Another of God’s little mistakes
Francis Sedgemore, Thursday 8 January 2009
Quoth Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association…
“I’ve sought advice from some of our key people here, but I’m afraid all I’ve got out of them so far is peals of laughter… I am sure that Stephen Green really does think there is a great deal of evidence for a God (though presumably only the one that he believes in), but I pity the [Advertising Standards Authority] if they are going to be expected to rule on the probability of God’s existence.”
Priceless.
Feed the writer! 
Friday 9 January 2009 at 07:29 UTC
I can’t help thinking that humanists – and my step-father is a militant one – are consitently missing the point. The argument doesn’t have to be about whether we know that a God exists but whether religion really is so miserable – the Christians I know are mainly happy and helpful people who care about humanity. Not all, obviously.
Friday 9 January 2009 at 10:20 UTC
I’m not sure what to make of that, Gadj, and am hesitant to reply for fear of offending you.
Christians happy? No doubt, but so too, probably, are most members of tiddlywinks clubs. Human fellowship is a very good thing, and it takes many forms. I don’t see humanists wishing to ban religious assembly.
The Atheist Bus campaign is in my view life affirming, and I was heartened to learn that among its sponsors is the Christian Advertising Network. For these creative souls apathy is the real enemy, not atheism.
Friday 9 January 2009 at 13:21 UTC
Say what you like, Francis, don’t worry about offending me! I wasn’t objecting to the poster on the bus at all. I was just bored with what I imagine to be the central point here (about the G-man) and thought I’d make an alternative one (about enjoyment). I get the impression more and more that religion is perceived by non-religious people as, at best, a joyless self-flagellation exercise. That’s tiddlywinks.
Friday 9 January 2009 at 13:38 UTC
G-man Stephen Green gives me a great deal of joy. The man provides free entertainment in abundance, albeit of a variety that is unhealthy when consumed to excess.
As for the other G-man, I see him as an overly complicating hypothesis that is totally unnecessary when it comes to living a ‘spiritual’ life. Atheists’ going on so about the G-d thing is simply designed to undermine the belief in deities as normative.
I know that religion can be fun, especially the kind that doesn’t view sex and the pursuit of pleasure an inherently sinful. Witchcraft has a lot going for it, for example. Total tosh, mind you, but I’m sure it’s all good fun. Witchcraft and Pastafarianism, though I’m not so familiar with the detailed doctrines of the latter.
Friday 9 January 2009 at 14:12 UTC
Francis; look at the slogan on the bus. Its hardly an atheist bus campaign, is it. More of a sort of polite agnostic Oxford Don on the one hand /on the other hand bus campaign.
Druidry might suit you, BTW. In a book shop in Oslo last week I saw a copy of “What Druids Believe” IN ENGLISH by Phillip Carr Gomm, I think. It was in the crime section! (Oslo’s book shops are actually better for English books – intermingled with the ones in Norse -?- than Manchester’s.)
Friday 9 January 2009 at 14:19 UTC
“There’s probably no God” is the most one can say with any certainty. :-) Dawkins has said that if it were up to him alone, the slogan would have read “There’s almost certainly no God”. But then he’s just a stroppy git, innit?
Friday 9 January 2009 at 14:22 UTC
That Ariane Sherine (founder of the Atheist Bus campaign) is enough to turn any red-blooded hetero mail or gay woman into an atheist. She must be the devil incarnate.
Friday 9 January 2009 at 16:25 UTC
Great discussion, guys. I’m really out of the loop about this sort of debate at the moment, and wasn’t really aware what was going on. Don’t fancy that Ariane Sherine much though – now Thora Hurd, she was bitchin’.
Friday 9 January 2009 at 17:13 UTC
So Dawkins is an agnostic, eh? I’ll be sure to let the Druids know.
Friday 9 January 2009 at 17:17 UTC
Sorry; and the Bards and Ovates as well. Of course.
Friday 9 January 2009 at 17:24 UTC
What’s this, Mike – are you sending the lads around to sort out the lilly-livered Dawkins?
Saturday 10 January 2009 at 11:46 UTC
The bus says God “probably” doesn’t exist. Hardly a ringing denial, is it? Can’t see what Green’s worried about.
The man lives in Wales, like so many English nuts who don’t like the modern world. When the Cymru Rouge take power he’ll have a bit more to deal with.
Saturday 10 January 2009 at 15:54 UTC
“like so many English nuts”
Like that lardy-arsed Nazi Nick Griffin, perhaps?
As for the Cymru Rouge, make it red and black and I’ll happily join up.
Cymru Coch a Du – Cymru Coch a Doodle Doo.
Sunday 11 January 2009 at 00:14 UTC
Has Stephen Green shaved? This is a man so reviled that he continues to be abused on Newsnight after expressing his opposition to the invasion of Iraq.
Sunday 11 January 2009 at 00:52 UTC
Green may be abused, but everyone bar the leaders of mainstream christian sects love him really. He’s such a good laugh, but to the bishops he’s an embarrassment.