Christians launch their own bus adverts
Thursday, 5 February 2009 5:05 PM
By Blaine Williams
Christian groups have entered into a campaign war for people's souls, as they combat the atheist bus campaign.
Three Christian groups have started their own advertising campaigns to combat the atheist bus advertisements declaring "there probably is no God".
Trinitarian Bible Society is to use £35,000 of its own money to launch bus campaign to rival that of the atheists.
The posters, which will appear on 50 buses around London, will quote Psalm 53.1 saying: "The fool hath said in his heart there is no God".
The campaign will officially launch on Monday and also offers free bibles to people who email in. The organisation is said to be considering moving the campaign outside of London and into other mediums.
Another campaign will be independently launched by the Christian Party and takes a less serious approach to the subject.
The party has decided to parody the Atheist slogan, rather than quoting archaic scripture, using the headline "There definitely is a God. So join the Christian Party and enjoy your life".
The third Christian organisation to join the advertising war is the Russian Orthodox Church, again with a light hearted approach.
"There is a God. BELIEVE. Don't worry and enjoy your life," the poster will read, again parodying the atheist's original poster.
All of the Christian groups advertising will be in the form of London bus posters.
Some have criticised the campaign war as nothing more than childish tit-for-tat pokes at one another and the money would be better spent on helping humanity.
Simon Barrow, of Ekklesia, said to the Telegraph: "It is part of a societal trend to package and 'sell' beliefs of all kinds, as if they were commodities.
"Many people will feel this has little to do with anything Christianly or humanly edifying. One has to wonder whether the purveyors of pro- and anti-God slogans really think they will persuade people? It feels more like a war of position between groups who cannot resist 'having a go back'.
"But imagine if these tens of thousands of pound could be spent meeting human need and promoting understanding rather than sloganising. That might be both more persuasive and more useful."
The original Atheist campaign came as a result of a post on the Guardian's 'comment is free' blog by writer Arianne Sherine.
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