Atheist Group’s Billboard Targets ‘Closet’ Non-Believers

November 27, 2010 10:55 PM

American Atheists’ billboard (Photo/Terry Sheridan, 1010 WINS)

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NORTH BERGEN, N.J. (1010 WINS) – An atheist group that has paid for a large billboard outside the Lincoln Tunnel reading “You KNOW it’s a Myth” says it is targeting “closet” atheists as part of its Christmas season campaign.

The large billboard featuring a silhouette of a traditional manger scene is located on the New Jersey side of the tunnel and sponsored by a group called American Atheists.

David Silverman, the president of the organization, spoke to 1010 WINS Saturday and said the purpose of the billboard was to “attract atheists who are currently in the closet.”

Justin Schrager of 1010 WINS interviews Silverman

Silverman described the target audience as “people who are secretive not only to their friends and family, but maybe even to themselves about [their atheism].”

The billboard is causing some controversy among those in the Garden State.

“I don’t think it’s any good for the kids. I’ve got a 7-year-old daughter — she believes in Christmas,” one woman told 1010 WINS’ Terry Sheridan.

1010 WINS’ Terry Sheridan reports

“I don’t think that’s right. We don’t go around telling them what we think about [atheists], so why should they put up something like that,” another man said.

The billboard went up the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and is expected to be up through Christmas Day.

Silverman said atheists were unfairly targeted in the “war on Christmas,” a phrase often related to the public display of Christmas imagery on government funded property.

“We get blamed for a war on Christmas every year. This time we’re actually going to pay attention to that. We’re actually going to earn a little bit of that,” Silverman said.

“We have been blamed repeatedly for being unpatriotic, we have been told that there are not atheists in fox holes, we have been told that we are immoral. Nobody has ever cared if we would be offended.”

While acknowledging “everybody has the right to believe as they see fit,” Silverman said his group believed there were “a lot more people” who were atheists, but feared publicly admitting it.

“A lot of people in church, a lot of people in the mosque, a lot of people in the synagogue know they’re praying to air,” Silverman said.

Silverman said despite the fact that the billboard has only been up for a few days, he and his group are calling the campaign a success.

“We’re getting a lot of response from closeted atheists saying ‘thank you for putting it up.’”

Atheist Groups Billboard Targets Closet Non Believers

Ziggy

There same people dare not attack the Muslim faith!

Reason

Oh…poor Ziggy. You must live in a closet to not know that those who criticize your faith also criticize Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, etc…for the exact same reasons. Belief in god(s) is dangerous and foolish. We have gained much knowledge in the last few centuries and we no longer need to believe in fairy tales. Leave the gods in the past, recognize them for what they are…myth.

A

When was the last time you saw a billboard that had a depiction of the revelation of the Koran, and had a big, fat, “FAKE” on it (or something of that sort)?

singularity

There is no Allah either, Ziggy. Sorry mate.

rich

Zeus?

Walter

When I read this comment, I laugh ….I don’t think it’s any good for the kids. I’ve got a 7-year-old daughter — she believes in the Easter Bunny.

These American Religious fruit cakes.
They are doof.

Kent Tullis

I have to know…what do YOU think happens when you die? Is that it…

evolved intelligent being

No, that’s not it. Like a Disney ride you end up in a big gift shop.

Alan

I think this is great and about time. Christians for centuries have murdered people who refused to convert to Christianity. While the murdering may have stopped, they still use underhanded and illegal tactics to do the same, such as using public funds to sponsor prayer and using government property to post their messages. They can’t just help and feed the poor because it is the right thing to do, they have to use that help as an opportunity to prostheletize their religion, sometimes with the help of taxpayers’ money. So if an atheist group wants to use their own money to spread their message and try to get people to think, that is wonderful and no one has any right to complain.

evolved intelligent being

Don;t pick on Christians. People murder people regardless of the denomination of their delusion.

a thinking person

And the best part is that every christian i’ve conversed with on the subject does not even know where “christmas” evolved from, and they are so proud and it means so much to them… read up on the history of christmas and see how joyous an occasion it was…lol
Joseph

Atheist, do they even believe there is a being called SATAN? If they do, then they will realize they camp they belong.

evolved intelligent being

Must have missed school the day they taught writing.
Sgeo

Joseph, [most] atheists do not, in fact, believe that there is a being called SATAN. [I say most, and not all, because "atheist" is a _very_ broad term].
Reason

Sure, Satan is a member of the Christian pantheon.
rich

How could an all powerful god even allow the existence of a satan?

Sgeo

By not being all good?

[Please note: Do not take seriously anything I say that looks like a profession of theistic belief. Not having a disclaimer already confused two other people]

Jordan

Good point. Oh wait, no. No point, bad spelling, good job.

Tom

Where is Tony Soprano when you need him? If he’d seen this sign, it would be down in a matter of hours.Someone needs to pay this group a visit!

evolved intelligent being

Nothing like the threat of violence to help spread the gospel.
Melina Rodriguez

Remind me of the episode when Paulie wants to donate money to the church to “erase” all his sins aka murders. Nice Catholic values right there. Yet another example of believing that a fictional character is real…
singularity

Fortunately for the Atheists of New Jersey Tony Soprano is as fictitious as the virgin birth..

Richard Mangano

What exactly does that mean?

Jimmy

Personally I like Christmas. I’m not religious but I do like all the decorations, lights, giving gifts, and the idea of world peace. I hate to say this but it is free speech protected under the Constitution. We don’t get upset when we see extremely religious people preaching their beliefs on street corners telling us we’re going to hell if we don’t believe or join their cause. Its your right to preach. So why should you get upset when athiests say its a myth.
I believe

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel

evolved intelligent being

And verily his friends shall call him Manny and he will play for the Boston Red Sox.

an observer

evolved intelligent being, you’ve demonstrated complete cynicism and mean-spirited-ness here. Why do you feel compelled to ridicule every single comment being made here? What is driving you to so fiercely? Your name claims to be evolved but you partake in childish games of mockery and carry on fairly uncivilized. I suggest you evolve your mind, act like an adult and engage in civil debate. Quit behaving worse than those you ridicule.

Richard Mangano

Yet his name wasn’t Emmanuel… Hmmmm

bobby

hmmm, more people have died in the name of god than any other religion.
Cristobal Ramirez

It’s ridiculous if they don’t believe in God existence why to strugle whit a non existing entity.
patrick

Oh! the guys to petty most and pray for in this world are the athiests, they labor to believe what they do not believe. Why spend energy to believe what or who you think does not exist.
Pat

Before the world began there was nothing so someone or some super force
had to have started it. The world we know, the planets, the stars were all put there by someone or some force. We are all born Male & Female. Female has been give the gift of life for only a woman can procreate. We all grow old. Whether you are Rich, poor, famous, average joe. short tall, strong weak. God made us equal in this respect. We will grow old , we will all die and all of us born have a destinty. some good , some bad, some will become famous, others rich, but most us about average. So who made all these rules and set our destinty. If not a supreme being or force or a God then how did it all come about. I ask myself this question many times. I had polio when I was 9 months old and faced many challenges, maybe that was destinty, but through it all I struggled and with God’s( or some super force or supreme being) blessing I overcame the challenges and succeeded in life. So whether you believe or you do not believe that there is a God. The question remains so.. who started this all. How did the earth come about. The water, the sky, the planets, the stars the universe. How did it all begin. Many blame God for our sufferings, Illness, physical deformity, blindness, for the all the disease, well maybe it was planned this way as a test for humanity , maybe he is testing our strenght and our will to overcome and succeed.
I don’t know the answer, but I do know that many times in the past I put my faith in God and asked for his help to overcome the challenges I faced and with his help (I truly believe) I was able to succeed. Is there a God We’ll no one knows for sure what exactly exist, but I am sure that someone, something, some supreme force must exist that created us and started it all and it is because of that supreme force’s care and love for us that our world still exists today.

Atheist believe that world always was, that mankind always was, that the universe always was and that once we are dead there is nothing left.

Believe what you will, but you can not deny that the world just came about. pufff and the world was formed and that it just so happened that mankind can suddenly talk but all the other species in this world do not possess the same gift. It just so happened that animals just diid not come with the ability to speak. When I think of all these things I ask myself.. So who started it all..,. was it just puff or is there something more. No one really knows for sure ..

b

in response to this line:
“Atheist believe that world always was, that mankind always was, that the universe always was and that once we are dead there is nothing left. ”

i believe you are incorrect. i believe most athiests probably believe more along the lines of what sagan and darwin believe, when talking about the origins of the universe and the species (research, reasoning, and the will to combine them to form an opinion in the absence of logic in the opinions of others – not dogma).
Ryan

So a god can go “puff” and the world comes about? That’s delusional. And no that’s not what atheists think, our universe is created by natural reactions. There are billions of other planets out there.. many other creatures and intelligent life.. You just don’t understand the scope of the universe and it’s beginnings and instead believe in mumbo jumbo created by people 2000 years ago who didn’t even know the world was round let alone anything to do with the universe. Smart people wake up to the fact religion is pure nonsense.
Satan

Aight, Pat.

Firstly, animals have been known to use communication. We just have a sophisticated music box located in the same place where we breathe and eat (damn that is some stupid design) so we can emulate many sounds, and control a very textured langugage, but Apes can learn to sign, and can have robust vocabularies.

Why did God give Apes the ability to understand and communicate with humans unless…UNLESS!! Oh my god it just came to me!! We come from a common ancestor! It’s so obvious now!

But you keep falling into this pit trap that everyone falls into…they think that the universe is too complicated, so they come up with something even more complicated: God. Doesn’t make any sense. Try to understand the universe first, then try to understand God. I bet God will disappear once the universe is understood fully. The gaps are already disappearing in nearly every arena of life, and Christianity is fighting back with powerful ignorance.
Jordan

Do research before you make yourself looks like an idiot. Oh wait, Christians don’t want to do research because they don’t WANT to know. Classic. I can’t wait until the next generation which isn’t full with dangerous religious extremists. (They’d still exist, but not as many.) Sure religion did a good job in creating a working society, but now we do not NEED it. Put your faith in your friends and family, not something you think you’ve ‘felt’.

Terry

Christmas is not about religion anymore, if you think it is your living in cloud cuckoo land
John

This group is correct when they cay that there are many “closet” Atheists. The Bible confirms this as well. Most will not find the narrow road that leads to eternal life, but will remain on the broad way that leads to destruction.

ted

sounds like you drank the kool-aid

Peter

hummmm, actually Christains do tell non believers, other religions and other Christian sects exactly what they think of them, namely that they are destined for hell. Hypocrisy is the defining characteristic of organised religion. If anyone still believes christmas is about religion then they are as deluded in that as they are about their religion.
keith m charles

Attack other people religion not only Christiananity

poppy scott

spoken like a true Christian.

DanTe

The sad truth is that most people are T ARDS and need the threat of an afterlife to make them behave morally. This is what the communist found out when they banned religious mythos.

A court psychiatrist’s definition of schizophrenia: A fixed false believe and imaginary friends. This applies to most of humanity. Which would explain all the stupidity.
keith m charles

How can atheists ‘celebrate the season’ if they don’t believe anything happened?

Sounds as if they are quite happy to hijack Christmas while proclaiming they don’t believe it!

but I’d like t see them try the same thing with Ramadan, Eid, Diwali, Hannukah etc and see what kind of response they get…..

lorena

way to miss the point.
Dave

It’s says celebrate REASON. Learn to read.
singularity

Keith, Not all Christian denominations believe that “Christmas” is the birth of Jesus, the Church of Christ for example. Should little Church of Christ children not get prezzies from Santa?

Dumb

Too bad for the atheists that even the history books do not dispute the birth of Christ.

Eric M

Nobody disputes the existence of Christ. What is in dispute here, is whether he is the son of G-d, and/or if G-d exists at all. Even atheists believe Christ existed.

My personal question is: Why does it matter to atheists if the rest of the world believes in G-d…or remains closeted about their religious beliefs? Religion is probably the most deeply personal matter a person has to consider in their life. And it should remain PERSONAL to each and every human on this earth.

Sgeo

Except that there have been wars for religious reasons, and religion has been manipulated for other reasons, and religion has held back scientific progress. If religion stayed personal, then there’d still be discussion, but probably more reasonable of a “Hey, I believe you are wrong, here’s why” “And here’s why I think you are wrong” variety.
James Mills

that is probably the very reason such a sign exists. Atheism is not a religion, belief system, etc. It is the absence of a belief in a god or supernatural being. One should not feel closeted by those that DO believe such things.

evolved intelligent being

Birth yes. Rebirth? No.

NYU1232

EIB, did you just get a computer, or are you terribly bored?

srs

Jewish History books do.
Reason

Actually, you will have a very hard time finding concrete evidence of Jesus of Nazareth, or even mention of him in history. You will only find information about the religion that claims he existed…kinda like Krishna. There is about as much historical evidence that he was a real person too…or Dionysus, or Mithras, or Zeus, or….
Proud Atheist

Uh, I’ve never seen a history book that claimed Jesus Christ existed either. There are many artifacts that claim the existence of Julius Caesar, but none that claim the existence of Jesus. Unless you count that one book called The Bible. So, if it only takes one source to claim the existence of something, then Lord Voldemort surely exists…he’s mentioned in seven books!
Steve

Ah, but they do. The historical existence of Jesus is far from certain, unlike the existence of several of his contemporaries which can be verified by historically-valid data. The bible is not historically-valid data, because it started as myth and legend and then has been edited, rewritten, had parts thrown away and other parts added, and re-collected over and over until it bears almost no resemblance to the original.

Nor do christians agree on his birth. Christians celebrate his birth in december, but biblical scholars all pretty much agree that his birthday was in march. So the christmas celebration is a lie as well.

James

If they had any bawls at all they would put up a sign saying Mohammad is a myth.

pny

Those who believe in Mohammed don’t go around trying to recruit people the way Christians do. In fact, Christians just threaten you with an eternity in hell if you don’t believe in Jesus.

LOL?

You are right, they don’t try to recruit them, they just behead them.
dalverian

…and those that follow Mohammed try to send you there post-haste. of course they don’t try to recruit you.

Poppy Scott

Score for the atheists! Some of the most level-headed people on the planet.

Barbara Mallon

Score what?

poppy scott

Score for speaking up and not bowing to the supposed majority of “believers.” Atheists are not out raping and pillaging…..the time has come to stop blindly believing.

Matt

It’s about time we respond to those that think everything should revolve around religion. Those of us who use our ability to reason, don’t have to rely on a book written by MEN thousands of years ago.

Barbara Mallon

You are not “responding to those that think…’ I am still attending mass tomorrow wheather you do or not:)

willaim2010

Actually he IS responding to “all those who think…..” and that’s why you’re responding back to him. You’re not a very bright person are you? Or do you think that by simply “believing” that he’s not responding to religious people, that that makes it so??? Have fun at mass, don’t forget to put money in the plate so you can keep child rapists out of jail.

Rick

I don’t believe atheist really exist, I think everyone who says they are an atheist is simply in denial. Show me an atheist when he is on his death bed moments away from eternity and I will believe that he is what he claims to be. Other than that, I am pretty sure that atheist are just very intimidated by the unknown. They want to believe that you can reason everything, but no one has ever been able to reason everything, there are not always clear cut answers and no amount of brain storming can answer for why or how we got here. All theory’s fall short of concrete evidence, and the only one that makes any sense is the scariest one of all to those who want to be in total control of their own destiny. An intelligent being other than us is responsible for creating us. Atheist are control freaks who don’t want to admit that they have no control… I used to be one, I came to grips with reality..

evolved intelligent being

You’re right! It’s better to fill the unknown with an invisible magician than to observe the universe rationally. Is it really so hard to just say “I don;t know” when asked the big questions rather than creating a fantasy?
william2010

So, your beliefs on atheists are based on what you THINK (but don’t know) we might say to ourselves on our deathbeds? How many atheists brains have you examined while they’re dying?

Maybe you were a control freak with your atheism, but, as will all things, YOU are not the only example something can be compared too. I know it’s a difficult concept to understand, but not everyone is as weak and uninformed as you are.

So what do you say to me, when I tell you that I was a dedicated, active christian for 23 years, and over the course of the last nine years, my studies have proven TO ME that I was wrong. Not because I read a book that said I was wrong, but because empirical evidence proves that these stories exited in societies LONG before the god YHVH was ever invented, amongst many, many other things. How can I, as a rational person, believe in something that there is no evidence of? How can I be accused of being intimidated by knowlegde when I’m on a never ending quest for more? And you know, until we had a book that said YHVH created us, NOONE BELIEVED HE CREATED US. Why? Because there was never a single moment in time that evidence of his existence was presented in any form. The problem here, is that you have NO CLUE why many atheists don’t believe in god. But somehow you think you’re righteous enough to judge our reasons.Your belief in our reasons is no different than your belief in god. You believe without any facts or evidence.

If you want to believe in something with no more evidence than a book that was written and edited by control hungry men, by all means, do so. But don’t sit their and pretend you have the right to tell me what’s going on in my head when you obviously have not a shred of knowledge concerning what atheists are driven by.

P.S. Glad you came in to show your hypocracy, just like a typical christian.
Satan

Rick, you are under the delusion of control. You don’t have control over a comet landing on you right now and leaving you as vaporized dust. Humans naturally have a need to feel in control when we in fact almost never are–even of ourselves, and our behaviors, habits, etc.

It’s a sad but unfortunate result of our social evolutionary heritage. It’s just always on overdrive, and that’s why we anthropomorphize things we don’t understand.

MG

How can atheists ‘celebrate the season’ if they don’t believe anything happened?

Sounds as if they are quite happy to hijack Christmas while proclaiming they don’t believe it!

but I’d like t see them try the same thing with Ramadan, Eid, Diwali, Hannukah etc and see what kind of response they get…..
o

Ted

We celebrate the season of the winter solstice, as ancient people did before christians hi-jacked the holiday.
kanawah

Christians are celebrating their mythological holiday at a time and with many of the attributes of “heathen” religions that celebrated the winter solstice in one way or another.

Not only did the church want its own, it wanted to put an end to all other celebrations.

In comparison, all of the Middle Eastern religions have done far more bad than good. The sooner their mythology is banished into history, the better.

JFK

Atheism is a contradiction of reason. For more on the Christian faith: http://www.lockergnome.com/jfk/spiritual-development/
b

evolve beyond religion and we will move beyond war and hate to find peace. find the strength in your mind to do the research and think for yourself.

NYC2010

The Soviets strived to be a society devoid of God. It’s funny how they still managed to create their fair share of fear, mass murder and repression though. Consider that the things you describe have little or nothing to do with religion, but rather the human condition.

b

“the shoe, the shoe – follow the shoe” – monty python. sometimes we follow the wrong voice. in what you referenced, as in many religions, we misuse good, basic ideas for our own personal and political purposes, and become drunk with power as individuals. once we have the power buzz going, we’ll do or say anything to keep it…big, stupid dogs.
John

You are correct.
Dave

The truth is that the Soviets were not successful ion creating an atheist society so you can’t blame all the mass murders they committed on Atheism when most of them were not Atheists anyway. For example in the US we are supposed to separate Church and State but we all know that religious beliefs play a large part in the decision making within the government. No what the soviets had was a state religion and not Atheism.
Richard Mangano

that’s called State as God… Anyone who believes that you can have causation through the non belief in something, might as well say that Stalin killed millions because he didn’t believe in Unicorns, Santa, or Pixies.

Skipper

We also have to dismantle the industrial complex and their controllers because they also contribute to the human condition for their own good, not for the populus.

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