I’ve put my fiver in to the Atheist Bus Campaign, and am looking forward to the idea of a ‘bright’ start to my working day, riding one of the few London buses that doesn’t have religious advertising on it.

The Alpha Course ads particularly are a prominent sight on my way to work. It’s a kind of religious pyramid scheme, where volunteer believers are given the skimpiest training, discussion notes and some good soundbites and sent to organise groups to encourage religious waverers that the holy water’s lovely, and they should come on in. Or at least it was from my experience – I did one many years ago, and the very nice young people running it really hadn’t been prepared for the idea they might encounter an argument and didn’t have answers for any serious questions.

The idea is simple. Religious advertising is a growing industry – Why not give a little airtime to an alternative? A nice, inoffensive slogan: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”, and a link for more info to those that want it. Do something fun, and give atheists a little confidence to ‘come out’ in a supportive atmosphere – very welcome in an environment where the BBC’s Thought For The Day slot can be used to criticise this campaign, without hearing a voice from any of its supporters, as though atheists might not be qualified to have any valid thoughts on moral matters.

Anyway, the web-based campaign’s already proved wildly popular. They wanted people to chip in for £20,000 worth of ads, and they’ve picked up over 100 grand already in just three days. It looks like the bus ads will be venturing out into many more of the UK’s cities, which is an amazing result. Some enterprising activists, good network nodes and media handlers, and pow! – a huge amount of energy tapped from a standing start. People are chipping in ideas along with the cash, and the idea is changing by the hour as it gets built upon in a very 2.0 way.

And hey, maybe an Omega Course would be a nice idea. Come down the pub to meet people of other faiths and none, and have a nice chat about it all. A little thinking about things never hurt anyone, surely? (well, with the exception of the mob in my doctored photo above, who I guess must have to take headache pills if someone asks them their name).