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JEB SHARP: I'm Jeb Sharp, and this is The World. Riding the bus in Spain is about to get a little controversial. It's not the bus itself, but the message on the side. Starting next week, some buses in Barcelona will sport billboards questioning the existence of God. An atheist organization is paying for the ads. Many in the largely Catholic country consider it an affront, but Spanish atheists say their numbers are growing and it's about time their views were heard. The World's Gerry Hadden reports.

GERRY HADDEN: At a downtown meeting hall last night, the Atheists of Catalonia unveiled their bus banner. “God probably doesn't exist,” it says in Spanish, “so stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Organizer Monce Fernandez says that “society has to recognize that there's a huge group of Spaniards, more than 30 percent, who don't believe in God.” And, she added, “we have morals and ethics, too. We don't need God to tell us how to behave.”
The two Atheist busses don't hit the streets until Monday, but they're creating a lot of noise already. Last night, this center was crawling with reporters. Catholic bishops have denounced the campaign as blasphemous. On the church's national radio station, commentators have been discussing little else for days. One religious radio host says that Europeans have been exploring the nature of God for 5,000 years since the time of the ancient Greeks. “And yet”, he says, “this guy comes along and just sticks a sign on a bus saying that we've all been duped because what's really important is just to enjoy yourself. Come on.”
Spain will be the 3rd country after the UK and the US to have atheist buses cruising its cities. The Spanish campaign lifts directly from the British one, promoted by Richard Dawkins, author of “The God Delusion”. But the controversy in Spain is especially pronounced. That's in part because Spain's Catholic Church still wields great influence here despite declining membership. And the debate is also political. Spain's current socialist government has pushed through a series of social reforms that infuriate the faithful. The government has legalized gay marriage, for example, and made getting divorced easier. At a bus stops in downtown Barcelona, a 79-year-old woman named Carmen Cancecas says she thinks the government is behind the Atheist bus campaign. If one of those buses pulls up, she says, she will refuse to get on. “This is just the beginning,” she says. “It will get worse before God sets the world straight. Of course Atheists have the right to express themselves,” she adds. “God gives them that right. And God also gives us laws to follow. He who doesn't follow them shall be destroyed.” Or at least marginalized, Spanish atheists argue. Atheist organizer Juan Manuel Castay says nonbelievers in Spain have long been ostracized or worse, from the days of the inquisition through the Franco dictatorship of the 20th century, even today. He says, “perhaps that's why the bus slogan has lots meanings. It's also a message to people that they don't have to suffer persecution any longer. We have for 2,000 years, and all for a cause that's never been proven. No one knows if God exists or not.” That uncertainty is why one bus driver named Juan says he doesn't care what words are plastered on the bus he's driving. “I think the Atheist message is legitimate”, he says, “Their message as much as the other one.” That “other” one will also appear soon on Barcelona buses, paid for by a protestant evangelical church. It reads, “God does exist. Enjoy life with Jesus Christ.” For The World, I'm Gerry Hadden in Barcelona.

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