Atheist Billboard in Columbus, Ohio Taken Down After Church Complains

Outrageous.

And yet people keep saying that we the ones attacking religion…

Speech is free in this country – so long as you say things everyone agrees with.

I sure hope there’s more to it than just a spineless advertising agency. Is the billboard on property leased from this church? Is the church a major source of revenue for the advertising agency?

This makes me outraged. Please tell me there is going to be a legal response to this??

It doesn’t surprise me that a church complained, but it *does* surprise me that the complaints had an impact. Who made the decision to remove the billboard? Was it clearchannel? Some part of the official city government of Columbus?

I did a little Google maps sleuthing. If it is the church directly adjacent to the billboard, it’s the Christ Cathedral Church (www.christcchurch.com) located at 3350 Allegheny Ave.

The billboard looks to be adjacent to the far corner of their parking lot. You could easily read the billboard from their front door.

Of course they complained. It threatens to put chinks in the armor around their fantasy. It might make their congregants resort to thinking for themselves instead of staying on the straight and narrow sheeple path.
Hopefully, taking it down will draw even more attention and raise more questions. A little Streisand Effect maybe.

This makes me angry. I’m sure it had something to do the the “without god” in the quote. I wasn’t allowed to use my original quote “Living a purpose filled life without god” on my billboard in Tulsa Oklahoma.
The billboard company felt that my quote would be to offensive for the Tulsa community.

It is against church laws to allow converts to be taken away from the churches larder for the benefit of the common people and not for the prosperity of the church! Didn’t they teach that in school somewhere? Oh yes, that’s right, it was during the “Inquisition!” My how time flies when you’re killing people who don’t subscribe to your train of thought!

Surely the church isn’t bigoted against atheists, or racist, they must be against hats, beards, or students.

Make sure when you find out WHO complained, and “accomadated” the church in question, that it gets put ON HERE, so we may all retaliate ON HERE! Perhaps a bit of “on-line reviewing” of the church in question is called for, then some protesting, then some picketing, then SOME MORE BIGGER, MORE FLAGRANT BILLBOARDS!

Is there anything we can do to help get that billboard back up?

This calls for more free speech, in a larger way. So they could see it from the front door of their church. So what? That’s reality out there, folks.

At least we didn’t amplify some anti-theist speech and blast it out to the neighborhood, and into their ears, while they’re in their living rooms. That would be like church bells.

This is why we need billboards. Plus I would have a group meeting of Atheists right there where the billboard was. Let them see the horror of the actual people the billboard represents. Let them complain then too. They’ll have to share our diverse nation, one way or another.

I vote the sign be moved, and then another sign be placed in the same spot that says, “I can be good without Thor.”

I’m trying to find the spot on google maps, and I can’t.

417 James, 140 feet north of Allegheny, west side facing north

According to the map, north of Allegheny, James becomes Stelzer.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=James+at+Allegheny+columbus+oh&hl=en&ll=39.978912,-82.912166&spn=0.013368,0.01929&sll=39.98013,-82.913354&sspn=0.000835,0.001206&gl=us&z=16

Anyone know?

I agree with Hemant, we ought to know which church complained and what the nature of the complaint was. Last I looked, freedom of expression was still guaranteed by the Constitution and not only for people who say what everybody else says!

Good without god? That slogan seems to give theists confirmation that Atheists think their god actually exists.

“Good with no god beliefs” would be more accurate and would not give legitimacy to theism.

I have no clue if this is the church or not. Anyone want to call them and ask? I did post on their facebook page asking them if they are the ones responsible.

Address 3350 Allegheny Ave, Columbus, OH 43209
Phone (614) 237-9495
Website http://www.christcchurch.com/

They only have 117 likes so I’m not sure if it is them and if you do view their facebook page you will learn my real name. But I don’t care about that. I’m one of producers of South Park too.

I hate to nit-pick, but the sign is being relocated not taken down. It’s still bullshit, but I think we need to avoid hyperbole in these matters. It makes it easier for people to dismiss the incident when it turns out to be not as bad as initially thought from the title.

M. Grier Kidder said it best:

“Formerly, the church burnt. Now, she boycotts. Her cruelty is regulated by her strength. She reforms when she can’t do worse.”

Or pulls the “offended” card, as the case may be. And, if burning heretics at the stake comes back into fashion, rest assured, the torches will be carried by the most offended.

From my post on FA’s facebook page: I would love to know the back story behind why the atheist board was relocated. Here is the info about this billboard that I know from my observations. It is next to the parking lot of Christ Cathedral Church http://www.christcchurch.com/. In fact, it appears that the billboard may be on church property? It is within the chain link fence surrounding the church. There is also a childcare center, and small medical center directly behind the billboard.I don’t know who actually owns the billboard, or who controls what is put on it. It’s very close to our airport, pretty low income area with trailer park, apartments, warehouses, that sort of thing. The atheist board was replaced with one about adopting pets from shelters. http://www.theshelterpetproject.org/

Erp Says:

June 27th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
We don’t know definitely that it is this church or, if so, who within complained (big difference between the pastor and the church busybody who even most of the church finds too much).

That is why I posted on their facebook page asking if they did.

They just responded to my question.

Christ Cathedral Church Yes that sign was put up on our property and we demanded that it be removed from OUR property.

You’ve got to be kidding. 1 someone at the billboard company had a good laugh when he placed the ad. 2. To be clear. The Church got paid (indirectly) for the atheist ad?

LOL all around.

This is sickening! I can’t believe one group can just freak out and the billboard gets moved. Obscene.

Maybe we need to go to church billboards and protest.

-E

The only billboards here in Columbus which have EVER offended me, were the ones from televangelist (and Christian Dominionist extremist) Rod Parsley… who is so canny about how the surrounding community hates him, that he deliberately posts his sick billboards only a few days before his events, so that no group can effectively
organize protests against him.

I think that the church did the right thing. Every time a church demonstrates it’s lack of tolerance and disregard for the rights of others to express their views is another nail in the coffin of religion. We’ve no shortage of examples but one more never hurts.

Also if there a stretch of road in the USA that isn’t within a 100 yards of a church? I may be slightly exaggerating.

Judy, you may not like this one, but ahhhhhh “I can be good without god” Really?! On a billboard – what moron thought of that stupid slogan and idea? Yah, let’s be like all the other 40 plus “religions” out there and advertise, and then profit and control others with a particular belief/dogma/tenet. Let’s also begin to abuse others with this body of man-made tenets that it appears atheists are beginning to create recently – why? The absolute fact is that good and bad is a matter of perception and necessity, and morals and ethics used or placed upon one another are not universal in law – throughout this always expanding universe. We are at times good because there is less pain in being good, and it usually pleasures us in the end result in some way shape or form. We are evil because of ignorance, fear, or lack of fact or truth – usually. Yah-see, a level or form of evil to some may be good in their belief/ideology (stoning women, forced marriages, racism by tea baggers), so the billboard is moronic because it has nothing to do with man’s primal intentions – more joy and less pain, which should be the atheist code or creed. The great majority of people on this planet understand what true pain is on many different levels, and most understand what pure joy is and can be. What we/non-godly does not believe is that books written by much less educated men thousands or hundreds of years ago have the omniscient authority to dictate how we perceive good and evil. The fact is that without a god we all have the innate ability to do good things to ourselves, each other, and this planet, and/or in many cases do perceptually evil actions to create more joy in our lives as well. The sign should say; I can be good and evil with or without god. That is absolute fact that many will never admit to – sadly. This species is at a major crossroads right now. Many understand me or my perception, and many are wondering then – well, what now? This is a question that must be laid out and answered, or total anarchy will ensue very soon…

Hahaha! But you all want to make sure there are no nativity scenes out at CHRISTmas.You want to take “In god we Trust” off money.No prayer in schools. You want to revise history and convince people that this country wasn’t founded by men who believed in God. I can’t count how many complaints I’ve heard from athiests regarding CHRISTian billboards.

This makes you all indignant? You’re surprised? You are participating in an “in your face” campaign and don’t think people are going to complain? But you can complain all you want about the other side. LOL

According to my religion, If you don’t Believe you go to hell. According to you, Nothing that you do matters, no matter what you believe. Christian billboards are trying to save people from eternal torment. Athiest billboards are trying to be spiteful. Do you think its a coincidence it was right by a church?

It DOES go against what the church teaches. If someone can be good without God, therefore a person can get to heaven without God, because all you need to do to get into heaven is to be good. Their point is that NOBODY can be good, therefore we all need God, or we’ll burn in the hellfires. If we can be “good” without God, we don’t need the church, and they become obsolete. It must be tough to be terrified of a billboard…

@richard wade

Actually, The majority of my freinds are athiest. About your comment nothing we do matter, Thats true, We’re just trying to make sure you don’t go to hell. We don’t have to, we’re just being kind

Christian, you say

Actually, The majority of my freinds are athiest.

Then I’m puzzled why you would make this very incorrect characterization about atheists:

According to you, Nothing that you do matters, no matter what you believe.

To me, and to the many, many atheists whom I know very closely, what we do in this world matters a great deal in this world. We know our actions have consequence with real people in real life. Our acts of kindness are for the here and now. We do “believe,” meaning support and condone, in certain principles such as compassion, fairness, honesty, freedom and respect. We do our best to practice these principles for the sake of this world, not for some consequence in some other world. Unlike the ancient Egyptians and modern Christians, we don’t live our whole lives preparing for an afterlife. An afterlife is not what gives our lives meaning. Our deliberate actions and their consequences in the here and now give our lives meaning.

If you were to sit down with your many atheist friends and openly listen to them rather than preach to them, maybe you’d discover this.

Then you say

Christian billboards are trying to save people from eternal torment.

A bit of advice: They don’t work. All your threats of hellfire and eternal torture by the Protection Racketeer in the Sky do not cause anyone who is unconvinced of its existence to suddenly become convinced of its existence. Your sales pitch is ineffective. People are attracted to deities that reflect qualities they have inside. Your concept of such a vicious and cruel monster is not a very flattering reflection on you.

Then you say

Athiest billboards are trying to be spiteful.

The billboard in question here says “I can be good without God.” That’s one man talking about himself. There’s nothing spiteful in it at all. It’s not about you or Christians. Despite the so common reaction of rage and loathing that Christians have to such innocuous billboards, not everything that atheists say or do is about Christians. Yet these billboards that merely call out to isolated atheists in the area are frequently vandalized, censored or banned.

Finally you ask

Do you think its a coincidence it was right by a church?

It was not a decision by the atheists who bought the ad. They were not made aware of exactly whose property it would be on. It was a boneheaded oversight by the staff of the billboard company. You can read about it here. As I said, not everything atheists say or do is about Christians.

In your reply to me, you say

About your comment nothing we do matter, Thats true, We’re just trying to make sure you don’t go to hell. We don’t have to, we’re just being kind.

Thank you for answering my question honestly.

So either negligently spreading untruths about atheists as you are doing because you don’t care to really find out, or deliberately telling lies about atheists as many Christian leaders do, that’s all okay with you, because the damage that does to real people in the real world doesn’t matter, either for you or for them. You have your ticket to heaven, so you can be just as self-righteous, cruel, and ruthless as you please, and you can rationalize it all away because it’s all out of “kindness.”

Christian “kindness” to atheists is very often thinly disguised cruelty or right-out-there naked hate that comes from fear which comes from ignorance. Do us the kindness of getting to really know us, and letting us have the same basic civil rights that you enjoy, and treating us with the same basic human decency that you expect.

And whether you write correct or incorrect things about us, please spell atheist with e-i.

….

Obviously we don’t agree with you on that.

We don’t believe in heaven, hell, god, or the devil. We don’t believe in a supernatural mind-body dualism that posits an eternal soul distinct from our bodies.

You’re going to need to substantiate all of these things (god, devil, souls, etc) to make us care about your eternal view.

Christian, I never said or implied that you are stupid, and I don’t think that you are. I don’t see anything implying that in ACN’s comment either.

I have been talking about statements you have made about atheists that suggest common misconceptions about our values and our motives for doing things. I’m trying to help you to understand atheists accurately, and nothing more. It’s okay to have misunderstood us. There’s a lot of misinformation out there.

Atheists’ and Christians’ misconceptions about each other cause awful and completely unnecessary enmity and strife. If we can all get past our resentment and fear, and ask each other about each other rather than make antagonistic assumptions, everyone will be better off for it. Yes, only in the present life. Eternity is your concern.

My main point is that a focus on an afterlife does not give anyone a moral or ethical license to treat others in a shabby manner in this life. While you personally might not treat people shabbily, many other Christians do, and they justify their behavior with their focus on heaven and their disdain for this world. That is unacceptable, inexcusable, and is a major reason why people are not attracted to Christianity.

I and my friends have been the recipients of many painful acts of paternalistic “kindness” at the hands of Christians, which really were nothing more than self-righteousness, self-indulgence, and self-aggrandizing at our expense. Their basic justification boils down to “I’m doing this for your own good,” which is what an abusive parent says just before he beats his kids bloody.

If you learn anything about atheists that does not fit the negative stereotypes and assumptions that you have heard from other Christians, please have the courage to confront and correct them on those misconceptions. Realizing that your beliefs about atheists are incorrect does not have to threaten your beliefs about God.

I see. Well, no insult intended. I apologize for that misunderstanding.

@Christian,

Three questions about your beliefs…

1. If you found yourself in heaven and all the non-Christians were there as well, what would you think about that?

2. If everybody’s conscious experience ends with the physical end of brain function, then how can you put any stock in what people have written about the afterlife. Isn’t scripture all wishful thinking and speculation?

3. If your beliefs are true and you end up in heaven in some kind of eternal worship ceremony, how long could you maintain you sanity? At some point any notion of an individual self would have to be dropped. At that point, YOU would be dead.