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TRANSPO board in South Bend has accepted our ads

May 19th, 2009

We have a quick update for everyone: After a bit of hoopla in South Bend over the past week, we are happy to announce that TRANSPO, South Bend’s bus system, has accepted our ads saying “You can be good without god.” The Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign is delighted with the decision by TRANSPO, which celebrates America’s rich diversity of peoples and cultures and religions and extols America’s unique and long-standing dedication to freedom of expression as embodied the the First Amendment of our Constitution.

Our ads were supposed to go up last Monday, in time for President Barack Obama’s speech at Notre Dame, but the ads were delayed when TRANSPO decided to review the matter. The Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign had a contract with Burkhart stating the ads would be placed last Monday, May 11, or within a 5 day leeway period. As of today, because the ads are not yet up, that contract has been violated by Burkhart. You can read more about this in the latest South Bend Tribune article on the campaign. (Also, see more of our coverage on the Media page.)

The bus campaign is happy that a decision in favor of our ads has been made; however, there are details that must be worked out in relation to Burkhart’s breach of contract. We expect the message “You can be good without god” to be up and visible in South Bend shortly.

Here’s a video of WNDU coverage of the campaign:

Thank you all for your dedication to the campaign!

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized

24 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Tommy  |  May 19th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

    Awesome! Hope to see you guys in Evansville,IN!!!!!!! Thank you for keeping the message positive.

  • 2. Brandon  |  May 19th, 2009 at 2:08 pm

    They knew they’d have to allow the ad to avoid a lawsuit in which they really wouldn’t stand a chance. This move allows them to attempt to appease the non-religious by accepting the ads, while telling the fundies they’re looking out for them. Added bonus for the fundies: they were able to cause breach of contract and avoid the very time the ads would be seen by the most people. All they had to do was label it ‘potentially controversial’ to make it miss the busy weekend.

    Of course, the board members probably don’t have email or any other modern communications available, so they couldn’t have possibly communicated prior to the end of the leeway period to determine that the message doesn’t contain slander or libel. When bureaucrats realize they actually have to honor the constitution, foot-dragging seems to be a common response.

  • 3. James  |  May 20th, 2009 at 1:56 am

    I want to start an ad that read: “I Love Roman Lions”

  • 4. Amy Stovall  |  May 20th, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    I am a (left-winged) Christian and I support what you are doing with the campaign. We live in a country where we are supposed to be accepting of others’ beliefs and rights to free speech. I, too, get tired of the religious right’s agenda. Honestly, my husband and I almost high-fived when we saw the TV news in Indianapolis about the bus campaign. Yeay for you all!

  • 5. k  |  May 20th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

    It is awful what this world is coming to!!!! I’m a true believer in GOD!!! iF YOU WANT PROOF THERE IS A GOD, JUST LOOK AT THE BIBLE!!!! How do you think the world was made? Do you think one day it just apeared? How do you think you got in this world? I know by your mother and your father,but GOD made it happen. How can you look around and not believe there is not GOD? ALL THIS HAS CAME ABOUT BECAUSE GOD DID IT!!!! YOU NEED TO TURN TO GOD IN THE MIST OF ALL THAT IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD!!!! READ THE BIBLE AND GO TO CHURCH!! EXPECT HIM INTO YOUR HEART AND REPENT OF YOUR SINS. JUST LOOK AROUND, THE WOLRD IS IN SAD SHAPE!!! I COULDN’T MAKE IT IF I DIDN’T HAVE GOD!!! I PRAY THAT YOU DROP ALL OF THIS SILLY NONSENSE ABOUT THERE NOT BEING A GOD. I KNOW THAT THERE IS A GOD JUST PICK UP A BIBLE, LOOK AT YOUR CHILDREN OR GRANDCHILDREN OR NIECES OR NEPHEWS OR BEAUTY OF THE WOLRD, IT CAME ABOUT BY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • 6. Tim  |  May 20th, 2009 at 11:44 pm

    This is a great day for South Bend and for this Country. I really love the message. I really hopes this moves across our great State of Indiana.

  • 7. Steve Schlicht  |  May 21st, 2009 at 12:33 am

    For k…you ~

    - Tim Minchin “The Good Book” lyrics

    Life is like an ocean voyage and our bodies are the ships
    And without a moral compass we would all be cast adrift
    So to keep us on our bearings, the Lord gave us a gift
    And like most gifts you get, it was a book

    I only read one book, but it’s a good book, don’t you know
    I act the way I act because the Good Book tells me so
    If I wanna known how to be good, it’s to the Good Book that I go
    ‘Cos the Good Book is a book and it is good and it’s a book

    I know the Good Book’s good because the Good Book says it’s good

    I know the Good Book knows it’s good because a really good book would

    You wouldn’t cook without a cookbook and I think it’s understood

    You can’t be good without a Good Book ‘cos it’s good and it’s a book

    And it is good for cookin’

    I tried to read some other books, but I soon gave up on that

    The paragraphs ain’t numbered and they complicate the facts

    I can’t read Harry Potter ‘cos they’re worshipping false gods and that

    And Dumbledore’s a poofter and that’s bad, ‘cos it’s not good

    Morality is written there in simple white and black
    I feel sorry for you heathens, got to think about all that

    Good is good and evil’s bad and goats are good and pigs are crap

    You’ll find which one is which in the Good Book, ‘cos it’s good
    And it’s a book, and it’s a book

    I had a cat, she gave birth to a litter
    The kittens were adorable and they made my family laugh
    But as they grew they started misbehavin’

    So I drowned the little f***ers in the bath
    When the creatures in your care start being menaces
    The answers can be found right there in Genesis!
    Chapter 6, Verse 5-7!

    Swing your partner by the hand
    Have a baby if you can
    But if the voices your head
    Say to sacrifice your kid
    To satisfy your loving God’s
    Fetish for dead baby blood
    It’s simple fate, the Book demands
    So raise that knife up in your hand!

    Before the Good Book made us good, there was no good way to know
    If a thing was good or not that good or kind of touch and go
    So God decided he’d give writing allegoric prose a go
    And so he wrote a book and it was generally well-received

    The Telegraph said, “This God is reminiscent of the Norse.”
    The Times said, “Kind of turgid, but I liked the bit with horses.”
    The Mail said, “Lots of massacres, a violent tour de force.

    If you only read one book this year, then this one is a book
    And it is good, and it’s a book!”

    Swing your daughter by the hand
    But if she gets raped by a man
    And refuses then to marry him
    Stone her to death!

    If you just close your eyes and block your ears
    To the accumulated knowledge of the last two thousand years
    Then morally, guess what? You’re off the hook
    And thank Christ you only have to read one book

    Just because the book’s contents
    Were written generations hence
    By hairy desert-dwelling gents
    Squatting in their dusty tents
    Just because what Heaven said
    Was said before they’d leavened bread
    Just ‘cos Jesus couldn’t read
    Doesn’t mean that we should need
    When manipulating human genes
    To alleviate pain and fight disease
    When deciding whether it’s wrong or right
    To help the dyin’ let go of life
    Or stop a pregnancy when it’s
    Just a tiny blastocyst
    There’s no reason why we should take a look
    At any other book
    But the Good Book
    ‘Cause it’s good
    And it’s a book
    And it’s a book
    And it’s quite good!

    Good is good and evil’s bad
    And kids get killed when God gets mad
    And you’d better take a good look
    At the Good Book

  • 8. Eric  |  May 21st, 2009 at 12:34 am

    What a stark contrast between Amy and k… The odds are that k has never read the book that k is screaming about.

    “Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize humankind.” –Thomas Paine

  • 9. k  |  May 21st, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    Excuse me Eric I read my BIBLE everyda!!. You just don’t want to see the true picture the abslolute TRUTH!! You have forgotten the most important thing GOD LOVED US AND SENT HIS SON FOR US TO BE SAVED FROM ALL OUR SIN!! JUST ONLY IF YOU TURN TO HIM!!! READ JOHN 3:16 AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! I PRAY THAT ONE DAY SOON THAT YOU TO CAN FEEL THE LOVE OF GOD AS MUCH AS I DO!!! EVEN THREW THE TRIALS AND TRBULATIONS OF LIFE.!!GOD IS ALWAYS THERE NO MATTER WHAT!!!!!!!!!

  • 10. Tommy  |  May 21st, 2009 at 1:50 pm

    Praying is like a rocking chair-it’ll give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.

  • 11. k  |  May 21st, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    Sorry, that you think that about prayer, sometimes GOD gives you the answer you want and sometimes He doesn’t. GOD’s GREATEST GIFT IS UNANSWERED PRAYERS. SOMETIMES GOD’s TRYING TO TEACH YOU SOMETHING. PRAYER TAKES TIME. IT’S NOT OUR TIME IT’S GOD’S TIME!!!!!!!

  • 12. Tommy  |  May 21st, 2009 at 4:57 pm

    god is NOT Real. None of them are!

  • 13. k  |  May 21st, 2009 at 7:46 pm

    I’M VERY SORRY YOU FEEL THAT WAY! GOD IS THE BEST THING EVER.!!! TOMMY YOU ARE A VERY LOST PERSON!! I PRAY THAT YOU EXCEPT JESUS IN YOUR HEART AND REPENT YOUR SINS!! I JUST DON’T GET HOW YOU SAY THAT GOD IS NOT REAL LOOK AT THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD, THE FLOWERS, THE BIRDS SINGING, THE BIRTH OF A CHILD, GOD IS IN ALL THINGS!!! I KNOW THAT PEOPLE GET MAD WHEN PRAYERS DON’T GO THEIR WAY OR YOU ARE GOING THREW A HARD TIME!! THAT’S GOD’S WAY OF TEACHING YOU SOMETHING OR SHOWING YOU AN EXAMPLE!! GOD WILL ALWAYS BE THERE THREW GOOD AND BAD TIMES!!!

  • 14. Cray Z Fundie  |  May 21st, 2009 at 9:35 pm

    I don’t have any rational argument to make, but that doesn’t matter because WHOEVER SHOUTS THE LOUDEST WINS, right.

    Also, please be so kind to ignore my butchering of the English language. Once I finish praying for all of you heathens to go to hell, I’ll pray that I learn how to spell.

  • 15. Tommy  |  May 22nd, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    Cray Z,

    That’s exactly what the guys who flew into the Twin Towers prayed for.

  • 16. k  |  May 22nd, 2009 at 4:43 pm

    I’m just trying to spend GOD”S WORD in a world that is lost!!!!! I trully pray for all the lost!!! I know where I’ll going whent the raputre comes, I’m going to HEAVEN with GOD and JESUS and ALL THE OTHER CHRISTIANS!!! Say what you want but that’s the truth of the matter!! NO ONE WILL EVER CHANGE THAT!!! GOD WILL ALWAYS BE THERE!!!

  • 17. Don  |  May 22nd, 2009 at 11:46 pm

    I’m glad to see this taking off in South Bend. I live in granger, IN and I have been hoping something like this would show up. I like the fact that the slogan is not inflammatory, but makes people think.

  • 18. Ksush  |  May 24th, 2009 at 1:04 pm

    I’m glad this is getting approved around IN… wish it would follow in MN. Also, I wish that the people that love god so much would learn how to spell.

  • 19. LIEZL324  |  May 29th, 2009 at 10:15 pm

    watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9bcCs9X39M

  • 20. IsaAbdullah  |  June 11th, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    You moronic kuffar actually paid for something like this out of your own pockets?

    Don’t atheists constantly moan about “preaching” ?

    Pretty hypocritical if you ask me.. and you know what? The curse of ALLAH is upon those who die in disbelief.

    You should check the better site, whyislam.org

    And if you obey most of those on the earth, they will mislead you far away from Allâh’s Path. They follow nothing but conjectures, and they do nothing but lie. (6:116)

    And they said: “There is no life but our life of this world, and never shall we be resurrected.” If you could but see when they will be held (brought and made to stand) in front of their Lord! He will say: “Is not this the truth?” They will say: “Yes, by our Lord!” He will then say: “So taste you the torment because you used not to believe.” They indeed are losers who denied their Meeting with Allâh (6:29-31)

    And who does more wrong and aggression than he who invents a lie against Allâh or rejects His Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, or revelations)? Verily, the Zâlimûn (polytheists and wrong-doers,) shall never be successful. (6:21)

  • 21. IsaAbdullah  |  June 11th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    By the way, it’s pretty ridiculous to make the assumption that belief in God is about being good?

    It’s about worshiping the one who created us, and SUBMITTING to his every command. Goodness is just a result of this, as the more you worship God, the more he helps you in your life.

    Do you think pretending to be a good person can protect you from the hellfire? When you’ve disobeyed God’s biggest command.. TO BELIEVE IN HIM.

  • 22. setHegreetcox  |  August 14th, 2009 at 12:45 am

    What’s up, is there anybody else here?
    If it’s not just all bots here, let me know. I’m looking to network
    Oh, and yes I’m a real person LOL.

    See ya,

  • 23. adheraImmergo  |  August 20th, 2009 at 8:38 pm

    Hello!
    I must tell that inatheistbus.org is a great forum!
    I spent a lot of time searching for a website relevant to my hobbies.
    Fortunately, I found this board.

    Excuse me if this is a not the best category to post , however I could not find more relevant http://community.setanchor.com/AinaBentley:)

  • 24. Julie  |  October 26th, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    This is dumb!

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