Can you guess why??If not, scroll down to read the story.
It is a 'No God' advertisement launched by the Atheists (people who don't beleive in God) in Italy.In the photograph, the Atheist bus campaign creator Ariane Sherine poses in front of a bus. The advertisement reading"The bad news is that God doesn't exist but the good news is that you don't need him."were to be put in the northern cities of Genoa, where the catholic cardinal, head of the Italian Bishop's conference resides. On the contrary the Atheists have been running these advertisements in the city buses of Barcelona,Washington and London.For more information click on this link.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4823257a34.html
According to Giorgio Villella of The Italian Union of Atheists and Rationalist Agnostics (UAAR).
"Right-wing politicians criticized us ferociously, It's strange that in a country where ads depicting near-naked women wearing skimpy lingerie is permitted on buses that we can't run ads about atheism,"
Some other views of people from all over the world,
'The Italian government really has no concept of freedom of speech. It's a shame, really.'
'Keep on fighting, Italian free-thinkers, we support you!'
For viewing more reactions go to the following link.
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/7qhro/no_god_bus_ads_banned_in_italian_city/
Moreover, in the context of the 'No God' advertisement, the Atheists have raised a very valid question.If a country can allow advertisements with ladies wearing skimpy clothes then what is the harm in having their ads being put on the city buses.I agree with them on this point. If everyone has the freedom of expression then the Atheists also have the right to voice their opinion.Banning the advertisement was Italy's perspective which brings me to the concepts learned in the communication class.
A perspective is a coherent set of assumptions about the way a process operates-(Thinking Through Communication,SarahTrenholm).There are four perspectives of communication.They are; Psychological, Social constructionist, Pragamatic and Cultural Studies.
Psychological perspective deals with the individual aspect where as Social Constructive deals with the people in the world as a whole.In Pragmatic perspective, the communication is considered as a game in which the individuals make individual moves or acts.In Cultural studies the relationship between communication and power is studied.Each perspective has its pros and cons.
Banning the above advertisement falls under the Cultural Studies perspective where the atheists use the advertisemt to promote atheism in a large scale .Theses days there is a growth in the number of people moving away from organized religions to being spiritual or atheists.Hence Italy must have banned the advertisements as it would have a negative impact on the people which is quite acceptable from their perspective.Here is a look at the top 50 countries with the highest percentage of athesists in the year 2005 .
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_atheist.html
After understanding the different perspectives and Italy's concern of the growth in the number of atheists, I still think Italy should not have banned the advertisement. Now the question arises; Did Italy take the right step in banning this advertisement?
