Atheist Billboards

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=153839&catid=3

The atheist billboard campaign continues:

“JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- "Don't Believe in God? You're Not Alone." Those are the words that will be appearing on two billboards on the First Coast, one in St. Augustine and one in Orange Park.

The reason behind these billboards?

The Northeast Florida Coalition of Reason has created the billboards with $2,300 in funding from the United Coalition of Reason (UnitedCoR) and are to bring awareness to millions of "freethinkers, humanists, atheists and agnostics living in the United States."

"Nonreligious people sometimes don't realize there's a community out there for them because they're inundated with religious messages at every turn," said Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason. "So we hope this will serve as a beacon and let them know they aren't alone."

Shawn Liu with the Northeast Florida Coalition of Reason says the billboards are also intended to generate discussion and thought.

"They are in no way meaning to be offensive, derogatory, demeaning. We are not intending this to be an attack on anybody," said Liu who says he is an atheist.
Chris Nwasike says he believes in God and the freedom of expression. He is currently involved in hosting a "Keep God in America" rally this weekend in Jacksonville.
Nwasike says this country has steered away from Christian principals that have deep roots in American history.

"We're not enemies. I would like to sit down with them and kind of figure out where they are coming from over a cup of coffee and just kind of have fun with it," said Nwasike.

The billboards will be located in Bellair-Meadowbrook Terrace area on the west side of Blanding Boulevard just north of Parkwood Drive, facing north; and one will be located in St. Augustine South on the west side of the Dixie Highway (U.S. Hwy. 1), almost a mile south of SR 312, facing south.

The billboards were scheduled to go up Wednesday, but may be appearing as early as today and are part of a national campaign with similar billboards already appearing in the Tampa Bay area, Tuscon, Sacramento and Seattle.

There were also bus ads in Des Moines and Detroit. Last year, United CoR-sponsored billboard, bus, and subway ads appeared in 20 cities, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Tulsa, Phoenix and San Diego.
"We also want to let the general public know that those of us who don't believe in a higher power live in the area, too," added Stephen Peek, coordinator of Northeast Florida CoR.

"Folks may not know that people like us can be found everywhere. We're family members, friends, neighbors and coworkers. So we think it's time that we became open about our views, just as others are open about theirs."”