Television lights burned brightly in the room at the National Press Club where the Consumer Federation of America was holding a press conference on holiday spending. Outside the room where something called the 2010 Hunger Report was about to be released, the juice-and-muffin table was swarmed. Things were a little quieter in the Zenger Room. As of 9:30 I was the only journalist covering the announcement that the American Humanist Association was sticking it to religion again this season.

You remember the American Humanist Association. They’re the atheistical folks who last year caused such a fuss when they plastered Metrobuses with ads that read: “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.”

This irritated some believers, who took out their own pro-God ads. Metro received a bunch of complaints. The American Humanist Association received a bunch of publicity. The head of the Catholic League lumped secular humanists in with such figures as Jeffrey Dahmer and Hitler. Even the publisher of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” complained.

This year’s ads say: “No god? . . . No problem! Be good for goodness’ sake.” At its peak, 220 ads will run on Metro buses and 50 ads will run on Metro trains. The campaign’s $40,000 budget has also bought ads on buses in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles — plus a billboard in Idaho.

“We’re not trying to put down people’s religious faith,” AHA executive director Roy Speckhardt said Monday. “. . . We just don’t see the evidence necessary to support such faith.” The ads are sure to rile some religious folk. The wording echoes a bumper sticker you may have seen: “No Jesus, No Peace. Know Jesus, Know Peace.”

For more, read here.