German shoe firm called Atheist having problems shipping packages to the U.S. (maybe it's an act of God)

Company claims about half its shipments to U.S. have been beset by delays

Shoes sent in branded ones were 10 times more likely to go missing

Around 75 per cent of Americans proclaim themselves as Christians



A German shoe firm is having problems shipping its products to customers in America, and it's founder thinks it's all down to its name - Atheist.

About half the shipments of Atheist shoes to the God-fearing U.S. have been beset by lengthy delays, and the company suspects it could be because of the prominent branding on the boxes.

The company has enjoyed massive success across the world over the past year selling its shoes, which proclaim 'I'm an atheist' or 'Darwin Loves' on their soles.

Lost in the post: Shoe company Atheist says about half its shipments to the God-fearing U.S. have been beset by delays, and the company suspects it could be because of the prominent branding on the boxes

But now it seems the believers are hitting back, in the U.S. at least.

Dublin-born company founder David Bonney told Swedish news site The Local : 'About half our shipments to the U.S. have seen lengthy delays.

'We accept that the odd delay and even the occasional disappearance are bound to happen. But the problem did get significantly worse for us last autumn, which happened to be when we started using ATHEIST-branded tape.'

Mr Bonney, 34, said that he believed that it was the prominent placing of the word 'Atheist' on the outside of their packaging that was attracting the ire of American postal workers.

Around 75 per cent of Americans identify themselves as Christians, according to recent surveys, compared to just 15-20 per cent who express no religious affiliation.

Those numbers are practically reversed in Atheist shoes' home town of Berlin, where roughly two-thirds of the population believe there is no God.

In order to test Mr Bonney's theory, the Atheist team decided to conduct an experiment. They sent 89 customers two packages: one sealed with Atheist-branded tape, the other with neutral tape.

All the packages were sent from Berlin on the same day, but the Atheist-branded packages took an average of three days longer to reach their destinations.

Not only that, but while just one unbranded package went missing in the post, a stunning nine Atheist-branded packages disappeared on route to their intended recipient.

Unholy soles: The company's shoes include such slogans as 'ich bin atheist' and 'Darwin Loves'

The company wrote in its website: 'Having run a series of control tests in Germany and Europe, which demonstrate no such bias, the problem appears to lie in the USA and is likely explained by the differential handling of packages by employees of the U.S. Postal Service.

'Interestingly, this seems to be a national problem - traditionally less religious and more liberal states also saw high delay and disappearance.

'Sadly many of our customers who took part in this experiment were not surprised by our findings, even though tampering with post is a Federal offence.'

Mr Bonney said he believes the company may have lost as many as 25 shipments on their way to American customers.

Asked what he thinks happens to them, he said: 'God knows. Maybe it is truly divine intervention.'