First, there was a gem of idea on the Guardian's Comment is Free website and then there was the reality. The 'Atheist Bus Campaign', launched in 2008, has to date has raised £151,000 to pomote the wonderfully unsure slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life". The campaign, spread via the internet and then via huge publicity, has pulled in a huge amount of small donations and encouraged copycat ideas the world over. Campaigns have sprung up in the US, Canada, Latin American, Italy, Spain and Australia. Unsuprisingly, it also generated a fair share of controversy and complaint. There was even the ludicrous situation of the UK's Advertising Standards Authority being asked to rule on the ad being misleading. Imagine that. An advertising regulator deciding if God exists. Succeeding where millenia of theological debate had failed. Even more unsuprisingly, the Italian campaign fell foul of God's representative on Earth, the Pope, who of course didn't share the doubt that Italian Humanists aimed to express. Who'd have though that, eh? Even so, its been a rather reassuring event for those of us who feel uneasy with the immense amount of influence that religious organisations have on public life and the mindless inter-faith conflict that our news bulletins so graphically show us. So what has this to do with HR I hear you shout. Nothing, I reply. I've posted this because it’s nearly the weekend and I wanted to lure you away from the final hours of your working week. You may be ernestly staring at your computer, but your boss and I know that you're only pretending to be busy. So, on a lighter note, please feel free to design your own bus slogan, here. Personally, I'm campaigning against the existence of the sky. I mean, it doesn't really do anything does it?
