we would have never heard the end of how they're picked on.
Unknown vandals unhappy about atheists' billboard in Charlotte, N.C., spray-painted "Under God" on the ad, the city's atheist association discovered Monday. The defaced message will remain in place until after July 4, the group reports, which is the soonest that workers can furnish a fresh billboard image. Here's how the vandalized billboard now looks:
The billboard reads, "One Nation Indivisible," which is the phrase preceding the 1954 insertion of the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, reports the Charlotte Observer's Tim Funk. The billboard was erected on Billy Graham Parkway last week. (Graham is, of course, the state's famous evangelical preacher.)
Similar North Carolina ads have gone up in Asheville, Greensboro, Wilmington, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem as a Fourth of July project by the area's atheist association. The group has filed a police report and will replace the billboard.
?It was done by one or two people off on their own who decided their only recourse was vandalism rather than having a conversation,? Charlotte Atheists & Agnostics spokesman William Warren said. ?It does show how needed our message is. As atheists, we want to let people know we exist and that there?s a community here.? Warren told the Observer when the sign first went up that its location wasn't intended as a rebuke to the Rev. Graham.
He said the group has added more than 50 members since the ad went up. Atheist ads are often a target for vandals. Three of 10 atheist billboards erected in Sacramento, Calif., were defaced in February, and a series of atheist bus ads was recently vandalized in Detroit.
According to a 2007 study by the Pew Research Center, about 6 percent of Americans are secular. Less than 2 percent of all Americans identify as atheist.
An act of Congress changed the language of the Pledge of Allegiance during the height of the Cold War. Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister and Christian socialist, composed the original pledge in 1892.
? Liz Goodwin is a national affairs reporter for Yahoo! News.
Atheist billboard defaced on N.C.'s Billy Graham Parkway - Yahoo! News
It doesn't matter who done it, it shouldn't have been done. Who knows it could have been the atheist group trying to stir up some publicity or it could have been a group of christians. I don't really think that its entirely possible for Christians and Atheists to sit down and have a meaningful conversation about religion or lack thereof due to a vast difference in opinion. Both are bull headed and are going to believe what they choose regardless of what the other says.
So atheists are going to vandalize their own sign, that they paid for and fought to get put up, to get more publicity which they already had? Hmmmm.
Anyway, it's a shame how narrow-minded people are in this nation, hate to see what would happen in this area if it were put up. I'd actually like to get some atheists/agnostic groups going in SWVA, there's quite a few and take part in something like this.
So you do not think that stuff like that does not happen? LOL While I have no clue if this group would do anything like that or not you have to admit that the situation has brought 10X more attention to there messageOriginally Posted by R13
Rember the Tops&Bottoms signs which were heavly criticized and eventualy lead to Dickenson Co passing a ordanance against marquee billboards in order to shut it down? Are you saying that it was "Closed Minded" of the area to act to have those messages removed? Or is it just "Closed Minded" when the message is not in line with your view of the world?
As for the atheists/agnostic group I say go for it there was a post on the Clintwood connection fourm CLINTWOOD CONNECTION a few weeks ago with a poster looking to start one up you could get in contact with that person and go to it......
I do have 1 question about such a group.....What is the point/goal? i.e. A church group would probably talk/study the Bible, a book club talks about differant books, Weight Watchers talks about loseing weight/selling there products.
It would be a great way for them to "cast" suspicions on any Christian group. It is very possible.
If this had been a Christian sign we would never have heard about it, period. Christian signs and billboards are routinely and frequently vandalized, but it doesn't make the news.
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Not really, is it possible? Sure, anything is possible. But thinking about it, it sounds incredibly ridiculous. It's had national coverage already, vandalizing your own sign is already crazy enough. But after how much it costs, how much it will cost to replace and the fight that they had to do to get it up...I don't think they would ever do that, ever. It just makes no sense.
I just said there are a lot of agnostics/atheists in this area, though it's generally a very religious area and yes a lot are very close minded. Hell I had to do a survey for my religion class, 100 random people, pretty scary the way people think of non-believers around here. And no, I'm not just going by the survey to come to that conclusion.
Just like any group, getting together with others that have a lot in common, good place for debate. It'd be nice to do something like they did and have a small "chapter" group here in SWVA.
Then how do you know about them?
well it wouldn't be hard to know about them if it was your church that had the signs vandalized or if you drove by a church and seen their signs vandalized..
If the tables were turned and it was a Christian sign that had been vandalized and made national news then it makes me wonder if your thinking would be different. I wonder if you would think that it was the Christians themselves that vandalized their own signs??
When you think about it what better way to gain more news coverage and publicity than to make it seem like the opposing side destroyed your sign and not to mention make Christians look like hypocrites.
Of course he would. But he put it as in it happens frequently, everywhere, but no one hears about it. So how would he know?
I would think it was wrong too, so no need to wonder.
I did think about it and it makes zero sense. If they were going to do that(this is assuming they're that stupid), don't you think they would have one ready? Well they didn't and this sign has to be up about a week with that painted on it. It really makes zero sense. They spend money to put it up, fight to get it up, then vandalize their same sign for nation attention they already had(which this would be negative attention) and now have to wait a week for it to be taken down and put up another that they have to pay for. Are you guys serious? Oh and...
...Atheist ads are often a target for vandals. Three of 10 atheist billboards erected in Sacramento, Calif., were defaced in February, and a series of atheist bus ads was recently vandalized in Detroit.
They do those too? LMAO Come on, let's be rational here.
And Christians need no help making their self look like hypocrites, many do it constantly on a daily basis, leaders of churches do it on a daily basis, hell turn it on TBN and watch those hypocrites and liars with their own show.
It's simply a matter of 5 decades of observation and a good memory. I remember the church sign just around the corner from here being spray painted at least three different times for instance. No esp or super google skills necessary to know it's true.
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