A bold message towers high above the New Jersey Turnpike on a new billboard outside of New York City. "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."
The ad was placed by FreeThoughtAction, a new organization using traditional advertising and the internet to market secularism in a positive and provocative way. FreeThoughtAction is planting a few billboards and other ads around the country to "seed" a grassroots movement raising the profile of "freethinkers," a broad term that includes atheists, agnostics, humanists, secularists, skeptics and others who do not have a belief in the existence of a God or gods.
The billboards promote the website FreeThoughtAction.org where internet visitors can find out about the initiative and contribute to the campaign. The site provides a range of resources including links to dozens of freethought groups, research material on religion and freethought, a news and views blog, plus materials nonbelievers can purchase to help spread the word. FTA will also work with groups and individuals to place local ads in their market.
Jan Meshon, the group's founder, is optimistic the action plan will garner support. "So far, response has been overwhelmingly positive. People are thrilled to see their view expressed in such a visible way. Just the other day someone saw the ad for the first time and whipped out their checkbook on the spot." One of the strengths of the program, according to Mr. Meshon, is how easy it is for supporters to join the action. "There are no meetings to attend. Everyone doesn't have to agree on every point of philosophy or what to label themselves. You can contribute and know that your voice will be heard."
The billboard has only been up a couple of days and already dozens of people have contributed and/or signed up for the email list. FTA has received dozens of thank you emails from around the country - and even a few from as far away as Britain and Israel - expressing their appreciation of the effort. To quote one: "The billboard is absolutely fantastic and so desperately needed in every community across America. Thank you so much for this." Freethought blogs were abuzz with word of the billboard with very positive reaction like the following: "Bravo... billboards like these help non-theists feel less alone and less alienated."
FTA sees itself as a small counterpoint to aggressive, well-funded efforts by religious groups to increase the role of religion in American society and government. Mr. Meshon believes that a little marketing push for a strong "product" will help move America to a tipping point where secular Americans are as readily accepted as the religious. "For all the attention given to religion lately, the number of secular Americans is booming. The tide is definitely turning." The American Religious Identification Survey (City University of New York) supports this view. Nonreligious Americans doubled from 1990 to 2001 while the number of religious Americans actually decreased.
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FreeThoughtAction is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and an independent adjunct of the American Humanist Association. FTA creates marketing and public relations programs to increase the size and influence of the freethought community.
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Earlier Press Release by the American Humanist Association HERE.
Earlier coverage:
God's skeptics get comfort from above
Beware of the fruit of the 'Tree of Knowledge'
Don't believe in God? You are not alone.
Sign of the times?
More to come...
Hat tip to the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, NJ which is the nearest humanist organization to the billboard. This organization is a family-oriented community that offers a humanistic Sunday school and is a member of the American Ethical Union (AEU).
They referenced our billboard on their Society's blog HERE.