20 July 2009

One Doesn't Often Get To Mention Zeus

PZ Myers (Pharyngula) has a link to a poll regarding some atheist signage in Vienna -- similar to the bus signs we've seen before in other places
"There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life"
"There is no God. [To] do good is human. What we ourselves do is what matters"
and my personal favorite
"God is with a probability bordering on certainty a Czech folk singer. Relax. He will do nothing to you,"
are the posters in question. The link is to an Austrian site, and the text is in German, but the three options are (in order):

Ich finde sie sehr gut. ("I find it very good" -- or, "I like it")
Sie stört mich. ("It bothers me")
Sie ist mir egal. ("It does not matter to me")

in case you would like to go and vote.

But that's not why I'm posting this. I'm posting it because of the following comment, found at Pharyngula:

Here in Italy the UUAR (italian acronym for Atheists and Agnostic Rationalists union) tried to put the same message on a bus in Genoa, but the advertisement society refused.
In a more recent episode, the UUAR put up signs with the same message (The bad news is that god doesn't exists...) and the signs were taken down by police because it offended religious sentiment.

In a funny aftermath, the UUAR choose a substitute message:
"The bad news is that Zeus doesn't exists. The good news is you can say that about Zeus".

Funny and very sad at the same time.

4 comments:

KarenB said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KarenB said...

They wouldn't want to offend the Pope, now, would they. He might take the Vatican (and all those tourist $) somewhere more God-y.

Jennifer said...

A) Good on the UUAR.

B) I'm really just commenting because I'm too sleepy to write a post of my own.

The Cunning Runt said...

I wonder what-such billboards have been purchased/erected in the U.S., and what if any the reaction was?

I don't seem to recall any recent hubbubs, and wonder if we're just that cow-towed?