Believers hit back at atheists in Spanish bus campaign (News Feature)

Madrid - Does God exist? Atheists and believers will squabble over that passion-arousing question in ads about to be placed on Spanish buses in Barcelona, Madrid and possibly other cities. The debate actually began in London, where a television writer, the British Humanist Association and prominent atheist scientist Richard Dawkins helped to stage an atheist advertising campaign. Hundreds of London buses now carry ads reading: 'There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.' Atheist groups in the Catalan regional capital Barcelona followed the British example, with ads showing the same text in Spanish due to be seen on two city buses for 15 days from Monday onwards. The campaign launched by the Union of Atheists and Freethinkers has received more than 6,000 euros (8,000 dollars) in donations which are expected to allow it to also plant ads on two buses in the capital Madrid. There are plans to extend the campaign to Valencia and Bilbao. 'We live in a free country,' said Madrid regional prime minister Esperanza Aguirre, whose government sees no problem as long as the ads comply with legal norms. 'The (Catholic) Church launches messages, why should we not do the same?' asked Albert Riba of Atheists of Catalonia, one of the atheist groups considering that the Catholic Church still retains an excessive weight in Spain. 'Such a campaign does not hurt anyone, will bring fresh air and a slap to fanaticism,' said Emili Vives of the atheists' and agnostics' association Ateneo Eclectico y Liberal. However, the Barcelona archbishop's office criticized the atheist slogan, stressing that faith in God did not prevent believers from enjoying life, but gave a 'solid foundation' for it. Christian associations protested louder, with the Group of Catalan Family Entities accusing the atheists of 'inciting hatred of religion.' It was Spain's Protestant minority, however, that really picked up the atheist challenge. 'A public debate on these questions' would be welcome, said Paco Rubiales, a pastor at the Christian Meeting Centre in Fuenlabrada near Madrid, who used church donations to place ads on two buses in the Madrid region. 'God does exist. Enjoy life in Christ,' the ads read. 'We are not worried about the atheists, but want to divulge our message,' Rubiales explained. The atheist campaign was seen as reflecting social changes in Spain, where only 78 per cent of citizens regard themselves as Catholics, down from 83.5 per cent in 1998, according to a 2008 poll by the Centre of Sociological Investigations. 'Those calling themselves Catholics are so only through baptism and other symbols,' without really practising the religion, liberal theologist Juan Jose Tamayo explained. Only about 30 per cent of the Catholics attend mass regularly. Acts of apostasy have also increased, with more than 500 Spaniards informing the church that they wanted to renounce Catholicism in the first half of 2008. Analysts attribute the change to growing secularism and to the conservatism of the Catholic Church especially in sexual matters. The traditionally dominant position of the Catholic Church has also been challenged by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Muslim and Protestant immigrants from Africa and Latin America. Such developments were reflected in a recent dispute over the presence of crucifixes in schools, with a group of parents managing to obtain a court order to remove them from the school their children were attending in the northern city of Valladolid. Non-believers needed to 'make themselves visible to prevent religious confessions from imposing their moral norms and particular interests to all of society,' the Union of Atheists and Freethinkers said.