The atheist bus campaign in London, UK (slogan: “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”) financed and supported by, among others, famous activist Richard Dawkins has started an international trend. Similar public transport anti-religion advertising campaigns have since appeared in several other cities, in Canada and the US, as well as in Spain and Italy. This summer a similar advertising campaign is seen also in the subway/underground stations in Stockholm, the Swedish capital.
The Swedish slogan “Gud finns nog inte” is pretty much a direct translation of the slogan on London’s buses. The Swedish campaign is organized and financed by, among others, Björn Ulvaeus, famous former member of pop group ABBA. He has in recent years made a name for himself in Sweden as anti-religion activist. (Svenska Dagbladet 8 July 2009.
As an atheist myself, my personal contribution to the current debate is an article I wrote not long ago, “There is no religious architecture”—the atheist’s guide to the unholy alliance (so to speak) between organized religion and art in western society, exploring the intellectual and emotional problem of being a firm non-believer while recognizing the historic importance of music and art and (not least) architecture which is labeled “religious,” and arriving at the conclusion that labeling magnificent examples of architecture as “religious” is always a misnomer, because even though the experience of great art throughout western history almost always is connected to religious life in a very practical, direct sense, the religious experience and the experience of great art is never the same experience. Religion is never art. Religion in and by itself is always kitsch.
My article is as of yet published only in Swedish, in the architectural review Kritik, #3-2008 (title in Swedish: “Det finns ingen religiös arkitektur”), read it here.