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Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

Any topics that are primarily about humanism or other non-religious life stances fit in here.
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Compassionist
Posts: 3590
Joined: July 14th, 2007, 8:38 am

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#21 Post by Compassionist » October 2nd, 2009, 8:52 am

Latest post of the previous page:

Marian wrote:
Fia wrote: Know the feeling, Marian :) I also work in our local library and have today made a request for them to buy this book - to date all the non-fiction books i have requested have been bought... cultivate your local librarians - ask them to order it, and if they do please tell me the Dewey classification they give it, classifiers appear to be in a world of their own. I would so love to be in that department and pop the bible under fiction... but then what author :laughter:
Would love to work in the library except they'll never give me a job there because I'd spend all my time in the stacks... :D
I am donating a book to the local library next week so I'll approach them about some of the books that I've seen listed in some of the other threads but aren't available here.
You mean the bible isn't under fiction where you are?? To be honest, I've never checked at my library.
The Bible is under religion at our local library!

Maria Mac
Site Admin
Posts: 9306
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:34 pm

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#22 Post by Maria Mac » October 31st, 2009, 10:05 pm

Compassionist wrote:Does this mean that the publisher is actually profiting? I thought it was a no-profit, no-loss venture by the publisher.
I don't know. I find it hard to imagine a publisher doing anything for no profits.

In case anyone missed it in today's Media Scan:
Anyway, Pack's thought was this: since almost everyone who's written for this book is also on Twitter, many with quite a few more followers than me (Brooker, for example, has 86,000 people hanging on his every tweet), what if I asked them all to tweet about it, on the same day, just before it launches? So he did. And as a result, The Atheist's Guide "went from about 20,000th on Amazon's live bestseller list, to 14th. In a single day. We just sat there watching it move up the chart, hour after hour. And it hadn't even been published."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2 ... of-twitter

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Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#23 Post by Alan H » November 18th, 2009, 11:50 am

From the BHA:
********************************************************************************
Atheist Bus Campaign - The Sequel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special announcement!

18th November 09

From buses to billboards: the next stage of the Atheist Bus Campaign is unveiled for Universal Children’s Day

Billboard adverts will go up today in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, as the internationally renowned poster campaign which began earlier this year on London buses launches its second phase. So much money was donated towards the campaign after the bus posters had been launched that it was announced that further money raised would be put towards new adverts later in the year.

The billboards will remain up for two weeks and you can see them here. The BHA has launched a fundraising campaign to coincide with the unveiling of the billboards which will raise money for campaigns to phase out state funded 'faith schools’ and allow our dedicated campaigns officer to keep his job for another year. You can donate here and help to raise your voice against faith schools.

“One of the issues raised again and again by donors to the campaign was the issue of children having the freedom to grow up and decide for themselves what they believe, and that we should not label children with any ideology,” said Ariane Sherine, original creator of the Atheist Bus Campaign. “I hope this poster campaign will encourage the government, media and general public to see children as individuals, free to make their own choices, and accord them the liberty and respect they deserve.”

The posters display some of the labels routinely applied to children that imply beliefs such as ‘Catholic’, ‘Protestant’, ‘Muslim’, ‘Hindu’ or ‘Sikh’ mixed up together with labels that people would never apply to young children such as ‘Marxist’, ‘Anarchist’, ‘Socialist’, ‘Libertarian’ or ‘Humanist’. In front of the shadowy labels are happy children, with the slogan, ‘Please don’t label me. Let me grow up and choose for myself’ in the now world-famous font of the Atheist Bus Campaign. The billboards are being unveiled to coincide with 20 November, Universal Children’s Day, which is the United Nations ‘day of worldwide fraternity and understanding between children’.

* Find out how you can support and promote the “Don’t Label Me” billboard campaign.
* Join the Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=347810175444
* Follow the campaign on Twitter: http://twitter.com/PlsDontLabelMe

“We urgently need to raise consciousnesses on this issue,” said Richard Dawkins, Vice President of the BHA, President of RDFRS, and co-sponsor of the campaign. “Nobody would seriously describe a tiny child as a ‘Marxist child’ or an ‘Anarchist child’ or a ‘Post-modernist child’. Yet children are routinely labelled with the religion of their parents. We need to encourage people to think carefully before labelling any child too young to know their own opinions and our adverts will help to do that.”

Andrew Copson, BHA director of Education, said, “The labelling of children becomes even worse when it is implemented as a matter of public policy. One of the issues we hope to highlight with these adverts is the continuing and increasing segregation of children according to parental religion in state-funded “faith schools.” Social cohesion and preparation for life in a diverse society is best achieved in inclusive community schools, where children from different backgrounds learn with and from each other without being divided by labels that they are not old enough to have chosen for themselves.”

The BHA is also selling a number of limited edition atheist bus panels. This is your chance to own an original piece of atheist bus history! These panels are the real thing, with the now famous slogan and artwork. Get your atheist bus panel here!

Not already a BHA member? Join now and support our vital work!

[Retrieved: Wed Nov 18 2009 11:45:44 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time)]

###################
And in today's Guardian:
********************************************************************************
Hey, preacher – leave those kids alone | Ariane Sherine | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... s-campaign
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, preacher – leave those kids alone

The final phase of the atheist bus campaign will challenge the idea that children can be labelled with their parents' religion

*
Comments (166)
* Buzz up!
* Digg it

* Ariane Sherine
*
o Ariane Sherine
o guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 18 November 2009 10.00 GMT
o Article history

ariane sherine

A poster from the atheist billboard campaign. Photograph: Public Domain

This week, the final phase of the atheist bus campaign will appear in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast – not on buses, but on billboards. Due to the amazing sums donated to the campaign fund by many Cif readers at the end of last year, we raised enough for a second wave of adverts – and the above posters will launch today.

When, in this Cif piece back in October 2008, we asked how the extra funds should be spent, one of the issues which came up repeatedly in the comments concerned the growth of of faith schools in the UK and the segregation of children according to their parents' beliefs. Many of you felt strongly that children should be given the freedom to decide which belief system they wanted to belong to, if any, and that they should not have a religion decided for them. Commenter Finite187 wrote, "A campaign against faith schools would be good as a next step," ciderpower said "You could address faith schools – religions want schools for the few, not for all" and 555555 asked, "How is this distortion of school education happening in this country?"

The atheist campaign team shared this point of view. However, rather than using adverts to try and campaign politically, we thought it would be more beneficial to try and change the current public perception that it is acceptable to label children with a religion. As Richard Dawkins states, "Nobody would seriously describe a tiny child as a 'Marxist child' or an 'Anarchist child' or a 'Post-modernist child'. Yet children are routinely labelled with the religion of their parents. We need to encourage people to think carefully before labelling any child too young to know their own opinions, and our adverts will help to do that."

We have scheduled the launch of the billboards to take place during the same week as Universal Children's Day (20 November), which is the United Nations' "day of worldwide fraternity and understanding between children". We hope the advert's message will encourage the government, media and general public to see children as individuals, free to make their own choices as soon as they are old enough to fully understand what these choices mean, and that they will think twice before describing children in terms of their parents' religion in the future.

Lastly, I'd like to take a final opportunity to thank everyone who donated to the campaign, supported it, commented on it or blogged about it – you really did make a difference to public discourse in this country and around the world. We hope you feel the new poster campaign is worthwhile and effective. After this phase, I will be taking a step back from atheist campaigning and returning to journalism. For those of you would like to continue to donate to campaigns on this issue, the BHA have launched a new pro-inclusive schools initiative here.

[Retrieved: Wed Nov 18 2009 11:48:58 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time)]

###################
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

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Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#24 Post by Alan H » November 18th, 2009, 6:13 pm

Just found out the BHA are fundraising for this on JustGiving. It started a few days ago, their target is £30,000 and they are already 26% of the way there!
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

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grammar king
Posts: 869
Joined: March 14th, 2008, 2:42 am

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#25 Post by grammar king » November 19th, 2009, 4:14 pm

It's apparently started a row in Belfast already.

I would've thought this particular billboard would be the least controversial so far.

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Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#26 Post by Alan H » November 20th, 2009, 12:12 am

BHA press release:
********************************************************************************
Universal Children’s Day sees enormous support for the ‘Please Don’t Label Me’ Billboard Campaign
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Embargoed until 00.01 20 November 2009

Universal Children’s Day sees enormous support for the ‘Please Don’t Label Me’ Billboard Campaign

The British Humanist Association has welcomed Universal Children’s Day (20/11/09), declaring itself overwhelmed by support for its ‘Please Don’t Label Me’ billboards, including endorsements and praise from magician and illusionist Derren Brown, author Philip Pullman, and musician and comedian Tim Minchin who, along with other users of Twitter, contributed with his tweets to the campaign ‘trending’ on Twitter (meaning it was one of the top ten most popular stories circulating on the social networking site).

Andrew Copson, BHA Director of Education and Public Affairs, said, ‘The support we have received so far for these new posters has been overwhelming. Since we launched the billboards on Wednesday, not only have the public donated thousands to help our campaign to phase out state funded “faith schools”, there has been huge support in other ways such as through social networking sites and from well-known people advocating the core message that children should not be labelled with any ideology or religion but should be free to grow up and choose what they believe for themselves.’

Endorsing the campaign, best-selling author Philip Pullman, said, ‘It is absolutely right that we shouldn’t label children until they are old enough to decide for themselves.’

The magician, illusionist and mentalist Derren Brown personally posted on his blog, enthusiastically explaining that the campaign focuses on "one unpleasant aspect of proselytising to children: the resultant labelling of tiny kids as ‘Christian’, ‘Muslim’ etc, in a way that we would never do with, say, political affiliations (labelling a small child ‘Conservative’, for example, seems very wrong). ‘Atheist’ is of course also included as an equally regrettable label to be attached to a child: the message is, to allow children to choose for themselves when they are old enough to decide.’

Professor A.C. Grayling, Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, commented, ‘This is a significant and welcome campaign reminding us that children have their own minds and we can encourage them to think for themselves.’

Within half an hour of Ariane Sherine's article appearing on the Guardian website, the term "Atheist Bus" was trending on Twitter, meaning it was one of the top ten most popular stories circulating on the social networking site. Musical-minded comedian Tim Minchin, whose sceptical beat poem "Storm" is a cult hit among freethinkers, was one of those tweeting. He said, ‘The BHA campaigns to make education free from religious privilege. Wanna help? http://www.justgiving.com/nofaithschools

Bob Churchill, BHA Web Manager, said, ‘The public support for the “Don't Label Me” billboard campaign has matched that of the Atheist Bus Campaign, but it has a different character. With the buses many people expressed a kind of collective relief at seeing a light-hearted, positive atheist message in the public space. But reading the emails from members, comments on blogs and our social networking sites, the billboards strike a more sensitive nerve with a lot of people. They have a strong moral objection to any attempt to 'box' children in to a hereditary belief system. We've heard from a lot of parents, teachers and former pupils of religious schools.’

‘The BHA website creaked only a little under the weight of half a million hits. We received hundreds of emails from members of the public welcoming the campaign. In addition, the threading style of Facebook makes it easy for conversations to develop. There were lots of new Fans of the BHA's own Facebook Page www.facebook.com/humanism, and the new "Don't Label Me" Facebook Group grew to nearly 500 members in just a few hours.’

Messages of support from the public can be found at www.humanism.org.uk/billboards/your-support

The posters display some of the labels routinely applied to children that imply beliefs such as ‘Catholic’, ‘Protestant’, ‘Muslim’, ‘Hindu’ or ‘Sikh’ mixed up together with labels that people would never apply to young children such as ‘Marxist’, ‘Anarchist’, ‘Socialist’, ‘Libertarian’ or ‘Humanist’. In front of the shadowy labels are happy children, with the slogan, ‘Please don’t label me. Let me grow up and choose for myself’ in the now world-famous font of the Atheist Bus Campaign. The billboards are being unveiled to coincide with 20 November, Universal Children’s Day, which is the United Nations ‘day of worldwide fraternity and understanding between children’. For images of the billboards visit www.humanism.org.uk/billboards

The billboards will remain up for two weeks. The BHA has launched a fundraising campaign to coincide with the unveiling of the billboards which will raise money for campaigns to phase out state funded 'faith schools’.

Contact

Andrew Copson

[email protected]

07534 248596

020 7079 3584

For images of the billboards, and FAQs, visit www.humanism.org.uk/billboards

Billboard locations:
London: Old Street roundabout
Cardiff: 42 Merthyr Road
Edinburgh: Portobello Road, Piershill
Belfast: 74-76 Great Victoria Street / Bruce Street

The Atheist Bus Campaign’s appeal for donations to fund the bus adverts was launched in October 2008, aiming to raise just £5,500. Within four days it had raised £100,000 in individual donations from the general public and went on to raise over £153,523, smashing its original target by 2791%

Spin-offs from the campaign have included bus and other advertising campaigns organised by humanist organisations all over the world and a book edited by Ariane Sherine, ‘The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas’, the proceeds of which are being donated to Terrence Higgins Trust.

In 2009 Universal Children’s Day marks the twentieth anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the sixtieth anniversary of the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

Articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child include: Article 2, where the child is ‘protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members’; Article 13 which provides that the child should ‘have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds’; Article 14 which guarantees that states will ‘respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.’

The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national charity representing and supporting the non-religious and promoting Humanism. In education, it campaigns for inclusive schools with no religious admissions policies, balanced teaching about different beliefs and values, and no 'collective worship'; the BHA is in favour of the phasing out of state funded 'faith' schools and campaigns nationally and locally for this cause.

The fundraising campaign to raise money for the BHA’s work against state funded faith schools is at www.justgiving.com/nofaithschools

[Retrieved: Fri Nov 20 2009 00:10:17 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time)]

###################
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

User avatar
Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#27 Post by Alan H » December 30th, 2009, 1:20 am

Someone's just found an Early Day Motion raised by Bob Spink, from last January, on banning the atheist bus adverts. This blogger wrote to her MP who had signed the MP and...well read his reply here: Penelope Else.

A friend, who is one of Spinks' constituents will be writing to him tomorrow.
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

User avatar
Lifelinking
Posts: 3248
Joined: July 4th, 2007, 11:56 am

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#28 Post by Lifelinking » December 30th, 2009, 1:36 am

He (David Drew) comes across as an ignorant ill mannered twit.
"Who thinks the law has anything to do with justice? It's what we have because we can't have justice."
William McIlvanney

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Alan C.
Posts: 10356
Joined: July 4th, 2007, 3:35 pm

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#29 Post by Alan C. » January 3rd, 2010, 6:45 pm

I just stumbled across this Atheist Bus Sign Auctioned for HIV Charity
More good publicity I think.
Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers.

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Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#30 Post by Alan H » January 3rd, 2010, 6:48 pm

A friend, Edd Edmondson has just written to his MP about this.
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

User avatar
Alan C.
Posts: 10356
Joined: July 4th, 2007, 3:35 pm

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#31 Post by Alan C. » January 3rd, 2010, 7:49 pm

A very good letter Alan (not attributing it to you) It's amazing some of the offencive bloody stuff "religions" are allowed to proclaim, not only on public transport but on billboards all over the place, yet a very mild response to their nonsense can cause knickers to be twisted.

Related, a blogger is running a poll on "Who was the most influential female atheist of 2009?
I think because of the worldwide success of the bus campaign, it has to be Ariane, she is currently joint leader.
Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers.

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Alan C.
Posts: 10356
Joined: July 4th, 2007, 3:35 pm

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#32 Post by Alan C. » May 27th, 2010, 8:04 am

Commercial for God tops league table of most 'offensive' ads.
The Christian Party ad has topped the Advertising Standards Authority's top-10 most complained-about adverts in 2009, attracting 1,204 complaints.
Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers.

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jaywhat
Posts: 15807
Joined: July 5th, 2007, 5:53 pm

Re: Following on from the Atheist Bus Campaign...

#33 Post by jaywhat » May 27th, 2010, 8:32 am

They should have said 'probably'.

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