Atheism bus advertising stalls in Italy

GENOA, Italy, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Atheists' first rolling advertisement in Italy got off to an ignominious start Monday when the bus touting their doubt in God, perhaps inexplicably, conked out.

No sooner had the bus -- carrying the message "The Good News Is There Are Millions of Atheists In Italy; The Excellent News Is They Believe In Freedom Of Expression" -- headed out onto the streets of Genoa than it developed a battery problem and had to head back to the depot for repairs, ANSA reported.

''By pure chance,'' a member of the Italian Union of Atheists, Agnostics and Rationalists told the Italian news agency, ''the vehicle left the depot bright and early but had to go straight back because of a 'curious' problem with the batteries."

It was the second setback for the group, which earlier altered its message because of opposition by religious protesters.

Originally, the message was to have been "The Bad News Is God Doesn't Exist. The Good News Is You Don't Need Him."

The bus advertising is to go on for a month in Genoa and possibly spread to other Italian cities. The campaign follows similar efforts in Washington, London and Barcelona, Spain.

The campaign has also used the slogan: ''There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."