A HUMANIST advertising campaign has been launched on buses in York.

The campaign runs on First York bus services until the start of February and carries the slogan: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

It is part of a national campaign first run in London and backed by the British Humanist Association and prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins.

The campaign was devised by comedy writer Ariane Sherine.

Ms Sherine said she was inspired to seek donations after objecting to a set of Christian advertisements on a bus.

When people went to a highlighted website address, Ms Sherine said they were told that those who rejected God were condemned to spend all eternity in “torment in Hell”.

Ms Sherine said she sought donations for a “reassuring” counter-advertisement. She said: “I think there have been a lot of people out there who have been looking at evangelical advertisements and not saying anything, and thinking that these advertisements have been approved and just shrugging it off. Now finally they have an opportunity to express this feeling of exasperation.”

Prof Dawkins made a personal donation of £5,500 to the campaign.

Other supporters at the launch of the poster campaign included philosopher A C Grayling, Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, and Graham Linehan, co-writer of the Father Ted TV comedy series.

However, the Church of England said the Christian faith allowed people to put their life into a “proper perspective”.

A spokesman said: “We would defend the right of any group representing a religious or philosophical position to be able to promote that view through appropriate channels.

“However, Christian belief is not about worrying or not enjoying life.”

A spokesman for First York said: “Like nearly every bus company in the UK, we take commercial advertising (in our case through CBS Outdoor) on our buses and have strict rules and guidance in place for any campaigns which could be considered contentious.

“We have carefully considered the issues regarding accepting or declining this campaign.

“Since it is approved by the Advertising Standards Authority, and since it is our policy not to discriminate in any way by accepting some and not other messages of this kind, we have agreed to accept this campaign.

“First has no view in respect of the sentiments expressed in the advertisement, any more than we endorse any products which are advertised on buses.

“This campaign is being placed on a number of different bus operators across different UK sites.

“If anyone has any views on the campaign or the sentiments expressed in it they should make contact with the advertiser or the Advertising Standards Authority.”


We asked a Humanist and a Christian for their views on the new adverts

The Humanist Charles Anderson, of the North Yorkshire Humanist Group, said:

“The campaign came about as a reaction to a Christian Group’s bus advertising campaign in London last summer, whose ads sent readers to a website which promised an eternity of torment in hell for non-believers.

“As a Humanist I was happy to donate to a campaign that offered a positive alternative to this gloomy, but fortunately highly improbable message.

“We live in an amazing universe, full of more wonders and beauty than anyone could ever discover in their lifetime.

“As a Humanist I believe there are better ways of spending the few years of life we have than worrying about what happens in an afterlife that probably doesn’t even exist. Make the most of the one life we have!”

The Christian The Rev Arun Arora, the Archbishop of York’s director of communications, said:

“Telling people in York to ‘Stop worrying’ is hardly going to comfort those who are concerned about losing jobs or homes in the recession. My own hope would be that the posters will prompt people to think about life’s big questions.

“For me and millions of others in Britain, the answers to those questions and the transformative joy of knowing God can be found in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”