Atheist bus campaign

I've written in the past how my particular brand of skepticism includes atheism.

I see religion as no different to any other topic - provide me with the evidence and I'll reconsider my stance.

And so on to the news. You may have already read about the decision by NZ Bus to deny the Atheist Bus Campaign advertising space on their buses.

Now to some extent I believe they are entitle to accept and reject adverts as they see fit. But frankly I just wish NZ Bus would grow a spine.

Company spokesperson Siobhan O'Donovan said a number of people found the potential advert ("There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life") 'distasteful or distressing'.

This just winds me up no end.

I see, read and hear things every single day of my life I find distasteful and distressing (I listen to Newstalk ZB so it's not hard). But I have the option to ignore it if I so choose.

The thing I don't understand is why that simple message is so controversial. It's not like the giant billboard of the planes flying into the Twin Towers with John Lennon's famed 'Imagine no religion' lyric which was designed to be deliberately provocative.

The only conclusion I can draw is these people's faith is on such shoddy grounds that even suggesting to them there might be no god is enough to turn them to the dark side.

Frankly I feel sorry for people who found this distressing. If someone was to put up a sign on a bus saying "Atheists are probably going to hell" then I wouldn't be distressed. I'd probably laugh.

In the meantime those things which I (and many people I know) find truly distasteful and distressing - poverty, child abuse, racism, sexism - go unaddressed.

Hey, here's a thought. Maybe NZ Bus could have taken the multiple thousands the atheists were offering to pay and given their bus drivers a raise. Might have helped with the whole poverty thing.

A NZ newspaper article against pseudoscience?

Apologies for the lack of updates. I get pretty severe depression and it takes it toll. Thankfully watching '30 Rock' and taking prescribed drugs helps and so I'm back on my feet. Funnily enough, I"m not taking any homeopathic remedies like these guys suggest.

And talking about homeopathy. . .

I was surprised (and delighted) to see this Guardian article on the demise of complementary medicine courses in UK universities being reprinted in today's Sunday Star Times.

Unfortunately the Sunday Star Times has often been on the wrong side of the pseudoscience debate, with past features on television psychics and the like, so it's nice to see a pro-science article featured heavily.

Hopefully this is a positive sign for the future, and BSc degrees (like I have) can once again become a bastion of science rather than pseudoscience.

But I won't hold my breath - water homeopathy solutions are available in most of the pharmacies I've visited in New Zealand. A friend was even recommended a homeopathic remedy for a broken neck (not by a pharmacist, thankfully!).

And finally, I had a recent door-knock from the local Jehovah's Witnesses. Standing with by straggly beard and Iron Maiden t-shirt I obviously looked right for saving. When I told them I was an atheist, the lead wanted to know why. So I told her. I was rather surprised when she told me a growing number of scientists agreed that the order in the world demanded a designer to explain it.

'Not any credible ones,' I suggested and politely bade them farewell.