It’s heartening to see that it’s not only Christians who squabble over what they believe:

Two rival atheist groups will attempt to peddle their different views of non-belief to Canadians through separate advertising campaigns on public transit.

The Humanist Association of Canada said this week it will launch a campaign in Vancouver and Toronto and one other city to send the message “there is a real and viable alternative to religion.”

Last week, several atheist groups, through the Web site atheistbus.ca,said they would be running a transit ad blitz similar to one launched recently in London, England. It will also use the same slogan as the British campaign: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” They have raised $16,000 and are now waiting for permission from the Toronto Transit Commission to put their posters on city buses. The campaign could begin next month.

Pat O’Brien, president of the Humanist Association, said his group considered working with atheistbus.cabut decided a pure atheist campaign would be too negative. “Joseph Stalin was an atheist,” said Mr. O’Brien, who considers atheism an element of humanism. “He was not a humanist. We want to send a positive message. Atheism is what you’re not; humanism is a positive world view.”

The group is running a contest on its Web site to help create the catchiest slogan. They hope the posters will be up in the spring.

That’s strange, Corliss Lamont, humanist, Marxist philosopher, one time president of the American Humanist Association and 1977 Humanist of the Year loved Joseph Stalin, declaring piously that “the preservation of progressive democracy demanded that Stalin’s actions be ratified”. I think “Joseph Stalin was an atheist” would be the perfect slogan.