Halifax Joins Vatican-Dominated Italy as Only Jurisdictions in Western World to Refuse Atheist Ads
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 2:50The Halifax advertising authority has declared atheism ads in “poor taste”, or possibly merely objectionable to certain “moral standards”. In so doing they have joined the Vatican as the only two organizations in the western world still in the dark ages when it comes to allowing non-believers the right to free speech in public spaces.
In the 14th century the Pope was exiled to Avignon, France. France is too secular now, but maybe Halifax will welcome him if it's ever necessary.
That’s quite an accomplishment! Here’s the full official response we received from the General Manager of Pattison Maritimes (the company that produces and sells transit advertising in Halifax).
Thank you for your inquiry. We are aware of your message due to the existing media coverage you are experiencing. We are not able to accept your message as it currently reads.
If you would like to submit an alternative message, we will submit that for approval.
If any potential ad message is deemed to be possibly controversial, we must advise the transit system. They rarely refuse creative content, however have advised us that in this particular case, your message has already stirred up enough media exposure across the country to be deemed controversal.
All advertisements must meet acceptable community standards of good taste, quality and appearance . Furthermore, the ads will not be considered discriminatory, or objectionable to any race creed or moral standard.
In unofficial correspondence they have stated that this policy would apply to any groups with an advertisement referring to god or religion, although the reference to the possibility of our ads infringing on moral standards is curious. That phrase does not appear as stated anywhere in their policy document.
The CBC, in an article called Halifax is Keeping God Off Its Buses reports:
A ‘Without God’ ad has proven too controversial for Halifax transit.
Humanist Canada wanted to place ads on Metro Transit buses with the slogan, “You can be good without God.”
But officials with the transit authority deemed that too controversial.
Aren’t ads supposed to catch your attention and make you think? That’s what characterizes really good advertisements. Should our organizations be penalized for our successes? Besides, if we removed every offensive ad, we’d be taking half of them down. I imagine a Hummer ad isn’t exactly impressing an environmentalist nor, to borrow an example from Pat O’Brien, President of the Humanist Association of Canada, would a vegan be happy with an ad for sirloin stake. And it goes without saying that political ads are offensive to everyone who doesn’t belong to the political party being promoted. Here’s another example where religion receives a special blanket of protection. If you want to contact Pattison with your response to their actions (that’s what free speech is all about) their contact is at the bottom of a top post at http://atheistbus.ca.
In statements prepared by the Freethought Association of Canada, we shot back:
Metro Transit needs to understand the seriousness of the message they’re sending by rejecting an ad as benign as ours on the grounds that it doesn’t conform to their standards of “good taste, quality, and appearance.” Metro Transit has a history of running ads that are potentially objectionable, from Vagina Monologue ads that include the slogan “The Vaginas are coming” to ads for an anti-choice organization known as “Birthright.”
We’re very concerned about our right to free speech — I think a lot of Haligonians are expressing similar concerns, so we’re really eager to sit down and discuss this face to face with Metro Transit.
Now it should be admitted that Pattison hasn’t refused to consider any ad from our organizations.
The transit authority would reconsider its position if Humanist Canada toned down its message.
Toned down its message? Humanist Canada’s message - distinct from that of the Freethought Association of Canada - was the very outrageous
You can be good without God
Wow. That’s so toned down it’s practically apologizing for itself. It’s hard to imagine a more innocuous statement of the secular humanist worldview in a more respectful and conciliatory phrasing. How could anyone possibly ask that this be toned down, unless they think atheists and humanists have no right to any public existence. This is a clear example of just how certain individuals and organizations see any assertiveness on the part of non-believers as a sign of arrogance and bigotry. But I believe this example betrays the real bigots.
According to some research, a lawsuit against the Vancouver Transit Authority for an old decision not to run potentially “offensive” political ads (which was ruled unconstitutional by the B.C. Court of Appeals) was appealed by the Transit Authority to the Supreme Court of Canada last year and in fact we are awaiting a decision on that in the coming weeks. Here’s the appeal decision by the B.C. Court of Appeals. As I’ve said before on this blog, censorship and free speech is becoming THE issue in Canada.
And Pattison has a history of deciding the wrong way on these issues, considering their refusal to display AIDS ads: Pattison company rejects AIDS ads for Gay Men. Maybe AIDS is objectionable to “moral standards” or maybe it’s just gay men.
But seriously, these cases raise critical questions:
-are transit authorities bound by the Charter?
-if so, does the Charter guarantee access to advertising on buses?
-if so, can the transit authority impose limits, and on what basis?
-if limits can be imposed, is an informal policy enough, or would it have to be some sort of bylaw?
Send your thoughts quickly. Chris and I are appearing on CP24 tomorrow from 9-10pm to address these and other issues in the ongoing bus campaign.
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James says:
February 4th, 2009 at 3:49 am
Don’t mean to be dense but where’s Halifax? The only clue from your article is that maybe it’s in Canada?
Kevin says:
February 4th, 2009 at 6:41 am
The picture is great. It looks like a kind of “pope in the box” toy, Seriously though, I cannot understand why Halifax Metro Transport feels the need to protect the sensitivities of believers. Are their beliefs so fragile that an opposing view might make them crumble?
god says:
February 4th, 2009 at 10:34 am
It’s worrying to me, besides everything else, to learn that they would run ads for the Pride parade, but not for AIDS awareness. I clicked on the link, and read:
“In addition to being of the the country’s wealthiest men, Pattison is well known for his conservative political and religious views.
Banks also says Pattison owns all the key billboard space in gay communities in all major Canadian cities except Toronto. ”
However…it was the city that denied our ads, not Pattison, correct? But clearly both of them are working together to keep the people of Halifax closed off from the rest of the world, filtering out the reality of any difference. Doesn’t sound like something you should be doing in good ol’ multicultural Canada.
Grant says:
February 4th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Justin is exactly right. Free speech is become the issue, for everyone, believer or non-believer alike. Unfortunately, what is driving this issue is an attempt by the religious to strip from public view anything they consider to be blasphemous. We saw this last year with the McLean’s case where Muslims tried to crush the magazine, and journalism itself, by going through the human rights commission’s drum head trial process. We have seen it in Alberta. Now we are seeing it in some places with these bus ad. “Free speech for thee, but not for me,” seems to be the slogan of the day.
There is an issue, of course, that a private firm cannot be forced to publish ads it does not want to. We might find that disagreeable, but one cannot force them to accept ads they don’t want to run for whatever reason - free speech runs both ways. However, the key point that we need to look at this: are the buses publicly funded? Are they using tax dollars? If the answer to that is yes, then the game changes drastically. It means that an ad like the “atheist bus ad” cannot be denied simply because some people might not like it. One could make, I suppose, an argument that there are things it could legitimately deny - hate speech (narrowly defined of course) or pornography. But the humanist bus does not, under ANY definition, qualify as something like that. Blasphemy is not a reason to deny the ad.
I mean, ask yourself this: What is the substantive difference between a bus ad promoting a Christian television network, and the atheist bus ad? Would a TV station be denied a bus ad in Halifax because it focuses on religious programing? Would that not be considered unfair? How is banning the humanist bus ad any different than that? How, ultimately, is it different that religious schools banning the Golden Compass or other books deemed too “subversive” for their students?
There is a simple fact Canadians have not come to terms with yet: we do not have the right not to be offended. Period.
Or as Noam Chomsky said: ” Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re really in favor of free speech, then you’re in favor of freedom of speech for precisely for views you despise. Otherwise, you’re not in favor of free speech. “
JonA says:
February 4th, 2009 at 11:06 am
I think you have your main talking point already. Of course it might offend people, but so would an ad for a political party. You can’t have free speech if you’re not allowed to express an idea. This isn’t a graphic image of violence or sex. It’s purely an idea!
Justin says:
February 4th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Halifax is the biggest city and capital of Nova Scotia, a maritime/Atlantic province of Canada.
Kevin says:
February 4th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I am not sure you were aware but Jim Pattison is some kind of evangelical christian. This could explain some of the trickle down decisions from his media company. He once was rumored to have put a cheque for 1million dollars into a collection plate at his church. He also owns a company that distributes magazines in BC. One of the mags was a hard core porn magazine and when told of such he promised to sell it right away. Six months later he still owned it as he was trying to get the highest dollar for it.
Geoff says:
February 4th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
I am sad to hear of this. So can we conclude that the maritime provinces and/or Nova Scotia has a prevalence of religious people in Canada compared to most provinces? I’m wondering how politically motivated this is. Critical thinking always wins out.
Good luck with the interview Justin
Jim Ebsary says:
February 5th, 2009 at 1:35 am
Interesting. The Humanist Assoc. of Canada is having its agm at Dalhousie Aug long weekend.
Ron Brown says:
February 5th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Y’know, at first I was mad to hear this news. But now, I’m actually kind of happy about it. I mean, all these people are doing by banning these ads - especially ones that are so unbelievably innocuous - is giving us WAY MORE COVERAGE! They’re giving us FREE ADVERTISING! Maybe atheist/secularist/freethinker groups should start applying to have ads placed in public places, but with no intention of actually going through with it. If the ad gets accepted, pull out. If it doesn’t, just sit back as all the free advertising roles in from the news media and bloggers. What’s more, they’re generating sympathy for atheist/secularist groups from a broader audience of people because it is pretty darn clear to many people - even very many religious people - that the statement “You can be good without God” is as unoffensive as you can get when making a claim regarding atheism. This rejection of it just makes clear the sort of uncalled for resistance the nonbelieving community can face in this society. And of course it generates a sense of sympathetic outrage regarding free speech and equality for nonbelievers. And of course, it will frustrate many nonbelievers and make them more likely to get actively concerned about this sort of thing. It seems that in just about every way, they are doing us favours. KEEP IT UP!
Amanda says:
February 5th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I will be writing my thoughts in a few minutes on my blog so please read it.-Amanda
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Elizabeth says:
April 6th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Haha ^^ nice, is there a section to follow the RSS feed