Writer Ariane Sherine was getting a wee bit peeved with all of the “Jesus loves you, and if you don’t love him back you’ll burn in the depths of hell” type signs that we are all inundated with on buses, bus stops, billboards and more. So she did what any good little atheist girl would do; she raised some money and put up some signs of her own. Hey- fair play gang. If one particular group can take their “message” to the people via our cities public spaces, shouldn’t others be afforded the same access?

So…. on hundreds of buses in Scotland, UK, Wales and Barcelona you will now see this advert;

There are many people out there who find this offensive and yet feel the religious signage already out there about Jesus is perfectly fine. That makes me wonder, are they worried that people will see it as an option?

I’m not a religious person. I have always thought myself agnostic though that label really doesn’t seem to fit as snug as I’d like. Nor does the term atheist. I have decided that I am my own category and that category is ambivalent because it fits perfectly. I don’t believe in god, yet I firmly believe that there is a place for faith in our world and what you have faith in is up to you. I have my hippy mother’s “check ‘em all out and find one that fits” attitude to thank for this freedom. She was raised a Jehovah witness (much to her disdain) and vowed to never push us kids into anything that we hadn’t checked out first.

I love these bus ads for what they add to the human conversation. Personally, I think they’re fucking brilliant.