Dear Everyone,
It could very well be possible that in the future we will see bus ads such as these in my fair city of Vancouver:
The Centre for Inquiry are currently awaiting final approval to bring this ad campaign to the Toronto transit system, and if all goes well on that front then they plan to tour the ads across other Canadian cities, including Vancouver.
I wanted to take this opportunity to apologize on behalf of atheists like me who find this kind of shot across the philosophical bow offensive, low brow, and frankly dumb. First let me just tear apart what Mr. Justin Trottier of the CFI said about the ads, because that’s the real source of my ire right now.
“I’d love it if everyone saw the ads and knew the point of the campaign is to emphasize, not the kind of knee-jerk debunking to anything suspicious, but that we’re interested in a genuine debate, a conversation about so-called extraordinary claims. We’re not here to mock people who believe in these claims.”
I don’t know about you, but I don’t see a lot of wiggle room here. You are comparing the cornerstones of the lives of millions of people to Bigfoot, UFOs, psychics and Zeus. You are implying, openly and unambiguously, that Christians and Muslims are either crazy, archaic, or share the same kind of mental space as the most typical and archetypal paranormal believer that you can think of.
How is this NOT going to create a knee-jerk reaction?
If you weren’t here to mock people who believe these things, you wouldn’t have run that ad. There are other ways you could have done this. The “Millions of Americans can be good without God” or “There probably is no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life” ads looked like genuine invitations to thought and debate. You can do this, you have seen that other people have done this, and you decided not to. But you have outright denied that this is what you wanted to to, so you are either lying or stupid. Or both.
The extraordinary claims home page asks:
“Why is belief in Big Foot dismissed as delusional while belief in Allah and Christ is respected and revered? All of these claims are equally extraordinary and demand critical examination.”
Wow, well I guess it’s my turn to apologize. I had no idea there was such a huge Bigfoot following. I never noticed the thousands of people in my community wearing the holy symbol, the enlarged foot with five prominent toes. I was never aware of their daily prayers, wherein they bow their heads and consider their bare feet several times a day. I was completely unaware of their rich culture, and the way large-footed, hairy members of their religion are venerated and respected for their wisdom and moral uprightness. I had utterly no idea that major world religions had so much in common with a cryptozoological theory.
I must look terribly ignorant right now.
Religious belief does not boil down to the factual evidence that supports its principal deities or personages. Sometimes this is how people are convinced, but religions also have rich moral, historical, personal, cultural, aesthetic, existential, philosophical, and theological spheres that help inform believers and enrich their understanding and their lives.
And you just equated that to bigfoot.
You look terribly ignorant right now.
This kind of bullshit does nothing but polarize people, and it’s a dishonest attempt to create press coverage. I like the idea of religious and philosophical ads, when they are done in a way that encourages thought, discourse, and debate. And we really do need someone from this side of the aisle to answer stuff like this:
But the proposed ads that may be splattered across Canadian busses don’t answer this kind of ignorance in a well thought-out and intelligent way, it’s just more garbage that makes us look ignorant.
And for that I apologize.