Finally, a christian who ‘gets’ the “atheist bus”

17 January 2009

And the winner is…

*drumroll*

Stephen Tomkins!

But the atheist bus poster still seems an odd thing to make such a fuss about. For a start it doesn’t say anything nasty about God, just that he probably doesn’t exist. Many people have said much ruder things about him, and he always seems to take it pretty well.

…

It also happens to be a statement of the basic religious beliefs of a lot of British people. Considering the number of religious groups who advertise on public transport, if all drivers took Heather’s stance, the result would be pretty chaotic. No Christians, Muslims or other believers could drive an atheist bus. And if a bus had a poster with a verse form the Bible about Jesus dying for our sins, no atheist or Muslim could drive it. If it advertised the Qu’ran â€“ you get the picture.

…

Most of us, I think it’s fair to say, don’t want a religiously segregated public transport system. Perhaps there’s enough room on the buses for all religions to have their say without anyone walking out.

And here come the money quotes:

In fact, speaking as one myself, I think it shows quite a cheek for Christians to make a fuss about this. We’ve spent decades covering public places with verses from the Bible, and posters promising that if you let Jesus into your life everything will be all right for ever.

Then as soon as the opposition get the money together to do the same thing we’re outraged, and think that God is as cross as we are.

Personally, I think that if God is anything like as big and clever as we claim he is, he can probably take it.

I think we should give Tomkins a window seat. He’s earned it.

/hattip The Friendly Atheist

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Tags: atheist bus, christianity, Comment Is Free, news, The Guardian, UK, wow

Comments

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7856 Responses2009-01-17+01%3A11%3A29nullifidian to “Finally, a christian who ‘gets’ the “atheist bus””

the chaplain on January 17th, 2009 2:29 am

Thanks for posting this. It alleviates some of my cynicism about Christians. Stephen seems to be too smart to be persisting in his belief. I wonder if there's a chance we can win him to the dark side? :)
nullifidian on January 17th, 2009 12:35 pm

I know what you mean, it's certainly an eye-opener. I'm not sure it's worth it to try to win him over though; he seems to be doing good while still on the theistic side. :-)
askegg on January 18th, 2009 8:28 pm

Pity more Christians aren't as "Christ like" as this person. Mind you – Jesus was a maniac most of the time.
nullifidian on January 20th, 2009 4:56 am

I think you're onto a wrong 'un there — I think this guy is very much like his Jesus. It's just a shame that others are like their Jesuses, and their Jesuses are usually asshats.
Andrew Skegg on January 20th, 2009 5:30 am

Umm – I think that was my point. The modern version of Jesus is a meek, mild, passive, vastly intelligent man sent down to save us all from an eternity of suffering. Turn the other cheek, love thy enemy, etc.

It is a shame that many Christians *say* they follow the teachings of Jesus, yet fail miserably when it come to actually living those teaching (because they are impossible to achieve).

If we go back to the source documents and read them in a new light, it seems clear Jesus was not much like the modern portrayal. He said things like "I have not come to bring peace, but the sword", or "But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.", or wrecking a church because they were taking money (something modern churches seem to have no problem with). These are not the words or actions of a sane, thoughtful, or peaceful man. They sound more like a power crazed idiot, which I think is closer to the truth.
nullifidian on January 20th, 2009 5:54 am

Fair enough, I can see that you might have meant that now. Perhaps a winking smiley might have helped. :-)

As an aside, and IIRC, I think the whole "slay them before me" was supposed to be within the context of a parable or something, and is also one of those parallels that the bible is full of (telling almost exactly the same story but with other characters and within a (somewhat) different cultural context).

There's pretty much nothing that's original in that book that wasn't, in some form, already extant at the time (as far as these things can be discerned) of writing.

But, yes, their hypocrisy in this regard has not gone unnoticed.