A Response to the Kentucky Atheist Billboard

As a Kentucky resident, I’m glad to see that the response is at least a legal one.

I’m impressed–they didn’t vandalize ours, just put up their own!

Tit for tat, isn’t that what Jesus said? Was that before of after he said that whole thing about turning the other cheek?

…and I’m moving there in a few years. I’m leaving Oklahoma (what some call the buckle of the bible belt) to move to an equally religious state. It’s like trading STDs.

Heard from one of the folks in the booth that one woman came up and was all shouty and mean about it, and then came back later to apologize, because she didn’t notice the question mark in “Don’t believe in God?”, and thought the sign was telling everyone to convert to atheism.

No vandalism? Wow, Kentucky, your awesome!

What does it say about the state of atheism when it’s cause for celebration (or at least a few yay’s) when an atheist billboard DOESN’T get vandalized? It’s like a black couple moving to a town and remarking that they haven’t had a single cross burned on their lawn.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that this means we’re making progress, however slight, I just think it’s sad that we take notice that things are the way they ought to be.

By the way, I live in Canada, so I don’t get a lot of religious flak. Which is all well and good; I’m the kind of person to intentionally antagonize religious people to make a point.

The response to the billboard is perfectly reasonable. And much saner than the idiotic responses that these billboards have elicited in other states.

I see why many people think the Christian billboard is childish, but by that concept, so is ours. Like Pinocchio saying, “But I am a real boy!” It’s all cool to me though, because we should be able to express ourselves and so should they. I think it’s more than just a small step forward. It is acknowledgement that they are not 100% of the population, and they know it. They’ve had to admit that we exist, and that we have a right to exist. That’s a huge step forward to me.

I like the new sign. I think it actually emphasizes the point of the original sign. Anyone who sees it is going to think about the original. Christians may get a sense of smug superiority in larger numbers, but that’s fine. It is true that a majority of Kentuckians believe in Jesus. But it’s not 100%. I think even Hindus can be assured by this sign. You may be a minority, but you’re not alone.

Excellent! Good to see a mature, responsible response for once. And I agree with as stated above the idea that the “definitely” is possibly pointing to the fact that you aren’t alone because Christ is with you. Or that’s how I read it anyway. Which is quite clever.

@Nicole – I agree that the “definitely” refers to Christ.

Perhaps if their priorities were being friendly and atheist rather than homosexual loving, muslim tolerating and christian hating it might open their bigotted minds?

Obvious troll is obvious.

eh… louisville isn’t THAT far south. I got a chuckle from someone from Alabama when I said Kentucky was in the South… then again a dude I talked to on the metro in NYC thought I was from Alabama.. so whatever.. Though not really atheist myself I enjoy the blog and I am very glad for the billboard and the response billboard made me giggle (kind of bitterly) and think to myself “no shit.”

Just a hint for any atheists or other non-christians in kentucky: go to lexington or louisville because for the most part people don’t really care what you believe.

Also, I work in Indiana and on my way there I swear me and boyfriend see SO many anti-abortion/christian billboards its ridiculous. So, I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that if I don’t want people telling me at some point that they think I will be going to hell then I’m just going to stay away from the rural areas (and my house… -_-). Which works for me because I’m a city girl at heart. 🙂

I’d also like the add that I thought it was funny that I haven’t even heard of the Louisville Bible College.

No Christian driving past that billboard is looking up and saying, “There are CHRISTIANS around me?! I never knew!”

Perhaps not those words exactly, but I will mention that even in a 5000~ member mega church in Tennessee that I attended as a teenager, we were taught that Christians were the minority. …and persecuted and other nonsense, but when I was in my teens I seriously believed that all the people around me outside of church were mostly atheists or malcontents, and that they wanted naught but to eliminate Christianity. I’ll point out again that this was in Tennessee.

Heard from one of the folks in the booth that one woman came up and was all shouty and mean about it, and then came back later to apologize, because she didn’t notice the question mark in “Don’t believe in God?”, and thought the sign was telling everyone to convert to atheism.

That “one of the folks in the booth” was me, btw 🙂 I wrote more about that incident here: http://kysecularsociety.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/reactions-to-our-godless-state-fair-booth/

Hazor brings back memories of my childhood. I am from the near Pittsburgh, Pa. Pennsylvania, they say, is Philadelphia on the east, Pittsburgh on the west, and Alabama in the middle. After our fire and brimstone C&MA minister had railed on about the papist anti-christ, I got to fearing all of the catholics who would bring about the destruction of the world. Then I found out that over half of the kids in my school classroom were catholic, including some of the nicest ones I knew!

Fundies sure are good at completely missing the point. At least they’re responding by wasting their money on stupid billboards instead of vandalism, though.

Rich Wilson and Citizen Z beat me to it. I read that and chuckled and thought way to make sure the Atheist billboard message is spread. Thank you.

Look, this is great. And more than acceptable. We exercised our free speech and they exercised theirs. This is why I love America. I just love seeing side by side polar opposites existing in (more or less) harmony. That’s the America I love. Not the ugliness going on in NYC right now. And I may point out that free speech means you are open to critique for what you speak about. To get upset about the Christian billboard is as ridiculous as getting all caught up in the Pepsi-Coke wars regardless of which one you like better.

And the booth at the State fair is great. Party on, America.

It would be awesome to see an atheist billboard in eastern Kentucky, say somewhere around Harlan County in the Appalachian Mountains. Won’t happen anytime soon though. I’m definitely alone here.

I grew up not terribly far from your area, Jasper, in the southern part of West Virginia (Mingo County, to be exact). I moved away to North Carolina (right outside of Charlotte) over seven years ago, and I have to tell ya–in some ways it’s like I never even left. Even though this area is much more financially prosperous and commercially developed, sometimes I think the Jesus freaks make up 99.9% of my neighbors–and are far more vocal than in WV. Add to that the fact that NC has an overwhelming historic record of Rebublicanism and, well, you can guess the rest.

I presume it’s primarily because the population density is so much greater here, but some days it seems as if every other vehicle on the road (and that includes commercial trucks) has plastered on it an ichthus or a preachy bumper sticker or, as some have taken to doing of late, a prominent magnetized bible verse along with a charming “REPENT OR BE DAMNED” message.
And that’s not to mention the billboards! My unscientific estimate is that two out of every five of those is for some wannabe megachurch that’s just getting started by renting out a PUBLIC school auditorium for Sunday services. (Yes, they do that, and I’ve oftened wondered what the reaction would be if one were request to rent said space with the express purpose of setting up, say, a mosque or even a Buddhist meditation center, but I digress.) Then once they’re established with their own facility, they begin to replicate along the lines of bacteria or viruses by setting up satellite churches in other parts of town and the surrounding areas–actually calling them CAMPUSES, as if what they’re doing is on par with higher education. That’s a far cry from the humble little Baptist church of my WV youth.

One would think that with all of this godly instruction coming from these various houses of worship that are often no more than a few hundred feet apart, shouldn’t we be living in a near-heaven on earth down here? Yet the poverty level and rates of crime and drug use remain steady–if they’re not climbing–in these shitty economic times.

So my plea to you, Jasper, is that you not let it get you down too much. I’ve been there, and now that I’m here, I can see that the fact of the matter is it’s pretty much one and the same in terms of the fundamentalist stranglehold. But have no doubt, there ARE others like yourself out there locally. They’ve just built up a quite necessary self-protective wall. And although they’re admittedly few and far between, you have resources at our disposal to connect with them, resources that I didn’t even have when I was there, what with no computer of my own. The internet is a–if you’ll pardon the pun,–godsend for finding like-minded folks, regardless of geographic or sociocultural circumstances.

And finally, in regard to your dream of an atheist–or even agnostic–billboard in Harlan County? Well, I have no doubt whatsoever that if such an “abomination” were ever to appear on the hills that are so abundant in Mingo or Logan Counties, there would be more than mere vandalism going on. I’m thinking arson or worse. And THAT would be at the hands of law enforcement! (Yes, that’s hyberbole…I hope.)