Christian Group Responds to Atheist Bus Ad… and They Want Money

Remember the atheist bus ad that was put up by the New Orleans Secular Humanist Association?

Well, there’s now a Christian response ad to it — similar to the ones put up in Britain:

It reads “There definitely is a God. So join the Christian Party and enjoy your life.”

But what’s that writing underneath? Can anyone even read it? (It’s supposed to be on a moving streetcar, right?)

Thankfully, reader Doug let me know what it says:

Text AMEN to 96527 to subscribe to the Christian Party News Alert Service and become a registered supporter of the Christian Party. Registration by text costs $9.99 per month + standard charges. Maximum 3 messages per week. Text HELP for help. Text STOP for stop.

That’s what we like to call “classy”…

I’m not suggesting the atheist ads (in New Orleans and elsewhere) aren’t intended to raise a bit of revenue, but it’s the wording itself that is the focus of our ads, without any plea for donations. The atheists don’t have fine print for people to read. It’s all right there for everyone to see.

It’s not a huge deal, but I think we have the upper hand here.

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lunarmagpie

pardon my french, but… oh for christ’s sake! that’s really getting nutty.
Richard Wade

“Christian Party”…? Is that a political party like those in Europe?
Tao Jones

“There definitely is a god.” (wow, that was hard to type, even with the quotes…)

Is there no truth in advertising any more?

Anyway, I bet these people could actually be taken to task for this and sued. That claim is completely unsupportable.
SASnSA

Wasn’t there a complaint in the UK about the truthfulness of the statement “There’s probably no God”? And now they’re going to say “There definitely is a God”? I’ll be needing to see the evidence for this claim!
James Hill

Hey there, I complained about this ad in London and got this pathetic letter reply:
twitpic

reddit
Troll

Christians being hypocrites… so what else is new?
Ann

And if you really look at the typography of the small text, the words “Text AMEN to 96527” is in larger, more legible font, while the subscription details are listed in significantly smaller font.

That’s a near con. So what if there’s some theist who sees the ad and agrees with it. The “Text Amen..” underneath is a suggestion where you can text “Amen” to show support. The actual costs associated with it is illegible at-a-glance.

This is actually the same tactic used as those commercials on TV that con teenagers on sending a text somewhere to get jokes delivered to their cells.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised though.
stephanie

So typical.
Doc

The Christian Party platform includes banning abortion, public anti-homosexuality campaigns, mandatory “Christian education” in public schools (including “chastity”), and “Biblical alternatives to the current criminal justice system,” among other horrors.

Oh, and no booze. Ever.

Yeah, that sounds like a GREAT party.
spankyzeham

“Wasn’t there a complaint in the UK about the truthfulness of the statement “There’s probably no God”? And now they’re going to say “There definitely is a God”? I’ll be needing to see the evidence for this claim!”

I saw on another blog: a person complained about the Xian add & guess what? Apparently the “definitely is a God” does not violate anything & their complaint was turned down…

So you won’t be seeing that evidence…
Asylum Seeker

Overconfidence and a mighty need for cash money. Color me surprised.

I had no idea that they would feel so compelled to rebuke a handful of relatively rare and meek atheist ads, let alone come up with counter-advertisements of their own. Kinda funny, really.
J Michael Malec

There’s another, even tinier line after the Amen text line. I haven’t caught the car standing still long enough to read it.

Wouldn’t it be nice department:

If you had the option of texting ATHEIST to 96527, and they would deduct $9.99 from the Christian Party account.
SASnSA

Doesn’t a religion based political party come into conflict with the First Amendment establishment clause?

BTW, I brought this article up at richarddawkins.net as well (with an appropriate link back to this page). Hope you don’t mind.
dave

arent you glad that all sides have the freedom to express themselves. it seems a little desperate that athiests started placing ads on buses in England and trying now in the us of a .

They must have thought this through, being intellictuals and all. of course if athiests have the freedom to place an ad then in a fair and democratic society the chrisitan will too.

but rewind the big bang theory in your mind. before the bang. its space and time and matter. where did space come from? its huge. How aobut matter? keep rewiniding it in your mind and you will see that it started by nothing. not even space, not even vacuum, not even light, nothing.

nothing created everything.

The only sane answer is the christian’s and yes they can be hypocrites at times, believe me I hang out with many of them but so can athiests. no one is perfect, we are all sinners. Christians realise this and look for redemption and grace.

So if you want to reject the very thought of God, do so, but if He is real then it is at your own peril. Yes even the loss of blessings.

Yet, the athiest doesnt understand that as they reject the God who created everything, and wants to bless them , yet He doesnt force anyone to do His will. Even good Christians have fallen to sinful desires.

But for the Christian and athiest, a rejection of God is a rejection of His blessings.

Make a bunch of robots who tunr on you and try to kill you and what will you do? pull the swtich right? Have a bunch of children like “Gran Torino” who dont care anything about you but what money and things they can get from you and you probably put them out of the will.
dwasifar

At least we have the christians copycatting us for a change.
Miko

Doesn’t a religion based political party come into conflict with the First Amendment establishment clause?

Not at all; they’re free to have a party, they just can’t do what they want if they get elected. The whole point of the “liberal” in “liberal democracy” is that we protect liberty against democracy when necessary (in theory). Madison discusses precisely this issue in Federalist No. 10 (emphasis added):

A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other, than to co-operate for their common good.
…
No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time; yet what are many of the most important acts of legislation but so many judicial determinations, not indeed concerning the rights of single persons, but concerning the rights of large bodies of citizens?
…
It is in vain to say that enlightened statesmen will be able to adjust these clashing interests and render them all subservient to the public good. Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. Nor, in many cases, can such an adjustment be made at all without taking into view indirect and remote considerations, which will rarely prevail over the immediate interest which one party may find in disregarding the rights of another or the good of the whole.

The inference to which we are brought is that the causes of faction cannot be removed; and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its effects.
miller

There’s nothing really objectionable about the ad. Actually, I like how they explicitly place themselves on the side of absolute certainty. It makes for a useful contrast, no?
dwasifar

It looks like this “christian party” is a UK organization, so what their ads are doing in New Orleans I can’t imagine. They’re at http://www.christianparty.org.uk, and don’t seem to have anything to do with the American lunatics at http://www.christianparty.net (thankfully).
Siamang

I forsee a new Atheist streetcar ad:

$9.99? Are you Out of Your Mind??!?

Atheism: Still Free of Charge.

And did anyone else laugh that it’s 9.99 to be a Christian Party Texter?

Does anyone remember the old Saturday Night Live spoof of “The Omen”? The one where they check the kid’s forehead by leaning his head back and say “nah, there’s just three nines.”
SASnSA

James Hill Says:February 27th, 2009 at 2:52 pm Hey there, I complained about this ad in London and got this pathetic letter reply

So, what we need to do is start an Atheist Party and post all our ads through them so we can start slipping through stronger ads as political ads!
lunarmagpie

Siamang Says:
February 27th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

I forsee a new Atheist streetcar ad:

$9.99? Are you Out of Your Mind??!?

Atheism: Still Free of Charge.

And did anyone else laugh that it’s 9.99 to be a Christian Party Texter?

Does anyone remember the old Saturday Night Live spoof of “The Omen”? The one where they check the kid’s forehead by leaning his head back and say “nah, there’s just three nines.”

that’s FUNNNY! :oD
Buffy

No surprise. Churches are businesses designed to bring in converts and $$$, nothing more. While some aren’t as blatant as this, the reality remains the same.
Siamang

Dave,

You real, or just a spambot posting random phrases from Ray Comfort’s blog?

Impossible to tell. Someone call Alan Turing.
Albert Ip

Should someone actually challenge the accuracy of the claim made by the christian’s ad. It said “definitely”, so proof of existence of god should be required, right?
Jen

$10 for 12 text messages? Sign me up to work for the Christian Party. Sounds easier than those envelope stuffing jobs advertised on the side of the road.
Christophe Thill

Well, when you go to a party, you’re sometimes asked for a participation fee, because there are drinks to buy and sometimes the hall has to be rent for quite a sum of money. I don’t know if the party is any good. On the one hand, I guess there’s free wine and crackers for everyone. On the other hand, the music must be crappy christian rock, so I don’t know.

Oh, wait… you mean it’s not that kind of party…?
Andy

@james hill – I complained to the ASA too and got exactly the same reply as you did. Ludicrous.
Wendy

Why are they allowed to say “there DEFINITELY is a god”, but we have to be, y’know, honest, and say “there PROBABLY is no god”? What gives them the right to lie through their teeth?