Surely You People Can Do Better than This?

So, today in the Seattle transit tunnel, I espied an advertisement on the side of a Metro bus that kind of flabbergasted me.

It was an image of Jolly Old Saint Nick, with bright happy red text that proclaimed, “Yes Virginia… there really is no God”.

There’s an image of it here.

I was utterly offended, though not perhaps for the reason you might think.

Having done school marketing, I’m very much aware how much money was spent purchasing this ad. Let’s just say it was not inconsiderable.

You might think they’d have thought the actual ad through a little better.

Leaving aside that it makes a claim that is scientifically unverifiable, thus undermining their entire “free thinking” position, it’s a terrible ad.

Is the best way to proclaim such a definitive anti-theist statement really to use as your spokesman a fictional character based on a Christian Saint, referencing a fraudulent editorial about a fake letter?

It would seem to call your veracity into question.