Calgary's outspoken Roman Catholic bishop says he might demand equal time if ads questioning the existence of God make their way onto the side of buses in the city.The Atheist Bus Ad campaign, paid for by the Freethought Association of Canada, would feature ads reading: "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
A similar campaign generated controversy and anger in the United Kingdom and Australia and is also slated to run in Toronto and Halifax.
Bishop Fred Henry says he's willing to engage in a public discussion with atheists about the existence of God, but he feels the campaign is more along the lines of attack ads against the Christian community.
"The premise for a dialogue begins with respect, and I don't see this in this ad." says Henry.
"This is in your face. They don't want dialogue. They would more likely ... want an argument or a debate, so it's a problem."
Calgary Transit has given the ads a green light and Henry is watching the matter closely with an eye toward equal treatment.
"We come up with something like pro-life and we want to advertise that abortion kills a child. Oh boy, do people ever get sensitive and say 'you can't do that - it's too in your face'. So a lot of times we are restricted in what we can do with respect to pro-life activities," argues Henry.
"If someone can come out and say there probably is no God, so enjoy yourself, why can't I say 'Hey I want to have an advertisement on a bus that might be in your face? It might be pro-life, it might be controversial or provocative,"' he says.
"How can you accept the one and not accept the other? It might give us a little leverage to kind of promote our cause."
A spokesman for the Centre For Inquiry at the University of Calgary believes the public generally does not oppose the ads.
The centre, which is involved in the campaign and supports atheism, bills itself as a non-partisan, non-profit organization that encourages evidence-based inquiry into science, pseudo-science, medicine and health, religion, ethics, secularism and society.
"It's a matter of raising consciousness", says Eric Mathison. "In this case we're not trying to insult anybody or anything like that."
He agrees with Henry that the Catholic Church should be able to put pro-life ads on the buses as well and notes his group supported students from Campus-Pro-Life who set up an anti-abortion display at the University of Calgary.
"My position is I'd be fine with that. You know the right to not be offended in Canada is not a right," he adds.
"People take offence to a lot of things, and being offended can be one of the first steps to realizing your opinion needs to be adjusted or to be open to new ideas."
The United Church of Canada has launched its own "tongue-in-cheek" campaign to counter the atheist point of view.
"I don't want to make light of people's anxiety, particularly people of faith who have built their entire life on a faith system and a belief in God," says Rev. Keith Howard from Toronto.
"I understand people feeling that someone is putting a question mark over what they believe."
The United Churchsub> print and online campaign features the message, 'There's Probably a God. Now Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life'.
Howard says it's better to create a discussion, adding it's not as though the atheistic point of view is anything new.
"It's not as if there's people who all of a sudden have decided they think there's probably not a God," he chuckles.
"The sentiment has been around for a long time and some people might even argue it has become the governing sentiment of society."
The argument could be for naught. Although the Calgary ads have been tentatively approved, a final contract has not been signed.
"The Freethought organizers have not signed a contract and no ad space has been purchased," says Calgary Transit spokesman Ron Collins.
"We appreciate not everybody is in agreement with this, but we're following the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards. The advertisement we've seen is in line with the acceptable standard."
Collins says bus ads have touched on controversial issues before.
"Calgary Transit has allowed several campaigns over the years, covering many diverse subjects such as vegetarian lifestyles, dating, family planning and religion."
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