Is there a God? A bus ad campaign coming to a city near you is wrestling that out. It's the most important question to answer in life. Many won't agree on our Christian approach to that question. What is the opposing view? That’s explored this week on Listen Up. 

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What do you think about the atheist ads? Write to us at listenup@listenuptv.com 

For more information on our guests and resources click "Watch Episode" below.  To read our "talking points" for the show click here.

Context

Transit riders make for a captive audience for advertisers. And the latest ads have caught their attention. Questioning the existence of God has arrived in Toronto plans to move to Calgary, where Syed Soharwardy, of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, has pledged to run ads countering the atheist ones.

The atheist ad got shut down in Halifax, and Vancouver. Organizers are now waiting a freedom of speech precedent from the Supreme Court before rolling on.

For Canada’s atheists, it’s been a chance to organize and expand community. We interviewed student,Chris Hammond, who been bombarded with attention since picking up the idea from London. Atheists there reacted with this campaign because of religious ads directing people to web sites that promised eternal damnation for non-believers.

It didn't take long for the British campaign to make it's way to North America - igniting public debate over the appropriateness of plastering beliefs on buses.

Others have welcomed the ads in the interests of furthering public discourse. That's just what the United Church of Canada is hoping for. 500,000 members strong, they've stepped into the fray with ads of their own. It's not the church's first foray into advertising, or into using clever means of encouraging public discussion about life's biggest questions. Through the use of their website, www.wondercafe.ca, the church is diving straight into controversial topics that shape the culture today.

Guests

THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA– EMERGING SPIRIT & WONDER CAFÉ
www.emergingspirit.ca
www.wondercafe.ca

Norm Seli, Spokesperson

Emerging Spirit focuses on establishing and nurturing a relationship between the United Church and Canadians who don't attend church, with a focus on those between the ages of 30 and 45.

The Wonder Café is a community of people just like you, discussing what’s on their minds and sometimes helping each other figure stuff out.

BUS STOP BIBLE STUDIES
www.busstopbiblestudies.com

David Harrison, President

Bus Stop Bible Studies presents the Word of God to the general public in the form of Bible studies found on transit companies throughout Canada.

CENTRE FOR INQUIRY CANADA
www.centerforinquiry.net

Justin Trottier, Executive Director

The Center for Inquiry purpose is to contribute to the public understanding and appreciation of science and reason, and their applications to human conduct.

THE CANADIAN ATHEIST BUS CAMPAIGN
www.atheistbus.ca
http://atheistbus.ca/resources

Chris Hammond, Campaign Founder

The Canadian Atheist Bus Campaign featuring the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life,” was launched to encourage discussion about and raise awareness of atheists, agnostics, and non-believers in Canada.

Resources

TESTS OF REASON FOR WANTING TO FIND OUT IF GOD EXISTS
Helpful links:

Walt Ruloff
Executive Producer, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”
www.expelledthemovie.com
www.premisemedia.com

Walt Ruloff has a background in technology and shifted his focus to bio-technology and genomics…
“We realized very quickly, that we needed to create political will for change. And the best way to create political will for change in this particular issue is with a movie. With a nationally, internationally released film that deals with this suppression. This academic suppression. So that was the original formation of the film and the company.”

Kirk Durston
www.newscholars.com
www.doesgodexist.ca

Kirk is a Canadian Intelligent Design theorist, and the national director of the New Scholars Society. He has two undergraduate degrees in science, a Masters degree in philosophy and he’s a Ph.D. candidate in Biophysics at the University of Guelph.

Article Recommended by Kirk Durston:
Intelligent Design: Required by Biological Life?
www.newscholars.com/papers/ID%20Web%20Article.pdf

Rev. Dr. John Polkinghorne
www.starcourse.org/jcp/

This particle physicist, Anglican priest, and Templeton prize winner says belief in evolution and God can go hand in hand. He's the author of many books. Here are a few: 

Belief in God in an Age of Science
To purchase: www.amazon.com/Belief-God-Science-John-Polkinghorne/dp/0300099495

Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship
To purchase: www.amazon.com/Quantum-Physics-Theology-Unexpected-Kinship/dp/0300138407/ref=pd_sim_b_1

From Physicist to Priest: An Autobiography
To purchase: www.amazon.com/Physicist-Priest-Autobiography-John-Polkinghorne/dp/1556359101/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225481185&sr=1-15

From the Center of Theological Inquiry:
God in Relation to Nature
The 1998 Witherspoon Lecture
by Dr. John Polkinghorne

"...In recent years, the intellectual conversation between science and theology has moved on from natural theology's appeal to God as the ground of order and fruitfulness, to a more central theistic concern with the God of providence. On the one hand, we have science's account of the regularity of the processes of nature. On the other hand, we have Christian theology's claim to speak of the God who acts in history. Can the two be reconciled with each other?" To read more: http://www.ctinquiry.org/publications/reflections_volume_2/polkinghorne.htm

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