'Godless' billboard reaches out to nonbelievers

[cbayer]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120711/NEWS/707119873/1707



By Christopher Burbach
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

A “godless” billboard that appeared recently in Omaha is part of a national campaign with the stated goals of helping local nonreligious groups grow, connecting atheists and agnostics with one another and informing religious believers that nonbelievers are part of their communities.

The billboard, near 72nd and Pacific Streets, reads: “Don't believe in God? Join the club.” A new group called the Omaha Coalition of Reason placed the ad with funding from a national organization, the United Coalition of Reason, that has backed similar billboards around the United States.

“We're reaching out to nontheists to let them know that there's a local community of reason for them to join,” said William Newman, director of the Omaha Coalition of Reason. “We're using the billboard as a beacon to hold out to them.”

The coalition comprises seven local organizations: the Omaha Atheists; Rationalists, Empiricists and Skeptics of Nebraska; UNO Secular Student Alliance; UNO Council for Humanist Thought; Omaha Atheist and Agnostic Parenting Group; Nebraska Secular Home Educators; and Recovering from Religion-Omaha Chapter.

more at link

[msongs]

1. make the "g" in that word lower case, it is not the name of a person nt

[cbayer]

2. One of the things I really like about this billboard is that it does

not make its point by putting anyone else down. It is the best of these I have seen.

I would think they might have discussed what you bring up and possibly decided to do it differently might be seen as offensive to people they didn't want to offend. OTOH, spelling god with a capital G would be unlikely to turn off those they are trying to reach.

Overall, I like it.

[skepticscott]

4. I'm sure they'll be delighted

Last edited Wed Jul 11, 2012, 04:29 PM - Edit history (1)

to have the approval.

Now we'll just have to wait and see if it can stay up long without being vandalized. Or without the company that runs it being pressured to take it down by insecure bigots.

[JoeyT]

9. If they're offended by the fact that

"god" isn't a proper noun, I dunno what can be done for them. They're probably offended when the sun rises and sets.

There's a whole bunch of names for gods, but there's no god named "God".

[cbayer]

13. I don't see the harm in making an effort to not offend others.

It harms no one and makes your message more powerful in the end. Whether you think others may be too easily offended is not really the issue.

[JoeyT]

15. Except the people that might be offended by

correctly using a lower case g in the word god are also going to be offended by being reminded there are people that don't think like they do.

But point taken.

[Bradical79]

16. It can definitely be a proper noun.

For one, many Christians here in the U.S. have given their god the specific name "God". It doesn't matter how intelligent they are, how historically accurate their name is, etc. It's turned into a proper noun when talking about their god. Secondly, the way the sentence is structured, God is a very specific being. The sentence doesn't refer to a generic god, it is referring to a singular specific being.

[2ndAmForComputers]

10. In this country, it effectively means one particular fictional character.

You do write Mickey Mouse's name with capitals, don't you?

[Control-Z]

3. Fantastic!!!

For every fairy tale there should be a reality based message. K&R

[rhett o rick]

5. Here's the test. If the billboard pisses off God, it will be struck by lightening. However,

my money is it will get hit by a Molotov.

On edit, I just realized I did a google search for Molotov. Hope the NSA doesnt catch that.

[onager]

11. I'll help throw 'em off your trail...

We're just researching dead Soviet apparatchiks.

During the Winter War, the Soviet air force made extensive use of incendiaries and cluster bombs against Finnish troops and fortifications. When Molotov claimed in radio broadcasts that they were not bombing, but rather delivering food to the starving Finns, the Finns started to call the air bombs "Molotov bread baskets."

Soon they responded by attacking advancing tanks with "Molotov cocktails" which were "a drink to go with the food". According to Montefiore the Molotov cocktail was one part of Molotov's cult of personality which he highly disliked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyacheslav_Molotov

[rhett o rick]

14. Thanks, I am sure that will fool them. It's not like they can see this conversation. nm

[RegieRocker]

6. Join the Atheist Church!

[eqfan592]

8. huh?

Did I miss a "sarcasm" tag here?

[2ndAmForComputers]

12. (Does some searching) No you didn't.

[otohara]

7. There's Hope For Nebraska

or not?