Be careful what you pray for
When an atheist group bought ads on Fort Worth city buses, local pastors protested. Rather than pull the ads, the local transit authority will ban all ads with any religious content.
The Star-Telegram in Fort Worth has the story:
The end is near for religious advertisements on Fort Worth buses.Two weeks after controversy erupted because the Fort Worth Transportation Authority accepted ads with the atheist message "Millions of Americans are Good Without God," the T board revised its policy Wednesday night to ban all religious ads effective Jan. 1.
"I don't like the ads. I think they create divisiveness," T board member Gary Havener said before the nine-member board unanimously approved the new policy.
But Havener also criticized the people who pressured T drivers not to operate buses adorned with the ads and urged riders to boycott the transit system.
"I don't like people coming in here and muscling our employees when we're trying to provide transportation," he said.
The new policy is effective immediately, but existing ads will remain on buses until their contracts expire. No religious ads are under contract beyond Dec. 31, T President Dick Ruddell said.
The "Good Without God" ads were bought for $2,480 by the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason, whose members said they wanted to raise awareness of nonreligious social groups.
Some church leaders were furious that the ads were running just before Christmas. Last week, a religious group hired a billboard truck to drive behind T buses with messages that read: "I still love you -- God" and "2.1 Billion People are Good With God...."
...The T also bans ads that are political, have defamatory or hate speech, or promote adult entertainment or alcoholic beverages other than beer and wine.
The T's new policy won't prohibit Texas Christian University, which is associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), from buying ads for secular events such as Horned Frogs sports, T legal counsel Sylvia Hartless said. The policy targets the message, not necessarily the entity buying it.
But the policy could be interpreted to prohibit TCU ads promoting its religion program or Brite Divinity School, she said.
What are my fellow Christians afraid of? Do they not have enough trust that Jesus can take care of himself? I'm not afraid of atheists; I'm not afraid of them plastering the entire nation with ads. Even if it's right before Christmas or Easter. Jesus can handle it just fine. And God is not afraid of people who question.
Posted by Lois Keen![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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December 17, 2010 4:39 PM