This is the first atheism related billboard Nebraska has ever had. It is meant to let atheists in town know they are not alone. It is intentionally non-confrontational, although, it is intentionally timed to also promote our upcoming conference.
The response has been interesting. Local radio host, Scott Voorhees posted about it, calling us militant & disgusting. He apparently even went through the trouble of contacting UNO, where our conference is being held, to complain. His complaint was shot down, but that didn't stop him from attacking us on the air the next morning.
We also got coverage on the local Fox & CBS stations, and in the local newspaper. Someone at KMTV is particularly interested in us, as they just ran another story on it just a moment ago and they've already posted on their Facebook about it twice (nearly 900 comments since Monday & over 200 comments since noon today).
Guess what kind of attention this one got when it went up months ago in the same town.
A billboard denying, and directly attacking, established scientific facts goes up and no one notices. A billboard goes up telling atheists they're not alone, with no attack toward anyone, and a media frenzy ensues.
For atheists, simply existing anywhere but the shadows means putting up with a lot of crap. It should not be like that, and this is why I make a point of being open & vocal about my atheism. The rest of the country needs to get used to us being here. We've always been here. This should be a non-issue.
That billboard is just one of many examples of creationist propaganda in Omaha. They have several of them around town and in much higher traffic areas. I guess that's what you can do when you have that kind of money.
ReplyDeleteWell said. It's sad that so many people find something inflammatory in something this non-confrontational. For every atheist that takes that step out of the shadows, there will be several believers (friends/family of the aforementioned atheist) that learn that atheists can be good people.
ReplyDeleteYeah our billboard is definitely a step in the right direction. If they can put up completely ridiculous and creepy ("you can run, but you can't hide from God") billboards...then we can certainly counter with something completely innocuous. I like your blog by the way!
ReplyDelete