Atheists in Australia denied right to free speech

I don't think anyone should be censored because their message might offend a group of people. I can't think of one advertising message that is wholly acceptable to everyone on the planet. Nor should they be refused on the grounds of religion. Their message is equally valid as any other religious group's message and should be honored as such. One thing I've always wondered is, why do religions have to advertise in the first place?

The bigger question is if ATHEISM is all that GREAT --- SHOULD they HAVE to ADVERTISE?

Personally I find that their advertising pushes me very close to God. So advertise ALL OVER THE PLACE!

Should an advertising firm have the right to refuse the atheists' business?

Yes, any private company should have the right to refuse any business they please.....havnt u seen those signs in restaurants lol

No one was denied their right to free speech.

Free speech rights do not work in the private sector. A private corporation can 'censor' anything they want. They do all the time and there's nothing wrong with that.

Now, if the atheist can prove he was discriminated against, then that's something else.

So, the issue is not free speech, it's discrimination.

"Greg Clarke, the director of the Centre for Public Christianity, says freedom of expression should be favoured as often as possible.

"As long as it's done with a level of civility that means we actually do engage with the issues, rather than just fighting with each other," he said."

Just to point out it wasn't the Christians who did this. Just a Bus company, had nothing to do with religion.

My question would be whether the firm would also refuse other religious groups advertising space, since that would just suggest they're taking a purely secular, a-religious line, which wouldn't count as bias and would be acceptable in my book.

Just arguing that Australia is a secular society doesn't mean that atheists automatically have the right to put up posters where other religions may not, since that would be equivalent to saying that the state 'religion' is in fact atheism.

If this group were denied BECAUSE they were atheists, then no, the advertisers were not in the right.

As some commentators have mentioned, free speech means different things in the private/public sectors, but that doesn't prevent the advertisers in question from just being idiots.

It is probably as simple as Supply and Demand. Perhaps the company is making more money with the money other clients bring in, such as movie trailers, and adds that have been traditionally used in those spaces.

Other than that I dunno.

There should never be a problem with allowing different points of view to exist. There should be all faiths and religions represented, including the right NOT to believe. That's Freedom of Speech. Just like we have it on Current Dot Com.

May a god of no one's understanding or acceptance smite APN Outdoor for their mortal judgments.

You always know that someone has a guilty conscience when they don't return your phone calls.

I think god should kill all atheists. that would show them

How where they refused the right to free speech? If I own a business I can turn down anyone I wish. I am sure there is a business that will work with the atheists (money is a god to all....>:)).

If priests should be allowed to refuse to marry same sex couple because it goes against their beliefs, shouldn't bus companies be able to refuse certain advertisements because it goes against their policies?

Responding to the comment if atheism is so great why do they need to advertise it.

If religion is so good why do they need to advertise it? Because christianity is advertised SO MUCH MORE that atheism. Its not advertising atheism, its raising awareness of atheism. Because we're not fire breathing dragons.

At first, I agreed with 'bfcooper', but he mentioned how restaurants have signs like "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." But, when a company refuses service on a basis of beliefs, more specifically, beliefs that would not harm those who do not have them, then this case essentially sounds like what racism used to be like. People cannot be harmed merely by other people possessing beliefs. You have to know what they will do with those beliefs before rightfully anticipating harm from those beliefs.

In the... bad ole days, restaurants could put signs in their windows that said, "We don't serve blacks/negros" or something of that nature. We recognize that Africans/African-Americans are like any other breed of people, so we treat them (as well as many other races) equally. Africans/African-Americans and other races do not inherently possess anything that would do harm another person. What is true of them, which is true for all people, is that some are good and some are bad, but like the atheists, you can't really know this at face-value. So yea, it's true that these businesses can refuse to provide their services to atheists, but in the long run it is not conducive to human equality. If they want to refuse service to atheists, then perhaps they should forget about all the progress towards racial equality and go back to segregating and refusing customers of certain races. What? That's just bad business. You are refusing money. Anyway, that's my opinion.

Why is one religious group is aloud to prostalatize and encourage others to join their religion so why not the atheists? If a person is a christian or atheist does that mean everyone else should be forced to do so also? Advertisement comes in adverse, insulting, that for hunger and to that of any belief posted to bring others swayed to be thinking the same way. That is the way of the advertisement, to sway in to thinking to buy or do as the promotion insists. The advertisement might be insulting to those with the belief of no higher power but does anyone ever want to be coaxed to going another way other than their own routine or belief?

Outdoor advertising? Old news. They should advertise online anyway.

Outdoor advertising? Old news. They should advertise online anyway.

"why do religions have to advertise in the first place?" - that's easy: Religion is business, there's a lot of money involved and no taxes to pay!

Ah, it must be Advent/Christmas season so Atheists feel duty-bound to spread their ideology:)

Of course, they don't care a bit about imposing their own
set of beliefs on businessmen just trying to earn a living
right?

censorship. whether it be the government, some business or current.com, censorship exist. when i used muslims and pigs in the same sentence, current.com sent me a lil note saying something about hate, offensive, whatever. current.com will not allow free speech. only what is acceptable to our enemies.
instead, current.com will freely allow a zealot to post comments and submissions about how to further spread the hate for the U.S. but wont let me express MY self for fear of offending some other religion.
does that mean that US history should be censored, too?
current.com, imposing their beliefs on its own members.
wait, doesn't this sound familiar?

Ummm... yes. They're a private company, they can refuse service to whoever they want.

Read the article before posting maybe? And maybe in Australia you can do what ever you want as a private company but not in the US. There are certain responsibility that a corporation takes on when they are granted that status. One of them is fairness. Please if your argument is solely about your religious preference than you have an obvious bias. What is there to be afraid of for this company?

If the company is not government-owned, then they have a right to put whatever ads they want up.
If a company wants to put up only pro-athiest ads, that is their legal right, too.