Only a couple months ago, the Central Arkansas Coalition of Reason wanted to put up the following ad on 18 buses in the Little Rock area:

The total cost would have been $5,620.

Those ads never went up, though, because the Central Arkansas Transit Authority (CATA) and its advertising agent, On the Move Advertising, rejected the ad. It was too “controversial” for them.

At the time, the United Coalition of Reason filed a lawsuit, with the help of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center of the American Humanist Association.

If you haven’t read the lawsuit, some of the facts that came out were incredible. Like how CATA and On The Move wanted a $36,000 deposit to cover any ads they might have to replace due to vandalism.

In other words, they wanted atheists to pay for any vandalized ads.

I’ve said this before, but that’s like putting out a Bat Signal to religious vandals: Go ahead and destroy this sign! The atheists will have to pay for the damages, not you!

(United CoR actually offered to pay $10,000 to cover damages, but that was also rejected.)

Today, there’s good news:

A federal judge today ordered the Central Arkansas Transit Authority to allow an atheist group to advertise on the sides of city buses. U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright said the transit authority must make space available for an atheist group’s ads that read, “Are you good without God? Millions are.”

It’s not all good news, though. Wright also said that the transit authority could charge $15,000 toward “damage” costs, something that doesn’t apply to other advertisers. That could be cause for another lawsuit… but more on that later.

Let’s not lose sight of the big story, though. Atheist ads will be coming to Little Rock and it’s all thanks to the American Humanist Association and the Appignani Humanist Legal Center.

That’s a victory for all of us.



