The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., paid advertising company CBS Outdoor to put up five signs that read Imagine No Religion.
"The message on the billboards will start to go up today and will remain there for a month," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of Freedom From Religion.
The organization said it is comprised of 12,000 atheists or agnostics and aims to promote free thought and the separation of church and state.
The group has put up billboards in other U.S. cities and so far, Gaylor said, there has been little opposition to the billboards, and she doesn't anticipate any issues in Phoenix.
Religious groups said they are seeing an increase in atheist activism.
"I don't have a problem with people expressing their points of view in public," said Bob Mitchell, senior pastor at Central United Methodist Church, whose congregation has around 420 members.
Mitchell said he hopes there wouldn't be backlash against the billboards, but he added he wouldn't be surprised if there were.
"I would prefer that there was serious tolerant dialogue that might emerge from this publicity campaign because it is much needed," he said.
State Sen. Linda Gray of Glendale is critical of the organization and its billboards.
Gray, a Republican, thinks the signs will be offensive to those who believe in God.
The five sites chosen by the organization for the billboards were changed after CBS Outdoor said they had to be 1,000 feet from any schools or churches, Gaylor said. The sites were finalized late last week.
CBS Outdoor was not available for comment over the weekend. "
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- DeliaTheArtist
- added this
- added August 25, 2008
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So if a pro-religious group wants to purchase space on a billboard, they have to adhere to the same restrictions as the non-religious groups. Right?
Right.
I can smell the double-standards from here.
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"Gray, a Republican, thinks the signs will be offensive to those who believe in God."
crob80227, an agnostic, thinks the pro-religious billboards are offensive to those that don't believe in a hypothetical super-deity.
When two people are equally offended -- who backs down?
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um...it's freedom of speech and it's no different from all those obnoxious "have you found the lord" billboards you see driving through rural areas (or the south in general)
1st amendment FTW!
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Hooray! Make your politics religion free.
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- AntiFacistCanuck
- 4 months ago
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Religion has no place in governance. In fact, religion poisons the very spirit of the democratic process. Spirituality is personal, and to that effect no dogmatic authority should have the power to control it through legislative entrapment.
As an agnostic, I don't really care what people believe. It's your right to do as you are so inclined. Just keep your morals to yourself and off of my laws.
Lastly, I do believe that as American citizens, the makers of the Freedom from Religion billboard has as much of a right to express themselves as the Christian and Pro-Life adverts of the same kind.
Love is the only religion!
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Great post!
I live in Philadelphia and in recent years more and more billboards from http://phillycor.org (a non religious group trying to move society forward in a positive direction by supporting free thought without imposing beliefs) started going up around the area. This is very exciting to me and refreshing as I am non religious. I have no issue against religious groups posting billboards but it is nice to having a voice also. Religious and non religious groups should be equally responsible for content and conduct. Billboards displaying religious or nonreligious groups/ faiths are not offensive to me though, denouncing one belief for another is nonsensical and pointless to me.
