Sunday, 18 January 2009
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AFP: Christian Bus Driver Refuses To Operate "No God" Vehicle
According to this story in the AFP, Christian bus driver Ron Heather walked out of his shift last week when he realized that the slogan, "There probably is no God" was plastered across the side of the bus. After listening to his protests, Heather's managers told him to go home, but will let him come back next week while doing everything they can to make sure he does not have to drive one of the 800 "atheist buses."This event comes after month-long controversy in Britain, where the advertising campaign took off when comedy writer Ariane Sherine took offense to advertisements warning people that they would go to hell. The advertisements received 140,000 pounds in public donations and were backed up by Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion) and the BHA (British Humanist Association.)
I've heard plenty of stories like this - during high school, I heard lots of stories about students who failed biology exams because they wrote Creationist answers for the questions about evolution - and I wonder to what extent I would compromise my job situation, grades, or reputation for the sake of what I believe in. A couple of years ago, I experienced some tension with a professor when she spent a whole class period telling us why there is no such thing as absolute truth. When I expressed the alternate viewpoint, she immediately shot it down; and although I didn't explicitly talk about my faith, my papers' bias toward it (and the notion of an absolute truth) spoke more than enough to prevent me from getting anything above a B+ on my assignments. Unsure of whether my beliefs were really affecting my grades (or if it was just my writing style), I turned in a paper that adhered toward her viewpoints. Surprise surprise, I earned an "A" and a lot of "good job," "yes, well argued" comments on the side. Was I happy with my grade? Yeah. Did I feel a little bit like a sell-out? Yeah.
Still, I'm pretty sure that given the situation where I'd have to ride or drive a bus with that slogan written on it, I'd hop on without a second thought.
Would you have driven that bus?
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About the Author
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- From: missmarigold
- Name: Miss Marigold
- About Me: College senior wondering how graduation will affect her ongoing quarter-life crisis. Releasing the consequent surplus of angst and neurotic impulses by ranting about the crazy campus life she'll probably miss give or take 20 years; postponing adulthood by reading sub-par YA literature (specifically that featuring vampire boyfriends) in her spare time. Has underlined a good 1/3 of Ecclesiastes and Philippians in her Bible. Is deathly afraid of snails (not the dinky ones, the 4-inch LSFJSKmutaaantKLSJFK ones from my tropical homeland.) An English major who cannot, for the life of her, master comma usage and the analogies section on standardized tests.
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Comments (88)
Sometimes you have to stand your ground. Plus to violate your conscience is sin.
Nope, I wouldn't have. There are some times when you have to stand your ground. Denying my faith or not is one of them.
Absolutely. The oppression is in your imagination.
Christians whine and complain so much about their "absolute" but "alternate" theories professors know better than to mark the pages with what they deserve, F for content. Maybe grammar, spelling and syntax could be correct, but all the rest is well...
You get the picture. And if it is shot down, when someone allows their faith to overflow into public life, like education, jobs, out of the pulpit and into everyone elses face, the martyr is being victimized.
Frivolous lawsuits spring up and everyone treads very carefully.
You never know what kind of issues you are going to have when you are dealing with a Christian. Behind closed doors, we are thinking how we will best marginalize you because of the collateral damage of dealing with you as you shove your faith down everyone elses throat.
Guess it's your job. God is serious business eh?
Yeah! Haha that's hilarious. People just need to get over themselves and, like the side of the bus says, enjoy their lives.
@Made2sing4Jesus@xanga - love your comment; perfect
Sherine has said she objected to Christian adverts on some London buses
that carried an Internet address warning that people who rejected God
would spend eternity in "torment in hell."
I'm confused--was it only the URL of the site which proclaims the doctrine of going to hell, or was it the actual message itself about hell? If it is the former, then I don't see the offense. If it is the latter, then certainly free speech would allow an alternate point of view. I am a Christian, and I would ride that bus. If I avoided every mode of public transportation with advertisements for movies, radio stations, products, etc., which are in contrast with my faith, I would drive or walk everywhere. I doubt this is a battle worth choosing.
Kudos to the bus driver, but in all honesty I don't know if I would have even noticed the advertising on the bus.
That being said, I always find it strange when people try so hard to convince us that there is no God. I guess I consider it more valuable to convince someone to believe in something than to convince them to believe in nothing.
I don't think the driver had proper grounds to campaign. As a writer, I've written for publications with ads for religious groups or even events that go against exactly what I believe in. But I'm not in the advertising department, its not something I have direct control over. If he owned the bus, that would be one thing. Although the whole, "There's probably no God" is a really horrible ad. Probably no God? That's a reasonable argument.
What does "probably no God" even mean? It's like they wanted to voice their stance but not really offend anyone so they took out an ad with this weak statement instead. At least have some courage in your beliefs. "Probably no God" is devoid of any intellectual honesty, but there you go, that's atheists for you.
And, by the way, if you are taking out this ad or if you are on here commenting that it's a good thing, shouldn't you take your own advice and "stop worrying"?
I probably wouldn't have driven the bus. I don't see why that would be a problem/big deal. Obviously the atheists got worked up about Christian messages, so why can't this guy do the same about theirs? Sheesh...people talk about Christians being whiny...
Also, what, exactly, is the point of an atheist advertisement? I can understand Christians ads, and pretty much all other religious pitches because, for the most part, the religions are attempting to better someone, be it save them from hell or lead them down the path to enlightenment. Atheists don't believe there is anything (or, from this ad campaign, they probably don't believe in anything, haha), so...I guess I just don't get it. How is it attempting to better people other than tell them to stop worrying (like that's going to happen anyways)?
@ThisGirl527@xanga -
Haha, you took the words right out of my mouth...since when do atheists evangelize?
@scrambledmeg
"Probably no god" is actually as intellectually honest as one can be: their stance is that there is no way to be certain, but the evidence points to there being no god. To claim an absolute knowledge would be intellectually dishonest, not to mention hypocritical. And strictly speaking, the bus ad is an agnostic statement, not atheistic, which should be pretty simple distinction to make. But then, that's Christians for you.(and no, I don't think Christians are slow... just thought you'd appreciate a morsel of your own condescending medicine).
No. I wouldn't have driven the bus. Regardless of whether or not he's the "owner" of the bus company or not...by driving a bus with such a message on it's side is saying that he agrees with it because he's driving through a city with it displayed on the side. Good job Mr. Bus Driver.
Believe that there is a God and die and find out there isn't?
or
Live my life believing that there isn't one and die and find out that there is?
I choose the former. Hebrews says that FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. There is no [tangible] evidence that God is real...but that's where faith comes in. So...you choose.
"A couple of years ago, I experienced some tension with a professor when
she spent a whole class period telling us why there is no such thing as
absolute truth. When I expressed the alternate viewpoint, she
immediately shot it down;"
Funny stuff. It seems like your professor was saying that "There is no absolute truth, unless I speak it." When someone professes to be open minded, and then closes his or her mind right away, it's a sure bet that this he or she doesn't even believe his/her own words.
What are people afraid of? Are we too afraid of our eternity that we refuse to look for truth? The fact that scientists refuse to check out an alternative theory of the origins of life is not about science, it's about power. In fact, this reminds me of the church of several hundred years ago, when they refused to listen to any evidence on evolution. It looks like the tables have been turned.
Bring on the debates. Christian biology students shouldn't be afraid of discussions on evolution, atheist biology professors shouldn't be afraid of discussions on creation.
I wouldn't have. Driving with an ad like that is like me (being part-Filipino) driving a bus with an anti-Filipino, anti-mixed race, anti-race mixing, and so on, message on it's side.
i would have driven it. i'm not a particularly strong theist and have no problem admitting that i could be wrong about the existence of God.
Eh, if buses can have pro-Christian messages on the side, then they can also have pro-atheist messages on the side. If the Christian bus driver doesn't want to drive a bus with an atheist/agnostic message on the side, then atheist bus drivers also should be able to opt out of driving a bus with a Christian message on the side. As long as it's equal, I have no objection.
Me, I would drive (and ride) either bus. The advertising on the side of the bus has nothing to do with the bus driver or passengers, I would hope people were aware of that. All it means is that someone or some company/organization was willing to shell out money so that they could publicize a message.
As a Christian, I would have driven it. It's freedom of speech. However, I think that it's ok for the man to stand up for what he believes as well, because he is also exercising freedom of speech. I think it's cool that disagreements like this are talked about and considered instead of the government killing those they disagree with.
oh, and I also think that it's strange that atheists "evangelize" regularly.
Well, if you're in a science class, you're there to learn about science. If you're in a class using logic, you're there to learn about logic.
If you're in a history class, you're there to learn about history; it doesn't mean that you have to believe that everything that happened in history was right, and it doesn't mean that you have to believe that everything in your textbook is correct, but you have to answer history questions in history context, same as answering science questions in science context. It's not being a sell-out, it's answering the question that's being asked.
Good for him taking the stand. Whether or notyou believe in God you gotta admit he had balls for doing so and possibly loosing his job
I have a lot of respect for the bus driver, and his employers. Not all employers would be willing to make sure he doesn't have to dry one of those buses...
As for the sciences classes, I find nothing wrong with learning about it, and proving that you learned it. I think you can still show that you've learned something, and don't believe it on a paper. For example, when I took biology, I always referred to the Theory of Evolution. My teacher knew that I did not believe in Evolution (she went to my church as well. God is so good), but she also knew that I learned the material she had presented (which she also presented as a theory.
I would have driven it. I would have ridden on it. I would have ridden on it even if it had had the other message that provoked this one. A bus is a bus, and if I have to get somewhere, I don't care what's written on the side.
Look... this atheist campaign was a reaction to a Christian campaign with ads on buses that told people they were going to hell. If Christians can tell people they're going to spend eternity in "torment in hell", why can't atheists say "there's probably no God"?
Are there two sets of rules?
I gotta admit I respect him for jeopardizing his job for his beliefs. That takes some iron will.
I would have ridden it though. I've seen all kinds of religious things on the sides of buses and on billboards. I think we atheists should have a chance too :P.
I respect the bus driver for standing up for his beliefs. I'd like to believe that I'd be strong enough to do the same. Then again, as others have pointed out, it's not like it was his bus, and if we were to boycott every transportation service that featured ads that don't align with Christian teachings, we would have to walk everywhere.
The real debate here is about free speech, in my opinion. I have seen billboards that are pro-life, cited with biblical quotes, and I've seen other ones that say something along the lines of "Repent now to avoid hell!" If Christians have the right to advertise with words that have the potential to offend others, atheists should be able to do the same. That's what this country is all about. As long as neither group promotes hate or intolerance.