http://lubbockonli...eligious-ads-buses


FORT WORTH - Fort Worth buses will no longer carry religious advertisements because of a furor sparked by an atheist group's ads that proclaim, "Millions of Americans are Good Without God."
The Fort Worth Transportation Authority unanimously voted Wednesday night to ban religious ads, a decision that many atheists and church leaders applauded during the packed meeting. Board member Gary Havener called the atheist ad divisive.
The ads, which were purchased by the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason, will continue until the 30-day contract expires in early January. The 2.5-by-12-foot ads first appeared on the sides of four of the fleet of about 150 buses earlier this month, and are similar to those that have run in other cities nationwide in recent years.
Terry McDonald, the coalition's organizer, said Thursday that the group did not initially plan for the ads to run during the Christmas season but that he hopes the message will bring comfort to those who feel left out during the holidays. He said the ads are not intended to undermine anyone's belief in God.
He called the new ban a "secular victory," because he said churches have been buying ads on buses for years and the new policy will help keep religion and government separate.
Some ministers had been so upset about the ads <0x2014> especially their run during the holiday season <0x2014> that they urged a boycott of public transportation and offered residents free rides. The ministers also threw their support behind several transit employees who say they were forced to take days off without pay for refusing to drive the buses carrying those ads.
One religious group recently hired a billboard truck to drive behind the buses with messages that read: "I still love you <0x2014> God" and "2.1 Billion People are Good With God," the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in Thursday editions. This week, a bus with the atheists' ad also displayed a religious message on a rear panel <0x2014> "What if there really is a God?" <0x2014> an ad purchased by an interdenominational group.
While some ministers support the transit authority's ban as a compromise, not all secular groups or religious leaders do.
The Rev. Kyev Tatum said he thinks a better solution would have been continuing to allow religious advertising while rejecting the atheist ads under the transportation authority's policy that prohibits political, offensive and other types of ads. He said he doesn't understand how atheists could find Christian messages offensive because "religion is not about divisiveness but about love."
"God is in everything that makes us who we are as a country, including the pledge of allegiance, and those principles are being eroded," Tatum said Thursday.
When the controversy erupted two weeks ago, Fort Worth Transportation Authority spokeswoman Joan Hunter said the atheist ad had been approved because it was not inappropriate and "we strive to respect First Amendment rights."
The Fort Worth buses typically feature ads for local art museums' exhibits and events at Texas Christian University, which is associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The new policy will not prohibit TCU from buying ads for sporting events but might affect ads promoting its divinity school or any religious programs, said the transportation authority's legal counsel Sylvia Hartless.
Other agencies, including Dallas Area Rapid Transit, already have policies banning religious ads.

I agree with the ruling. Church ads should have never been on buses to begin with.

I have no problem with church ads on buses, or any other kind of ad. Except hate-speech style ads, like from the Klan or the Nazis or something, but I suspect those would be very hard to police.

My issue is more with the state taking money for the ads, and "sponsoring" that religion. I know it sounds odd comming from me, but I see this as a separation issue. Pay for pray if you will.

I have real mixed opinions about this. I believe neither Atheists or Religious should be selling their religion on a bus, but then again they shouldn't be banned from it. I'm not sure a ban of all religious bus ads is the right idea. Especially since the best thing we can do is start a dialogue, but once again a bus isn't really the place to do it.

I'm mostly opposed to it because stuff like this is the tiny bit of circumstance tea partyers and Bill O'Reilly need to paint atheists out to be anti-american freedom bashers. But truth be told, who the hell actually makes a point to read bus ads? Why should any one really give a fuck.

Posted by budda I'm mostly opposed to it because stuff like this is the tiny bit of circumstance tea partyers and Bill O'Reilly need to paint atheists out to be anti-american freedom bashers.

That doesn't make any sense. The atheists' freedoms were taken away to placate religious groups.

But then again, tea party/O'Reilly are not big supporters of making sense.

Posted by MutantMandias That doesn't make any sense. The atheists' freedoms were taken away to placate religious groups. But then again, tea party/O'Reilly are not big supporters of making sense.

it's a fucking bus... isn;t there ONE object out there that the collective advertising penis can't be plastered across?

(edited for punctuation, bitches)

Posted by MutantMandias That doesn't make any sense. The atheists' freedoms were taken away to placate religious groups. But then again, tea party/O'Reilly are not big supporters of making sense.

He's gonna see the title of the headline, not even read it, and make a 4 minute story with interviews from equally incompetent right wingers in which they'll cover a mass of topics including immorality, and the war on Christmas.

It doesn't take much for a spin in the no spin zone.


But yes I agree with you. This isn't really a victory for anyone. Religious people have been placing ads on busses for years with barely any flack. As soon as an atheist group does it, all hell breaks loose and all religious ads are banned. It's total bullshit. I highly doubt anyone ever called for a boycot just because a bus had a Keep Christ in Christmas ad on it. Yet when Atheists basically say millions of people are atheists and good people, it's a fucking travesty that needs to be dealt with. They don't even suggest to be an atheist, unlike many Christian ads. It's the most neutral fucking ad out there, yet it's so offensive that it drew a bus boycott. I HATE the double standard.

Yeah, I am often annoyed when I see religious ads, mainly because of the obscene assumptions inherent in them, but then I think, "Someone had to pay a stupid amount of money for that add, and it has no power to change anyone's mind about anything," and it makes me feel a little warm and fuzzy that some religious folks just got screwed out of their money as a result of their misguided and foolish beliefs.