Atheists campaign by bus in Indiana

Is the number of believers declining?

According to the American Religious Identification Survey released for 2008, the U.S. adult population over the age of 18 who do not consider themselves religious has increased from 8.2 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008 nationally; the survey also reports the rise of the “Nones” is one of the most important trends in the American religious scene.

As this rise in non-believers continues, there has been a growing movement to remove the stigma from both atheism abroad and in Bloomington. The Atheist Bus Campaign began in London, but it has now spread across Europe and Canada and is now starting in cities in America. A lot of the campaigns have been started independently.

“There has been an atheist bus campaign in Madison, Wisconsin,” campaign member Charlie Sitzes said. “Then the campaign got started in Canada, and we said why not start it in Bloomington? Now, we got one starting next week, Monday in Lafayette and another in Chicago.”

“We aren’t trying to force anyone to become atheist. We are just trying to break the stereotype that atheists are mean or cold. We are just average people, like your friends or neighbors,” said Caroline Klein, IU student and public relations officer for the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign.

Since the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign started in February, it has raised $7,530 from a vast array of donors. Currently, the group is trying to get more ads in Indiana and in surrounding states with its slogan, “You can be good without God.” The goal is to raise $50,000 dollars.

However, the group does not believe that there will be ads in Bloomington very soon.

“We’ve been trying to get it started here and ... there have been a lot of legal problems securing advertising here,” Sitzes said. “So it may be some time before you see buses here with our ads on them.”