Judge rules for atheist bus ads

(RNS) A federal judge ruled Thursday (Aug. 11) that the public transit
system in Little Rock, Ark., violated the free speech of local atheists
by refusing to run their advertisements on city buses.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled that the Central
Arkansas Transit Authority (CATA) and its advertising agency were wrong
to reject the atheists' ads that read, "Are you good without God?
Millions are."

"Nontheistic bus ads will now be able to roll in Little Rock," said
Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason, an
umbrella group of nontheists that filed suit on behalf of a local
affiliate last year.

The lawsuit maintained that denying the atheists' ads was denying
their constitutional right to free speech.

"CATA is a government agency and it has made advertising space
available to churches," said J.G. Schulze, an attorney for the
coalition. "Yet when we tried to get the same treatment as those
customers, we were told we would have to make a deposit against
vandalism and terrorism, which is a requirement no one else had imposed
on them."

CATA's advertising agency, On The Move Advertising, required a
$36,000 deposit to run the $5,200 ad campaign. It then required a $3
million insurance policy.

In her ruling, Webber required the coalition to place a $15,000 bond
with the court in case of any damage to city buses.

Jess Sweere, an attorney for the transit agency, maintains that the
transit agency never refused to run the ads. "The lawsuit is a publicity
stunt and is without merit," Sweere wrote in an email. "(The) plaintiff
never made a deal with the advertising company that has leased the ad
space from CATA."

Similar ads have run in 36 markets in New York, Illinois, California
and Oklahoma. According to the coalition, only four experienced
vandalism.

Rejected ads from private media companies are not unusual for
atheist groups. But atheists contend that government-owned entities,
like CATA, are different.

"Transit companies, being owned by local governments, can't engage
in viewpoint discrimination in the way billboard and airplane banner
companies can," Edwords said. "As a result, we can threaten litigation
if we run up against resistance."