Atheist Billboard Goes Up in Terre Haute, Indiana August 25, 2011

Atheist Billboard Goes Up in Terre Haute, Indiana

By Hemant Mehta
August 25, 2011

The Freedom From Religion Foundation just put up this “Imagine No Religion” billboard in Terre Haute, Indiana (courtesy of a donor who wished to remain anonymous):

“There are many nonbelievers in America, including in Indiana, and we want them to know they are not alone. We’d also like to invite believers to imagine a world free from religious wars, sectarian strife and superstition,” said Dan Barker, FFRF co-president.

“Like John Lennon, I’ve found that nature and reality are enough for me. I, too, like to imagine no religion, no hell below us, above us only sky. The only afterlife that should concern us is a secure and pleasant future for our descendants,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president.

It’s been about two years since FFRF put up a billboard (with the same design) in Indiana.

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  • Nice!  I like it.

  • Anonymous

    I think these are really pretty, but I see them as being better for bus stops or the sides of the buses themselves than for billboards. People usually see billboards when driving, so they should ideally be short, to the point and easy to read. This ad, though very pretty, takes a bit of squinting, especially if you’re far away, which I think lessens its impact.

  • Fantastic! Love the design too….

  • gobsmacked

    Agreed.  The font is germane to the sentiment, but difficult to read.

  • Annie

    I agree, but that might work in some cases to their advantage.  As a parent with aging eyes, I always have my child read billboards to me while driving.  It’s fun to imagine young children reading this to their parents… and actually imagining such a thing.

  • Love it! I’ve always liked the look of these billboards though. Very pretty.

  • Tell me about it.  Here in Bloomington, IN, there are more atheists than I imagined there to be — but not all of us are ‘out’.

  • HamsterWheel

    I like the stained glass imagery, but unfortunately I think that particular message is too easy for Christians to distort into one of their favorite fallacies.  The Christian mindset probably responds by falsely associating lack of religion with lack of morals and soon thereafter Hitler and Pol Pot and Stalin and psychopathic mass murderers come to mind because that is what they have been conditioned to associate with no religion.  Just sayin’.

  • icecreamassassin

    We have several ‘Hell is Real’, ‘Jesus is Real’, and ‘When Americans Worship God, God Will Bless America’ billboards here in Indiana.  Glad to see this.

  • I saw the sign on I-65 that said “Hell is Real” on our way to Indianapolis and had the pleasure of seeing the–also informative–“Jesus is Real” on the backside of the same sign during our return to Chicago.

    This FFRF sign is much better.

  • As a fellow Hoosier atheist (though from further north in South Bend), I am happy to see this!  When we head towards Marian and Rensselaer to see various family members I am always amused by the abundance of “my god is better than yours” billboard and placards.

  • KDM

    I’d so love to see one here in Knoxville. We have one that says “We need to talk -God” and several pro-life ones in the city, but when traveling in most rural TN you start to see the nutty stuff like “He is coming” and “Hell is real”. Blech.

  • Don’t forget the always annoying “pro-life” billboards that are just about everywhere.

  • letmebe

    I think it’s a throw away – it’s only empowering if your an Atheist – to everyone else it’s just validation – like to scare children ‘just imagine no religion’ – I’d prefer a backdrop of a deflated holy crusade… 

  • My first thought was “another church goofed up?”

  • Valhar2000

    Which is why Dan Barker explicitly says that the sign’s message is for atheists, not for Christians.

  • I live in Naptown and my fiance’s family lives in Evansville.  Whenever we drive down to visit, we play a road game called “Punch Baby”.  It’s like Punch Buggy, only we look for religious themed anti-abortion billboards and graveyards of the innocents instead fo Volvos.

  • Adam Esch

    I live in Terre Haute! I will be spending all day finding this sign, now. I must have a picture with it!

  • Guest

    Adam, it is by the fairgrounds.

  • Redialdnd

    Wow the more this billboard entices and pleases people, the more souls satan is winning. Ya’ll are lost

  • Dubael

    I keep seeing that last bill board when I do a run down to Laredo TX and my first thought is always, ‘Oh, is that why China and India are leading the world economy, because they worship God?”

  • Dubael

    I often wonder why Pro-Life people don’t realise that the main reason for abortion is that so few children are wanted.  If society accepted every birth, regardless of whether it was ‘legitimate’ or not as a blessing (from gaud or just nature) then maybe more people would want to carry to term. 

  • DOWNINPODUNK

    I WILL BE PRAYING FOR EACH ONE OF YOUR SOULS!!  SATAN HAS BLINDED YOUR EYES TO THE TRUTH!!  YOU ARE LOST SOULS AND I AS A CHRISTIAN WOMAN HAVE SEEN MANY ATHEIST COME TO KNOW GOD!!  YET CANT THINK OF ANY THAT HAVE TURNED FROM GOD TO BECOME A LOST SOUL!!  PRAYERS GOING UP FOR YOU EACH DAY AND BY THE WAY….JESUS LOVES YOU AND IS WAITING PATIENTLY FOR YOU TO COME TO HIM!!  PLEASE TURN AWAY FROM THIS WICKEDNESS AND ACCEPT THE TRUTH.  JESUS CHRIST SUFFERED AND DIED SO THAT YOU MAY HAVE LIFE!!!          P.S.  PICK UP THE BIBLE AND READ REVELATIONS!!  JESUS WINS!!  GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!

  • McSquoranges

     HAIL SATAN!