BC Transit Encourages Vandals to Silence Atheists; Vandals Oblige
The Centre for Inquiry Canada purchased ads for busses in British Columbia and the reaction from Christians hasn’t been positive. The ads are fairly mild — all they say is "There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." Some bus drivers, though, refuse to drive busses with that ad and BC Transit spokeswoman Joanna Lingsangan all but dared vandals to destroy the ads since she couldn’t order them removed. Unsurprisingly, some vandals accommodated her.
Transit companies in several municipalities across Canada have refused to run the ads, Trottier said, citing policies against provocative or ideological messages.
But the CFI’s ads have been approved by the Canadian Standards Association, and many transit providers have since relented – including in Vancouver and Victoria, where the campaign may be heading in the near-future.
Trottier said he took exception to statements by BC Transit spokeswoman Joanna Lingsangan that if ads in the Okanagan are vandalized or result in harassment against bus drivers, they will be removed.
“She’s basically gone and told any fanatic what they can do to bully the government into taking our ads down,” he said.
“I thought it was shameful. The government should protect our Charter rights and not side with a nut who vandalizes our ads, which, by the way, we pay for like any other advertisers.”
Source: CTV
So first atheists had to fight just for the right to purchase ads, something which I’m sure no church or other Christian organization has had to do in British Columbia. Then, once their right to be treated equally had been established, BC Transit spokeswoman Joanna Lingsangan publicly declared that while she couldn’t do anything to stop atheists from advertising she certainly wasn’t going to do anything to make matters easier — and if some noble citizen were to take the law into their own hands, she wasn’t going to object, either.
No surprise then that that’s what happened: the ads weren’t merely vandalized, they were stolen entirely. From the sides of the buses. At night. In a locked lot, monitored by the BC transit authority.
Executive Director with the Centre for Inquiry says he’s been told by Lamar Advertising, it was a professional hit.
“They weren’t simply ripped off or graffitti. Apparently, to their knowledge, this has never happened before.”
The two buses were parked in a bus yard that has security around the clock.
Source: AM1150
Can you say “inside job”? It’s just not plausible that kids or private citizens managed to break in and commit this crime on their own. No, it’s far more likely that people who work for the bus company did it themselves — drivers, maintenance people, or even the very security people whose job it is to prevent this sort of thing. And why? Because some Christians just can’t handle the idea of atheists being public and unapologetic about their views. Some Christians are just too insecure to handle the existence of disagreement or criticism.
But remember, it’s atheists who are the rude for wanting such ads at all — not Christians for opposing them, vandalizing them, or stealing them. It’s atheists who are militant for wanting to express their opinions at all, not Christians for doing it all the time and in every imaginable context. It’s atheists who are intolerant for daring to disagree with and criticize Christianity, not Christians for using intimidation or force to silence such criticism.
via BC Transit Encourages Vandals to Silence Atheists; Vandals Oblige.
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