By KCCI DES MOINES IOWA
Added: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:00:00 UTC

Thanks to BetaUnit42 for the link.
http://www.kcci.com/news/20298174/detail.html

Atheist advertising signs on Des Moines Area Regional Transit buses that created a storm of controversy when they first went up on Aug. 1 have been taken down.

Officials with DART said the signs were not supposed to be on the buses in the first place.

DART's advertising director said the board never approved the signs and that they were put up by mistake. The Iowa Atheist and Free Thinkers group said the advertising director told them that the signs had been approved.

"When she met with us on May 27, we showed her the ads and asked if this could be controversial and she said she didn't think so," said the group's president, Randy Henderson. "She thought it was a nice ad, a safe ad."

The ads that went up on Saturday read, "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."

DART said it immediately started to receive complaints.
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http://www.kcci.com/news/20298174/detail.html



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[UPDATE 7-AUG]
Thanks to Crapsquire for the link.
http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=F06FCF0A-5056-B82A-3798CE05613FE62A

Governor "disturbed" by atheist ads on buses

Athiest ad on bus that has caused controversy.Governor Chet Culver says he sides with those who were upset by advertising signs placed on Des Moines city buses that said "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."

The ads sponsored by the Iowa Atheist and Free Thinkers group have now been pulled off the buses. Culver was asked about the ads at an event today.

"I was disturbed personally...by the advertisement, I can understand why other Iowans were also disturbed by the message that it sent. But, we'll see how it unfolds," Culver says. Culver would not say whether he felt the atheist group had a free speech right to have the messages on buses.
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http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=F06FCF0A-5056-B82A-3798CE05613FE62A
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[UPDATE 7-AUG]
Thanks to Jon for the link.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090807/NEWS/908070354/1001/NEWS

ACLU questions removal of atheists' bus ads

The removal this week from transit buses of an advertisement promoting a Des Moines atheist group has gotten the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The state's ACLU chapter on Thursday launched an investigation into the legality of the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority's actions. The ACLU asked for public records of all internal DART correspondence while processing the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers ad.

The group has also asked for a formal letter from DART explaining the reasons for its decision on the ad.
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The advertisement states, "Don't believe in God? You are not alone." The ad made a brief appearance on DART buses last week before fear of controversy prompted officials of the government bus system to take them down.

Randy Henderson, Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers president, said: "Speaking personally, I think, yes, we do have that feeling that ... we're in a minority status as atheists. So there is that feeling that there may have been discrimination."
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http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090807/NEWS/908070354/1001/NEWS
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Thanks to Jon for another update
http://www.kcci.com/news/20317968/detail.html

Atheists, DART Meet Over Bus Ads

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A group of Iowa atheists hopes it can convince the Des Moines bus service to carry the ads it submitted earlier this month.
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http://www.kcci.com/news/20317968/detail.html

TAGGED: ATHEISM, CAMPAIGNS

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