One of our key goals in forming INABC was to promote discussion amongst people who normally do not talk to each other due to disagreement. We wanted to encourage critical thinking on the reasons behind faith or lack thereof. Both of these goals ultimately create more understanding between theists and nontheists in our community. Dan Waugh and Dan Barker not only fulfilled our goals but did so in a very respectful manner.

We want people to feel comfortable discussing sensitive, controversial topics like religion. Oftentimes people are fearful to express their opinions or do not want to offend someone else. However, as both Waugh and Barker showed us last night, we can break down these barriers in a way that is not inflammatory or disrespectful. We can discuss religion critically whether we believe or do not believe in God.

While audience members may not have agreed with the speakers, this debate gave people the opportunity to hear well thought out arguments that may have been contradictory to the ones they held when they walked in. Events like this should happen more often! With these debates we can enter an age where critical discussion of religion is met with no hesitation, no fear. With your help, we can make strides towards a world where any idea can enter into a fair and balanced discussion where neither side feels the need to hold back.

Our work is not done. There are so many cities that have not seen our message! So many more topics that have yet to be debated! Your gift is not just a donation; it is an investment into a society of free minds, good hearts, and loud voices. Make your online tax deductable gift today.

Dan Waugh

Dan Waugh currently serves as the Pastor of Adult Ministries at Evangelical Community Church in Bloomington, Indiana. He received his M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is currently working on an advanced degree from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis.

Dan Barker

Co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Dan Barker is a former minister and evangelist and became a freethinker in 1983.  His newest book is Godless: How An Evangelical Preacher Became One of America’s Leading Atheists.

Event information

Press: Please contact the bus campaign through the form on our website.

Parking/Directions: For directions to Woodburn Hall, please visit the IU Campus map.  For parking instructions, please visit IU Parking’s website and scroll down to “Parking Garages.”  The easiest way to park on campus is to use a pay garage…as the website states, they close around midnight or earlier, so if you wait until then you’ll be able to remove your car at no extra cost.  The closest parking is in the Indiana Memorial Union Parking Lot and Jordan Avenue Parking Garage.  You can also find all these locations using Google maps.

If you rode the buses in Bloomington today, you might have noticed a new ad on the side.  After a long battle with Bloomington Transit, our ads have finally made it up so that everyone around may see our message, ‘You Can Be Good Without God.’

We’re very pleased that we were finally able to accomplish this goal; we are based in Bloomington, and it was the dream of bringing the atheist bus campaign to Bloomington that originally motivated us to begin collecting donations back in February. We are also especially excited that the bus ads will be around when Indiana University students begin returning (or arriving for the first time) later this month for fall classes.

We hope that our continuing efforts to keep atheism in the public sphere will show Hoosiers, Bloomingtonians and IU students that non-belief cannot be ignored, atheists are people too, and that we all live in the same world…even in Indiana!

Press Release (RTF, 3.7 KB)

Dear Fox News,

This morning I appeared as a guest on your morning show, Fox & Friends, to discuss the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign. The other guest on the segment, Pastor Tony Taylor, mistakenly (or perhaps intentionally) claimed that the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution contained the oft-quoted clause, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…’

He then went on to argue that the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign was making a ‘mockery’ of the right to free speech granted to us by God. Apart from the inherent irony in this argument, I take issue with Pastor Taylor’s argument in two ways:

Pastor Taylor first neglected to specify what those unalienable rights we were granted actually were: they are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; freedom of speech/expression is not specifically mentioned. Therefore it is impossible that the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign could be making a ‘mockery’ of such a right that is not even in the clause to which Mr Taylor referred.

Secondly (and more importantly), Pastor Taylor was incorrect in stating that this clause was in the Bill of Rights. It is not. It is in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, which–unlike the Constitution–has no legal standing whatsoever.

The Constitution, and therefore the Bill of Rights, does have legal standing, but God is not mentioned in it. Therefore, the entire premise of Mr Taylor’s argument is false. Given that our campaign surely has many detractors as it does supporters, I was disappointed that Fox News was unable to find a guest who was capable of delivering any kind of remotely sensible argument against our campaign, but then again, I suppose I could have been expecting too much anyhow.

All the same, thank you for having me on your show.

–Eoban

We certainly applaud Fox for actually inviting us on to the show to hear our side of the story rather than just getting some pundits who are all on the same side, although we do regret that complex issues like this are compressed into five-minute ‘discussions.’

The members of the campaign are pleased to announce that we have reached a settlement with Bloomington Transit regarding our lawsuit.  A preliminary injunction hearing was scheduled in the United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana, but Bloomington Transit capitulated in the days leading up to the injunction hearing.

The terms of the settlement are that BT will accept our ad, which features the slogan ‘You Can Be Good Without God’ for posting on as many buses and for as long of a time as we like, for the standard ad rate.  They will also be reimbursing the ACLU of Indiana for a significant portion of their legal expenses.

Let’s be straight here: this is a victory not just for atheism and secularism, but for free speech all around.  It’s not the end of our campaign, either.  We intend to make the most of this victory: look for our message on Bloomington Transit buses in the coming weeks.  We also hope the outcome of this suit provides a suitable precedent for the many other atheist bus campaigns around the country trying to get their own ads up.

Finally, we would like to thank our many supporters, who have given us both money and precious words of encouragement.  Speaking of money…

We still need your donations. Bloomington’s not the last stop for the atheist bus, but only if we have the necessary cash.  Please take a moment to donate using the button over in the sidebar; we are currently surveying new locations for bus ads, and you could be next.  Most importantly, putting up new ads generates another round of interest from the press and public about atheism and starts vital conversations about religion and its role in society.  If you’re interested in furthering that conversation, please support us.

Thank you to everyone that has supported our campaign so far, and, as always, stay tuned for more later this week.

On an unrelated note: sometime in the next two weeks (probably on a lazy Saturday) we will be moving the site over to a new host that should better cope with traffic spikes; there may be a small amount of downtime, so we apologize in advance.

Originally, the ads were scheduled to coincide with President Obama’s appearance at Notre Dame’s commencement ceremony, but but were held up when the South Bend bus company, Transpo, claimed that the ad needed approval by a special board meeting. At their meeting, which took place after President Obama and the national press had left South Bend, the board acknowledged that Transpo had posted ads on buses from religious organizations in the past and thus they had no legal grounds to deny the atheist ads.

The ads are now on 20 of Transpo’s 48 buses, and they will remain posted for the next several weeks.

If you are in Indianapolis, CFI has a wonderful center that you can visit in the canal walk area downtown.  They put on numerous events every month, with activities ranging in purpose from social, community-building nights to educational lectures and discussions.  One of the goals of the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign is to get atheists involved in local community groups, and we encourage you to get involved with organizations like CFI who provide a great service to the secular community.

A message from Reba Boyd Wooden, Executive Director of CFI Indiana:

In my opinion, this is a great message to put out there.  Too many people think that you have to be religious to be a moral person.  They don’t know they have a choice.  They think that it is a given that there is a god, that everyone believes there is a god, and if you don’t believe in god you are a bad person.  We secular humanists know that is not true.  When I give talks to groups and when I talk with people who come into our center, I give them a copy of the Affirmations of Humanism.  The Common Moral Decencies cut across all cultures and religions.  Take away the theology and “god stuff” and that is what you have—those values that have been proven throughout the history of mankind to allow people to live in harmony, to respect each other, and to achieve their fullest potential as human beings.

When I am driving to and from CFI Indiana nearly every day from my home in Greenwood (about 10 miles), I pass numerous churches, some with signs that tell me that I will be “left behind” or “go to hell” if I do not believe the way they do, and a large billboard that says “Avoid Hell, Repent Today.”   So is it not controversial to post these religious signs, but controversial to post “You Can Be Good Without God”?

Again, thanks to the Center for Inquiry for their support.