A pair of transit drivers who refused to pilot buses carrying an atheist message have been provided with new routes, a spokeswoman for B.C. Transit said Tuesday.

The bus ads, which carry the message "There is probably no God, now stop worrying and enjoy your life," started running on buses in Kamloops and Kelowna earlier this month. Ads are running on two buses in each community

Since then, two drivers employed by First Canada Transit in Kamloops refused to drive buses carrying the ad. Joanna Linsangan said the company found other buses for the employees to drive.

In a case where a bus was unavailable, First Canada decided drivers would be asked to wait for one to become available or encouraged to drive vehicles with the atheist ad, she said.

There have been no incidents where drivers have been forced to drive buses with the ads, Linsangan said.

“We haven’t crossed the bridge yet,” she said, adding the campaign wraps up in a week.

Bill Ligertwood, founder of the Kamloops Centre for Rational Thought, said he thinks the situation is unbelievably silly.

“I don’t know what they are trying to protest. It won’t stop the ads from running,” he said. “If you’re a vegetarian and that’s a McDonald’s ad on your bus does that mean you don’t have to drive it?”

Linsangan said the matter is precedent setting.

“It’s a new situation for us. We’re treading softly,” she said.

Ligertwood attributes the kerfuffle to the mystique surrounding religion. He said criticizing Christianity is a sure-fire way to get people’s backs up.

“That’s part of why we’re doing this, to point out that religion is like anything else. It should be open to criticism,” he said.

And the centre doesn’t intend to stop. Ligertwood said enough money has been raised to launch a similar advertising effort later this year.