Cleveland 'Godless' billboard reaches out to non-believers

[al3699]

if i was religious i would use this sign with the exact wording to recruit people that have 'strayed from the path'

[jerico641]

Now, if you're driving the highway (especially in the Bible Belt) and see 50 billboards every hundred miles or so advertising churches or ranting against abortion, nobody seems to care. Doesn't make the news. Put up ONE billboard (well, two if you count the one in Cincinatti that was taken down) along a highway in Ohio and not only does it make the news (and I thought the pastor was quite open-minded, btw), but the commentator lady at the end has to throw a little curve ball at it herself!

[TUSAnathema]

The only time in my life that I've felt pride for my home state is right now. =D

[PsychoSymantic]

This is by far the most professional report on these signs I have seen yet.

I also must hand it to the minister, he seems like a level headed, and intelligent person as well.

[Ital21]

I like this. This is good. This is humanist. It says: "Hey, come on over and join the group. We'll have fun and chat for a while. :)"

Why would anyone be against that?

I would think people joining people in an effort to just socialize is good and desirable.

By comparison, loneliness, eccentricity, ignorance, solitude, depression, and all introvert and anti-social outcomes seem bleak and undesirable.

You're telling me there's a group of people opposed to social progress and goodness??

[rs199208]

@Ital21 "You're telling me there's a group of people opposed to social progress and goodness??"

The story of my life! I still have religious family members.

[kris6682]

no one foces christians to take down or move there billboards we need more billboards we need to make it to where every where everywhere you look you see athiesm dont let them persecute us

[humansaretheworld]

 This local broadcast is more professional than Fox Republican network. I don't understand why an all powerful god needs people to do all his work. When a religious person truly finds god, they recognize themselves.

[rs199208]

@humansaretheworld  That is what happened to me.

[s5b678]

Good to know that my and about half a billion other peoples existence is controversial.

[flyingsharkgirls]

This was the best report on the signs I've seen. The rest have reporters asking ignorant people whether they find it offensive, and hardly talk to anyone from the group that actually put up the sign!

[rs199208]

@flyingsharkgirls

Yes, that area had a good response.

[inphrased]

Itsh not a queshtion you exshpect during driving by a billboard

[bary1234]

Cool that they are doing this. This fight against superstition is the most important struggle on human history. We have to end these ridiculous medieval cults before they end us.

[BEOWULF9965]

You sure as hell won't see this kind of unbiased rporting about those billboards from Fox News

[rylove001]

Pretty good non biased report if u ask me. :)

[nosajj12345]

Can someone please help me with the following question?

Why would an all powerfull, supernatural being be afraid of a little sign along some road in Jerkwater USA? LOL

[rs199208]

@nosajj12345

It gives Satan more power to temp believers into thinking.

[atimnie]

dex1391 seriously needs to work on his reading comprehension skills.

[Naiant]

Nicely reported.

[dex1391]

LOL how stupid...

Atheism claims it's not a belief system or not a religion... yet you want to meet and discuss what you believe.

Well if you don't have any beliefs... THEN IT WOULD BE AN AWFUL QUIET MEETING!!!

You're free to your beliefs... But don't try and hide behind them.

[Phibred]

@dex1391 It is a disbelief of a particular claim, the Theist claim. It does not mean that atheists don't have other things they believe in. Also there are other things that a group can discuss besides belief, perhaps science to poetry?

[dex1391]

@Phibred

A belief isn't a claim... It never has been it never will be.

Atheism as a belief has no more evidence than any other religious belief.

[AThagoras]

@dex1391 "Atheism as a belief has no more evidence than any other religious belief."

Atheism doesn't need evidence. If I want to claim that Santa Claus really exists, I should provide the evidence. If I want to claim that there are fairies living at the bottom of my garden, I should provide the evidence. If you claim that God exists, you should provide evidence. Claims that are made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

[dex1391]

@AThagoras

LOL of course atheism needs evidence.

Why should you get a special pass?

You have a positive belief.

You make a claim...

Back those up... or shut up..

[AThagoras]

@dex1391 "You have a positive belief." No I don't. I don't have a positive belief about the tooth fairy, or about Zeus, or the Christian god.

[dex1391]

@AThagoras

Yes you do. You have a positive belief.

You positively believe that there is no God.

You positively believe that the universe was created by chance...

You positively believe that there is no afterlife.

You positively believe that the universe was created by some natural non-intelligence.

You have any evidence for all of these positive beliefs?

[AThagoras]

@dex1391 "Yes you do. You have a positive belief. You positively believe that there is no God." Sounds pretty negative to me.

Do you believe in Quetzalcoatl? I'll assume the answer is no.

Do you have any evidence that Quetzalcoatl doesn't exist?

There are thousands of gods that you don't believe in, and you don't need any evidence for your lack of belief. I just believe in one god less than you do.

[dex1391]

@AThagoras

LOL funny that you ignored everything on my post.

And no. I don't believe that there is no God... Stop lying

I told you that I do believe in God.

[atimnie]

@dex1391 "There are thousands of gods that you don't believe in, and you don't need any evidence for your lack of belief. I just believe in one god less than you do."

You really need to work on your reading comprehension skills. He clearly states that there are thousands of gods that you don't believe in, which is an accurate statement. You don't believe in Zeus, or Thor, or Xenu, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. He doesn't either, nor does he believe in your god. That's what he's saying.

[dex1391]

@atimnie

I never once said that I don't believe in God

[AThagoras]

@dex1391 "You positively believe that the universe was created by chance..."

I don't know how the universe was created. The best knowledge I have about that comes from physics. All evidence indicates that the universe is a result of the laws of physics. There is absolutely no evidence to the contrary.

"You positively believe that there is no afterlife." That's not a positive belief. I spent many years of my life looking for evidence of an afterlife. I didn't find any convincing evidence.

[dex1391]

@AThagoras

That's not the way it works. If you believe that there was no God... then you must believe that the universe was created by chance.

Where's your evidence for that?

And yes... If you believe that it's over when you die. That most certainly is a positive belief.

[AThagoras]

@dex1391 "You have any evidence for all of these positive beliefs?"

I believe the universe exists and it follows observable laws. There is lots of evidence for that. I don't need to believe in anything else to explain what I can observe.

[dex1391]

@AThagoras

You believe in quite a bit more than what you observe.

How did you observe this non-intelligence that created the universe?

How did you observe chance?

[AThagoras]

@dex1391 "How did you observe this non-intelligence that created the universe?"

The only intelligence we have ever observed in the universe is the intelligence of animals living on Earth. I don't see any evidence that any of the animals living on earth created the universe. ALL of the evidence I have indicates that the universe follows the laws of physics and never violates them. It does not make any sense to believe that some intelligence created it because there is no evidence of that.

[dex1391]

@AThagoras

NO I didn't... That's the atheists claim... not mine.

I don't know what non-intelligence they're talking about.

You may want to talk to one of them...

All the evidence points towards it not being some non-intelligence

[AThagoras]

@dex1391 Do you understand what quotation marks mean? I'm quoting you!

[dex1391]

@AThagoras

Quoting me what?

[AThagoras]

@dex1391 Dex, when I answer one of your questions, I repeat the question in quotation marks before answering it so you know which question I am responding to. You seem to be reading my quotes and thinking that they are part of my response.

[dex1391]

@AThagoras

Nope...



[OuchMyGlands666]

I remember when I first saw this exact billboard. The guitarist in my old band and I were on our way home from practice. We saw this and almost drove off the side of 480 haha.

Incidentally, the band happened to be an anti-Christian black metal band.

[Octoschizare]

Free speech and freedom from religion is only "controversial" if you are a bigot. I was surprised when I looked at the station call sign and it didn't say Fox News.

[nosajj12345]

It is so uplifting to see these signs go up. It is about time!! I never thougth I'd live to see this. I hope these signs move people to start critically examining the Abrahamic religions. Its funny how Christians can be so terrified of these signs. After all, don't they have an all powerful supernatural being on their side. The creator of the f****g universe. Why would an all powerful entity be afraid of a billboard? And is Christian faith in their god so weak they would let this bother them

[sponyak]

Chikun? I thought it was schlurky.

[rs199208]

@sponyak

No, you get spaghetti

[sponyak]

@rs199208 Deal! :)

[chert95]

If you don't believe and you join you get chikun.

[joyville2]

Love this billboard! Been waiting for this for a long time. Great job Mark & Ray! 

[joyville2]

Love this billboard! Been waiting for this for a long time.

[BrooklynRagtag]

Thanks Rev. Matthews! Absolutely right. Three cheers for freedom of speech!

[rene1369]

Moses did Cleave this EVIL land (216 6x6x6) on the south shore of the northcoast and upon this ROCK we roll FREE from the *stamp* of oppression

[geistjagerin]

I'm glad the reverend did not find it objectionable. It paints him in a very positive light that he is able to respect people who have opinions very different from his own.

[ashutoshmikku]

2:16 the woman is a dickhead.

[TransylvanianWinter]

So the sign in Cinncinnati got taken down because it too "contraversial?" That's bull. If a sign promoting a Christian discussion was up, no one would say a fucking thing! And Christians think they're the ones being persecuted?! Bullshit!

[Maxipad44142]

Death to Religion!

[Lennon4ever1]

@TransylvanianWinter If it did'nt make 30 days, shame on Cinncinnati for caving in to the theists.

[mistressfrenchiefran]

Good job Mark! I have to say though that it angered me what the female newscaster said at the end about what would the point off all this be. I thought it was ignorant on her part, when so many religious people have arenas for that and there is hardly anything for non believers, maybe just maybe we need a voice for ourselves too, it just seems way more obvious then she made it out to seem. Thanks for posting this!

[sponyak]

Thank you for posting this, rs199208! I thought the reporter did a really good job of presenting the NEO CoR campaign as a positive thing, which it is.

[rs199208]

@sponyak

Mark, I hope you guys can post another one someday.

[dphuntsman]

I second that; Mark, Ray, you did well.

That anchorwoman, though, clearly wasn't listening to even what she was herself reading.

The billboards are, in fact, aimed at fellow HAFAns (Humanists, Agnostics, Freethinkers, Atheists). The number of HAFAns in the U.S. has consistently ranked in the tens of millions - and is increasing; yet most are intimidated in our religion-soaked culture to keeping their mouths shut. The billboard is to let them know they aren't alone.

Dave Huntsman

[rs199208]

Great job in the interview Mark and Ray. You guys did good on T.V!