Thank you to everyone who donated to the campaign in its six-month donation phase. We raised a phenomenal amount - during a credit crunch, no less - and special thanks should go to Simon Bishop, Richard Williams, Malcolm Dodd, Andrea Busby, Oliver Rowland, Deedyi, Dave Worrall, Gordon Livesey, and everyone else who kept the page alive and helped make the campaign such a success.

The JustGiving page is now closed. We’ll keep you updated on everything that’s happening here, but until then, I’ll leave those of you who haven’t yet seen it with this beautiful story:

Thank you again for your generosity, and see you soon.

The atheist bus campaign is going international… Or to be more precise a whole bunch of different people all over the place have liked what we’ve done in the UK and are doing similar things in their own towns and cities. Here’s a round-up of the international developments!

1. Bus Kampagne / Germany - the campaign to put buses on the streets in Germany (Köln, München, Berlin) is now online. Site visitors can choose their slogan and make online donations. Berlin and München transport authorities do not want the ads it seems, but the guys are determined to find alternatives.
2. Uskomaton bussikampanja / Finland - the campaign for atheist buses on the streets of Helsinki. €3500 donated so far. News in English here.
3. Atheïstische Reklamecampagne / Netherlands - a huge atheist advert on the side of the A4 motorway near Schipol airport.
4. Atheist Bus (English) / Canada - buses in Toronto and Calgary, and even an atheist streetcar party (that means tram, folks), $46000 donated so far.
5. Bus humaniste (français) / Canada - the Association Humaniste de Québec is running ads on buses in Montréal.
6. Atheist Bus / Switzerland (DE | FR | IT) - local bus firms are resisting the advertisements, but this might also result in bans on religious advertising. Paypal donations are possible.
7. Atheist trams / Croatia - ads appeared for 1 day on trams in Zagreb but were removed after complaints. Freedom of speech in a formerly communist country? News in Croatian here, Google translation from Slovenian here.
8. Campagna Bus / Italy - despite some legal issues with the bus company the campaign continues in Italy, with €30000 raised so far.
9. Bus ateo / Spain - buses in Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga with slogans in Spanish and Catalan.
10. Atheist Foundation / Australia - a one-off bus after other ads were not permitted. Latest news here.
11. Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign / USA - new campaign for buses in Bloomington, Indiana
12. Freedom From Religion Foundation / USA - bus campaign in Madison, Wisconsin
13. NYC Atheist Bus Campaign / USA - no website yet, but join the Facebook Group
14. Why Believe in a God / USA - bus campaign in Washington, and also a new campaign in Seattle.

If there are other atheist buses anywhere else please do let us know in the comments!

We were invited to make a presentation at Re:publica ‘09 in Berlin about the campaign. Here is the video of the presentation - click Jon’s face to start the video! Then fast forward 5 minutes into the video.

I don’t know if you’re aware of The Guardian website’s comprehensive new belief section, Cif Belief, but it’s full of interesting debates surrounding atheism and religion. This week, atheist Sue Blackmore has written about the concept of free will, while a Christian admits she doesn’t know whether God exists or not, and Mary Kenny’s talking what can only reasonably be called nonsense again.

But the best article on the site right now (and yes, I may be a little biased) is the fantastic Cath Elliott’s breakdown of the recent Theos survey, which begins:

“I have to admit I was a bit put out when I realised there would be no atheist buses coming to my neck of the woods. I loved the campaign slogan, even with the inclusion of “probably,” and once it became clear that enough money had been raised to convey the message to cities beyond London I was really looking forward to being able to ride on an atheist bus myself. Alas, it wasn’t to be, but now at least I can understand why the organisers omitted to involve East Anglia in the campaign: they weren’t deliberately ignoring us; they simply understood that this region had no need for atheist buses, because the east of England is already full of atheists anyway.”

In other news, Tony Blair has clearly been discussing ideas with Mary Kenny, and on a much brighter note, atheist buses are now running in Calgary as well as Toronto. From the Vancouver Sun:

CALGARY — Atheist ads will start running Monday in Calgary — only the second Canadian city after Toronto to accept the controversial messages on its public-transit vehicles.

Signs bearing the message, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life,” will appear on eight Calgary buses for four weeks.

“It’s time that we show our point of view,” said Cliff Erasmus, executive director of the Calgary Centre for Inquiry.

The campaign started in European and American cities in recent months, and made its way to this country when the Freethought Association of Canada, a national atheist organization, raised $43,000 in donations across Canada to buy similar ads.

Maybe we’re dreaming, but we think Mathew Horne and James Corden referenced the campaign briefly at the Brit Awards the other day. What do you reckon?

Secondly, Julian Tait of Futuresonic has alerted us to this interesting story: John Lennon’s “Imagine” is going to be played on the bells at Liverpool Cathedral…

Thirdly, here’s a France24 article on the ABC (in English).

And lastly, atheist filmmaker Tim Clague, who produced the short comedy film “God vs. The Advertising Standards Authority” two weeks before Stephen Green appealed to the ASA to ban the ABC ads, has just had his film shortlisted in an international competition, and sent us the following request:

“If you can help by voting and telling your friends that would be amazing. The top prize is 20,000 Euros. I am not expecting to get this, but any prize money that I do get will be going straight into a new pro-atheist dramatic film I am developing.

Here are the instructions:

1: Click on this URL to go to my film called “God versus the Advertising Standards Authority”.

2: To play the video, you’ll need to install the Babelgum player – it only takes seconds.

3: In full screen mode, select the green “Vote” button (on the top of the screen, next to the film title) to vote for my entry – or simply wait for the “Vote Now” window to appear at the bottom of the screen.

4: You can only vote when the video is playing in full screen and only once per day. Many thanks.”

We hope you can help him. Good luck Tim!

Hurray! The Daily Telegraph just reported on our new Atheist Bus Campaign window stickers, which are available here:

Atheist bus campaign launches car bumper stickers

The atheist advert campaign is spreading from buses to cars with the release of a “There’s probably no God” bumper sticker.

The 12in stickers are being sold to raise money for groups including the British Humanist Association [correction: a donation from each sale goes to the Atheist Bus Campaign, not the BHA, and definitely no other groups!] which organised for atheist posters to be displayed on the side of 800 buses around the country.

That campaign attracted complaints from more than 300 people, but the provocative messages now look set to get a wider airing on the windows of non-believing motorists.

The stickers cost £2 each or £12.50 for a packet of ten. Also available from the official Atheist Bus Campaign website are T-shirts and badges bearing the sceptical slogan: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

The campaign was the brainchild of the comedy writer Ariane Sherine who wanted to counter what she saw as the “threatening” adverts bought on the side of buses by some Christian churches. Her unprecedented appeal raised £140,000 after winning the support of prominent atheist including the biologist Professor Richard Dawkins.

She has since been invited to deliver a non-religious version of Thought for the Day on Radio 4, while atheist groups in countries including Canada and Italy have attempted to launch their own bus adverts.

Last month the Advertising Standards Authority said it would not investigate the posters, ruling that they did not breach any part of its code.

Some complainants claimed the adverts were offensive while others said that their central claim about God’s existence could not be substantiated.

As promised (okay, it’s a little late), here’s your weekly ABC news update!

THE MORAL MAZE

ABC supporter Adam Tjaavk helpfully suggested that we let you know that the Radio 4 show The Moral Maze will be broadcast at 8pm on Wednesday February 18 2009, as the question Michael Buerk and the panel will be posing is: “If you don’t believe in a set of divinely inspired moral rules, how do you decide right from wrong in a world with complex and competing interests?” Secularist Of The Year winner Evan Harris MP will be debating from a secularist viewpoint. If you want to hear it using the “Listen Again” facility, a link to the show’s website is here.

ATHEIST VIDEO

This fantastic video has been around for ages, but in the light of the Trinitarian Bible Society double-decker London bus adverts, I thought we should post it (thanks Ben):

THOUGHT FOR THE WORLD

I was lucky enough to be asked to record another secular version of Thought For The Day last week, for a series in conjunction with the Scottish Humanist Society and The Guardian, called Thought For The World. The theme had to be topical and not about atheism or religion (or Radio 4/the BBC), so I chose freedom of speech and belief. You can listen to it and leave a comment here or read the transcript here. Hope you like it.

NUMBER 10 PETITIONS

Lastly, there are two petitions for a more secular UK which you may want to consider signing:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/nofaithnoworship/ (thanks Dan)

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/thereisnogod (thanks Oliver)

We’ll be back next week with more news. Hope to see you again then!