The Iowa atheist bus ad will be going back up later this week. (Woo!)
Not surprising (to me, anyway), the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers have a *lot* of people on their side.
Check out the emails they received after all the publicity — some against them and many more for them.
Even better is this editorial in the Des Moines Register:
Perhaps a way out of this dilemma is to turn the advertising job over to an outside agency that would fill the ad spots on buses, but even that may not absolve DART of ultimate responsibility. Or, quit advertising, but that would cost the authority $200,000 in annual revenue.
Meanwhile, the authority should develop a thicker skin for criticism. The ad in question is hardly cause for outrage: It simply makes the statement of fact that you aren’t alone if you don’t believe in God.
I suggest next time, we get a billboard that simply reads “ATHEIST.”
That alone would generate tons of complaints from religious people and make our point just as well: We exist and we’re not afraid to say that.