A group of harmless atheists (sorry for the redundancy) in Cincinnati had to take down a welcoming sign due to violent threats.
In the wake of multiple, significant threats, the downtown billboard that says “Don’t Believe In God? You are not alone” came down early Thursday morning.
Oh, how dangerous. A group telling other people that they need not feel alone. Give me a break. It’s a well-known fact that atheists constitute one of the most hated groups in America. More Americans would vote for a homosexual than an atheist. (The fact that either group would be denied votes on such illegitimate grounds is astounding in itself, actually. The first isn’t exactly making a choice. The second shouldn’t matter since there’s that whole separation of church and state thing.)
“Everything that has happened shows just how vital our message is,” said Shawn Jeffers, co-coordinator for the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason. “It proves our point, that bigotry against people who don’t believe in a god is still very real in America. Only when we atheists, agnostics and humanists come together and go public about our views will people have a chance to learn that we too are part of the community and deserve respect.”
It’s a good point, especially because it notes the respect earned by the named groups. Putting one’s self out there for criticism is a good thing and should be appreciated. Most atheists, agnostics, and humanists want to engage their fellow humans in discourse. That cannot be said of most religions, and if so, only quite temporarily (basically until you make them think or question too hard).
The billboard was moved to a location now viewed by drivers heading west on the Sixth Street viaduct. Some say they find it offensive.
“My thoughts? I think the sign needs to come down. Its atheist. Its going to cause problems around all the churches, not just catholic, but lutheran, baptist, all of them,” said Jack Jones of Downtown.
Please excuse the myriad typos in that. Well, actually, don’t. What the hell. And Jack Jones “of Downtown”? Was this journalist imbibing something as s/he wrote, gradually getting more and more grammatically chaotic?
But I digress. I hope this causes problems for all churches. But let’s not stop there. The synagogues and mosques need a smart dose of rational inquiry thrown in their faces.
“We are dealing with it the best way we can. We are not going away so talk to us,” said Welte.
How militant.
Filed under: Atheism/Humanism, News, Politics and Social | Tagged: Cincinnati, Fred Edwords, John Welte, Lamar Advertising of Cincinnati, Shawn Jeffers, The atheist martyrs, United Coalition of Reason |
For the Sake of Science 
Lesson Learnt: Atheists will react to the tiniest little things.
Yeah, bigotry. Tiny.
Where’s the bigotry? Some guy says he got complaints and a billboard comes down. You’ve invented a monster to be scared of. Either provide some evidence of actual wrongdoing or prepare to be mocked.
Is this really what you call martyrdom?
PS. Your last comment, “How militant” is directed at a quote from an atheist. Is that intentional?
Str1pe:
“Multiple, significant threats” on the owner of the land that Lamar was leasing the land from…
The bigotry is obvious in the fact that there were violent threats used to suppress a point of view. The martyrdom and militant comments were dry humor. Kthxbye.
Show us the “Multiple, significant threats.” All you’ve got is one guy with a complaint and a lot of crying atheists. There’s been no attempt to verify the legitimacy of the threats, their actual nature or number .. no actual investigation has been done. You’re all just too eager to make a lot of noise even though nothing has happened.
Other than showing atheists up for being cowards.
Yes, yes, you don’t like it so it must be fake. Just like science. Carry on.
Dude, are you reading what I’m saying? If there are actual threats being made let’s hear them. Folding up like a cheap accordion at every second and third hand report is only going to convince those already convinced that what they are convinced of is convincing.
Those of us living in reality demand a little more substance, however.
If you want to talk about science, I can talk about that. If you want to talk about censorship and intimidation I can talk about that. But all you’re doing here is repeating the unsubstantiated accusations of a guy who was never even threatened.
You need something of substance. So far you got nothing.
Someone was threatened, had the rights to restrict what was placed on leased land, and the billboard was moved to a nearby location. It seems pretty straight forward. In addition, the billboard was paid for by a private donation, but the move would have incurred extra costs. Money is not something many atheist organizations have (so long as Richard Dawkins isn’t directly involved). It wouldn’t make sense to fabricate a story simply for that reason, but beyond that, the sign was already getting quite a bit of attention.
But if you want to call into question sources, you can do that. But you should direct that to the various news outlets. Here is one. Journalism isn’t great in America, but stories still do require some research. But call them liars if it makes you feel better about something which isn’t that difficult to believe.
In addition, your cockamamie story would involve a conspiracy between the atheist organization and the independent advertising firm.
The facts we have are that:
The sign was moved.
The land owner claims to have received threats.
I’m not questioning sources, I’m telling you that you’re making a great big thing out of nothing.
My analysis does not require any conspiracy. All it requires is one guy saying exactly what he is quoted as saying.
Here it is:
You (this website) have got next to nothing with which to go on. The affected party has not even substantiated or investigated the claims and the guy reporting the threats ain’t talking.
It’s all a big waaah waah over nothing.
Now if you had some substance to share ….
It is truly fascinating that the ever growing numbers of non theists aren’t more cohesive in their agenda to bring the truth of no God to the front lines (so to speak). We (non theists) must adopt a more militant approach to furthering the mutually beneficial truth that, simply put, God does not exist. Why let the religious weirdos tell us the way to live? … just my 2 cents.