Quoted from a national newspaper:
Anyone who has spent a chilly half-hour in London waiting for a double-decker bus may already have doubted the existence of a deity.
But for those who need further proof, a nationwide advertising campaign in Britain, aimed at persuading more people to "come out" as atheists, has been launched with the backing of some of the country's most famous non-believers.
The principal slogan — "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" — can already be seen on four London bus routes.
Now 200 articulated buses in London and 600 others across the country are to carry the advert after a fund-raising drive that brought in more than £140,000 ($A288,000) far exceeded the original target of £5500.
The money will pay for 1000 advertisements on the London Underground train network from Monday and ads on a pair of giant LCD screens opposite Bond Street subway train station in Oxford Street.
Organisers unveiled quotes from public figures — including Albert Einstein, Douglas Adams and Katharine Hepburn — who have endorsed atheism, or at least expressed scepticism about any creator.
The words "That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet" are quoted from the poet Emily Dickinson.
At the launch in a marquee next to the Albert Memorial in west London, the television comedy writer Ariane Sherine, creator of the campaign, said: "You wait ages for an atheist bus and then 800 come along at once.
"I hope they'll brighten people's days and make them smile on their way to work. This is a great day for freedom of speech in Britain. I am very glad that we live in a country where people have the freedom to believe in whatever they want."
Joining Sherine were Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, Hanne Stinson, from the British Humanist Association, the philosopher A. C. Grayling, and Graham Linehan, who wrote the television shows Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd. There were messages of support from actor Stephen Fry, writer Charlie Brooker and noted Internet hooligan MadMat.
"I am ecstatic", says MadMat, "it's about time buses became more than just places for filthy hobo's to take a shit!"
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