Christian ad challenged

A bus poster that proclaimed "There definitely is a God" received more complaints than any other advert last year, the Advertising Standards Authority said yesterday.

The poster, which was a reaction to an equivalent campaign by atheists, attracted 1,204 complaints from people who claimed it was offensive to those without a faith and could not be substantiated.

The advertisement, which appeared on buses across the country last year, was a direct response to a similar bus campaign by the British Humanist Association which ran with the strapline: "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." That advert received 392 objections, making it the sixth most complained-about advert of 2009.

The ASA did not investigate the Christian Party's campaign because political party adverts fall outside its remit. Complaints against the atheist adverts were not upheld after the ASA concluded that the BHA's bus ads were an expression of the advertiser's opinion and not capable of being objectively substantiated.