DART suspends driver after she refuses to use bus bearing atheist ad

Controversy over a bus advertisement promoting a local atheist group has found its way to the driver’s seat.

On Monday, the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority suspended bus operator Angela Shiel after she refused to drive a bus with an Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers ad on its side. Shiel, 41, said the ad’s message, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone,” went against her Christian faith.

Earlier this month, DART removed the ads from the buses following complaints from riders. DART returned the ads to the buses after receiving new complaints, including from the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa.

The ads were put back on 20 buses in DART’s fleet last week.

Shiel, a DART employee for eight years, now could be fired because of her refusal to drive the bus.

DART policy states that drivers cannot choose which buses they drive, DART General Manager Brad Miller said.

“Drivers are not permitted to reject a working bus,” Miller said. “It’s a very fundamental policy for DART. … It’s an essential rule that we will maintain.”

This is in part because of a federal law that requires DART to rotate buses to different routes on a regular basis and because buses must run on time, he said.

“DART’s No. 1 priority is to provide a reliable, quality, safe service,” Miller said. “We may try to work with them, but if we’re short on drivers, we need to get them out on a bus.”

Passengers on the bus Shiel was to drive had to wait about five minutes for a substitute driver to be brought out to continue her route, he said.

Shiel was not available to comment.

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To fire or not to fire?

Personally, I think that it is a total bull that a sign that simply asks a question and points out that there are others who do not believe in God could possibly be “against her Christian faith.” Unless her Christian faith believes that atheists do not exist. Ariel is clearly offended by the mere fact or acknowledgment of our existence. She should be fired – if nothing else than to demonstrate that such arrogant bigotry is not welcome.