Interesting Stuff: Morality and the Wall
Thursday, February 19th, 2009
Does the media owner have the right to decline advertising they don’t agree with? And if so, on what grounds? Here’s an interesting, if flippant (hey, they’re Australian) take on the current corner that APN Outdoor have painted themselves into over an Australian version of the British outdoor campaign by atheists promoting their beliefs.
What do you think?
The Atheist Foundation of Australia approached APN with a slogan and a fistful of cash. APN, a company that has run religious and political slogans in the past, initially said: “Sounds good, no problems.” So APN and AFA spent three weeks tweaking, diluting and compromising until APN abruptly pulled the plug. End of discussion.
How offensive was the message? Was it, “Sucked in, there’s no God. Ha, ha, ha”? Was it, “Those hours in church bored out of your brain, those years of guilt and all those prayers? Wasted. God’s not real”? Was it, “The look on their faces when they find out God doesn’t exist? Priceless.”
No. It was, “Atheism — Celebrate Reason”.
How scary is that? That was after “Atheism — Sleep in on Sundays” and “Atheism — Because there is no credible evidence” were knocked back. How flimsy does APN think people’s faith is if they’d be rocked by a gentle comment like that? How fragile would someone’s faith be if they were rocked by a gentle comment like that? If I were a believer, I’d be offended that someone would think my convictions were that shaky. How dare someone assume I was living in some state of suspended intellectual adolescence?
Aren’t we a multicultural, multifaith country that prides itself on diversity and tolerance? So APN, what gives?
APN has cracked open a can of “No Comment” on this one. As you would, considering Spain and Canada are all running the British slogan, America’s going with “Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness’ sake” and Italy, home of The Grand Poobah of The Roman Catholics, is going with, “The bad news is God doesn’t exist. The good news is we don’t need him.” Ireland will run something similar.
The number of churchgoers in Australia is about 9% and dwindling, the diversity of spiritual belief is flourishing and atheism is going off like a frog in a sock. In his inauguration speech, President Barack Obama, a man raised by atheists, mentioned non-believers. We exist. Like it or not.
Why does the media appear to have a vested interest in portraying atheists as a bunch of radicals rather than dealing with it as the mainstream issue it is? What’s the fear?