ACLU questions motivation behind pulling of Iowa atheist bus ads



Earlier this week, the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) removed atheist ads from its buses within days of them going up. Though it was said they were pulled because they were never approved, the group that put the ads up, Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers (IAF), maintains that the ads were approved.

There is speculation that the ads were pulled because DART received complaints following the ads' appearances on buses. Even the governor has chimed in on the issue referring to the ads as "disturbing" and "offensive."

Now, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has gotten involved, questioning the true motivation behind the ads being pulled. It has been reported that they are investigating the legality of Dart's actions. They have requested a letter from DART explaining its actions as well as copies of internal communications concerning the ads.

According to the IAF's Web site, the group is dismayed by this turn of events. A post reads, "Obviously this is a very upsetting turn of events. Our experiences dealing with the people at DART were very positive until now. We have a signed contract and they printed the signs for us." Reportedly, the contract was signed on May 27th.

IAF was made aware of there being a problem only after the ads had been pulled. They said, "The latest news is because of an 'overwhelming' number of phone calls DART has pulled our ads from their buses. We were informed of this [on the 4th]."

Supposedly, the ads did not receive the "final approval" they needed from the general manager of DART, Brad Miller, and its commission chairwoman, Angela Connolly. It is understandable that ads (once they are produced) would require final approval before being placed, but, that stage of approval is typically for quality not content.

It would be ridiculous for any company, including DART, to spend the money to produce ads before getting content approval. The story is a bit hard to swallow. Still, Miller and Connolly maintain that the ads did not receive approval to be run on Des Moines area buses

http://www.examiner.com/x-2044-Atheism-Exa...atheist-bus-ads

This whole incident is disturbing - but the statement given by the governor just crosses the line.
Do the people of Iowa even know about the First Amendment?

The ad is quite non-offensive as it is not meant to offend and is not written to offend. As an atheist, if I saw an ad that read:"Believe in God? You're not alone" I would not get offended. I think it is obvious those in power were theists and wanted to remove non-theist voices. To me this shows they are not so much offended but afraid that it will influence people.

If you want to get an idea of how many theists view atheists in America, here's a short YouTube clip of a CNN talk on atheists. None of these people are atheists to represent them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3ug8jV0xCg&feature=related ://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3ug...ature=related

Or go to the thread topic Atheists in America: Your Opinion? Norman is a good example of why some Christians would let an organization like DART get away with what they did. Because they feel they are 100% correct--yet it is based on no proof. This is just one example of the negative aspects of faith. It's correspondence to their psychology forces them to inevitably become intolerant and closed minded to other beliefs as possibilities. In correspondence to this, they stop questioning. And when you do that, you get offended of those who do question it.

Here's one more short clip of Dawkins (an atheist) who explains why people find these buses offensive and why they did these bus ads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSrSwRpBdHk&feature=fvw

Go atheism! Down with God. No Lord for me! Freedom! Let freedom RING! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCKP-FQ3KcE

There is a saying

"What is the reason to live if there is no God?"

Martin Nuke

Tha way i c it, you live for yourself and tha people you love.

This is why people are afraid of the concept that there might not be a loving god. They haven't been given the opportunity to think their lives mean anything beyond god's existence---in my opinion it's a sad idea. I live for my loved ones, friends, everything I can become, the experience this one and only life can offer. It's a gift. Look no further than the stars and you'll find inspiration.


Something we understand but many do not....though I think it is obvious.

What happens if you die?

I believe in the afterlife for living on this evil, miserable and unstable earth is just a stage in life.

How can you explain personalities in people with multiple personality disorder syndrome and according to psycologists those personalities were actual personalities who lived in the past?

^lol that is so spiritualism and superstition.

i'll let someone answer since you wouldn't believe me if i say this is unscientific.

the notion of afterlife is a supernatural phenomena that get debunked by scientific experiment already, just so you know.

How can it be scientifically debunked if its an observable phenomena?

you find those who claimed they're from the previous life and put them to a brain experiment test.

like a detective lie mechanism.

mpd

http://ezinearticles.com/?Is-Spirit-Attach...&id=1993839

the mind and the body are two separate entities, that's true. it happened during unconscious stage.

however, using the mental stages of the mind to correlate to the spiritual realm is very unscientific.

in that article, he continued to reject the scientific explanation for dissociative states as psychological causes or spiritualistic factors, but he offers little evidence for factor of intrinsic and external psychogenic causes.

hmmm also the concept of reincarnation is very unscientific by nature, and no reason scientists should put effort into research of this spiritual realm.

it should be the religious/spiritual believers or psychic who are interest in this kinds of phenomena to do research and provide real evidence to the scientific community before it can be established as a real phenomena.

otherwise, without concrete evidence of other legitimate causes, patients who claimed to reincarnate from previous life as having psychological schizophrenia, and that i agree is the scientific explanation for such phenomena.

People who think this life is just a horrible stage before something better are exactly the same people who tend to treat this life horribly and continue the trend---because it doesn't matter. In my opinion, people who believe this is just an evil, miserable, unstable stage in life are cooping with the bad they see in the world and hope they will have a second immortal life again later----in my opinion delusions of grandeur. People who believe this is the only life they will have will tend to try to improve it...for this is it.

What happens when you die is you go back to the earth (circle of life). To think any more, in my opinion, is selfish desire of a mortal. Life is a gift. In my opinion, an atheist has the ability to see life more precious than theists who believe in an afterlife.

How can you go back to Earth since Atheists do not believe in soul or spirit?

My point is the world is evil and miserable because Satan rules the earth.

How can Theists be more selfish since the Atheists believe in self preservation and materialism which I think that is more selfish?

You go back to the earth as matter....you decompose and return back.

In my point of view, Satan doesn't make the world the way it is---it's us and us alone. Man needs to take responsibility for his actions and stop blaming supernatural unseen beliefs.

Theists and atheists can be selfish in their own ways. But I think the need for self preservation is inherit in all human beings---theist and atheist. Atheists do not believe in materialism....who taught you that? Every atheist is different. Just because someone doesn't believe in god doesn't mean they are materialistic. There are some materialistic religious theists as well. Like those who ask for a lot of money to make their churches bigger and for their leaders to get rich. When it comes to believing in the afterlife or not, I think believing this is the last existence you'll have increases your feeling of duty to keep this world clean and a better place. Whereas if you think this is just an evil Satan ruled world and just a extremely short flicker of your existence (100 odd years compared to infinity) than you will have less inclination to preserve the world as much as one who views the world as the one and only existence. It's simple psychology in those regards.

Satan's rule on Earth will end when Jesus returns.

If there is no Satan why is the world so full if evilness and why is man evil? Theists can be evil too.

If Atheists believe in Naturalism or the Law of Nature why do they support abortion which is not natural but induced by man?

Isn't it that Abortion evil and inhumane because it is destruction of life?

If an Atheist think that an Embryo is not Human then that is already Materialism because the Atheist will just view it as a lifeless biological organic material.

If Life is precious to the Atheist, why do they support abortion?

Atheism = Materialism + Secular Humanism + Naturalism.

I supposed if it's inappropriate for other religious groups to mention/ advertise God in public stations, it is a little inappropriate for Atheist to mention god as well. They could have come up with an ad that didn't have the god in it and I'm sure it would have been fine. Though, the pull is still very fishy.

I don't know, Martin. No one does no matter what they claim. That's why death is this big mystery and why we fear it. People fear the unknown. It's about the only thing we really do fear.



Even if they are, Martin, does that prove there's a god? No. If we are recycled in some way--and this seems reasonable to me that this could be the case--it just means that that is the nature of the universe. It proves nothing about a god.

That doesn't speak very highly of your god.



I think it would be far more appropriate to ask that if there is a god, why is the world so full of evilness. Is Satan more powerful than god?



Who said all atheist support abortion, Martin? Why don't you quit creating straw men and admit something that obviously makes you very uncomfortable--that there are atheists who don't support abortion, don't like Obama, don't believe in gay marriage, hate liberals, etc. You can't paint them all one color anymore than I can say that the KKK is Christian and therefore all Christians are KKK.



I don't know, Martin. Aren't you evil if you swat a mosquito sucking your blood since it is a female who needs your blood to lay and hatch her eggs and so you are destroying a profusion of life? Atheists debate these questions amongst themselves as much as they do with anyone else. Try to understand that.



Once again, Martin, some atheists agree with abortion and some don't.



Some do and some don't, Martin. The same is true of Christians.

One night I was riding my motorcycle and suddenly saw myself from above lying on the road beside my motorcycle like I was airbourne. I suddenly became councious inside a hospital and the nurse told me that I had a motorcycle accident and bumped into a tree and I remembered the moment I was seeing myself from above and I realized that I had a Near Death Experience and Out of Body Experience.

I think I know already how it feels to die and I will be airbourne.

Beyond what jizzbang already mentioned about generalizations (which many theists tend to do on behalf on atheists), try to think of a world without god or satan. If you are able to do this, now ask yourself the same questions and see what kind of answers you come to. This is how an atheist thinks.

I am an atheist who does believe in a woman's right to an abortion. The thing with abortion is that it isn't black and white. People against abortion aren't against choice. People for abortion aren't against life. When you understand how people have horribly simplified a complicated situation, you will understand how I've come to my conclusions.

You may think, for example, that Hitler was somehow influenced by Satan to do evil. However, what if there was no Satan? Than why did Hitler do such horrible things? It's simple. Racism, power, greed, etc. Once the answer is no longer something simple, such as "The Devil made me do it" you will realize more profound reasons as to why someone did what they did. There was a news story how a woman with a mental illness killed her baby and actually ate some of her baby. She told police the Devil made her do it. But clearly, her mental state is a big factor. Once you eliminate the supernatural scapegoats, you start to rationalize things differently.


The way I see it, and as they somewhat explained it, is that the atheist bus ads are more of a satire of all the religious ads put on buses that go unchallenged. I love satire because when people start criticizing it, they realize they are hypocrites. They automatically are put into someone else's shoes. I think it's brilliant and just. The ads were pulled from an outraged majority (though the buses are not attempting to be offensive at all). I'd like to see if the buses will continue to run god ads. In which case, I think it appropriate to run "no god" ads. I think it has less to do with these religious people being 'offended' as it does with religious people being afraid.



Larry King had a heart attack and was medically dead for a little while. He said there was no lights, nothing at all. He is convinced there is nothing after death. Everyone has different experiences.

Pretty much. People have "out of body experiences" all the time without ever being anywhere near death. AKA Astral projection.

Agnosticism > Atheism

looks like the ads are coming to NYC, avisitor! take some pics and post 'em, will ya??

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/10/21/new.y...ref=mpstoryview

Too often ignorance of something isn't accepted by the faithful, but rather they turn to divinity for the answer, even if the answer isn't given then either but instead replaced by faith.

Ignorance of something isn't shameful or demeaning. If you don't understand something, it doesn't need a divine answer. Simply admitting you don't understand it is enough, all the while trying to learn more. Religion however often stops research and results of study, replacing it with "faith", where no further investigation is required; and that stifles learning and growth.

Larry King being atheist and all shouldn't be expecting angels to greet him -- It is also known that Hell is the absence of God. I think he just got his preview there huh? Anyway, I don't really believe in outer body experiences that much let alone a man who doesn't believe in an afterlife or a god claiming to have experienced an OOBE and tells something about it were supposed to believe. I think he's a little confused.