the message: "There's probably a God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
But others say it's no laughing matter.
The Islamic Supreme Council of Canada is ready to buy its own bus ads promoting an all-faith approach to religion.
"We know that we live in a free society where people have the right to express themselves, but this is a serious debate - this is not a joke and people have strong feelings," said Imam Syed Sohawardy.
"This is a very serious issue. We see this as a threat toward religion - not Islam, but all faiths."
Calgary's Roman Catholic Bishop Fred Henry has also expressed his concern about the atheist campaign and had pondered buying his own controversial ads promoting positions such as pro-life.
"I think that we already pay enough by way of taxes and user fees to support Calgary Transit - my money will go to house the homeless," he said. "But the principle has been established and should we decided to aggressively promote the right to life issue, they won't have ground to stand on."
Ron Collins, with Calgary Transit, said there will be six buses carrying the Freethought Association message for one month. He said the controversy seemed to have died down in recent weeks.
"I don't think there's as much attention being paid as there was at the start of this," he said. "We're following the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards and if it meets the code, it's allowed and this meets the criteria."
Keeping said she was a bit shocked at the passion the debate generated and had expected most Canadians to be a little more open minded.
"We seem to have cultivated this view that we all have the right not to be offended," she said. "That we all have the right never to be exposed to things that might challenge what we might think is proper and true and good.
"I can understand public concern when it comes to Criminal Code stuff, when it comes to advocating violence, advocacy of hatred," Keeping said.
"There is nothing about these bus ads that comes even close."
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