Last week, the Freedom From Religion Foundation announced they would be placing a digital billboard in Mississippi over the month of July. It would say “God Fixation Won’t Fix This Nation.”
FFRF’s billboard message is very appropriate for Mississippi. The state is the most religious in the country (tied with Alabama), with 77 percent of adult Mississippians saying that they are “very religious,” according to the Pew Research Center. At the same time, it consistently ranks at or near the bottom in quality of life. A recent survey found it to be the worst state in the country to live in, with “the lowest annual median household income and the highest poverty rate in the nation,” as well as the lowest life expectancy.
“We lose sight of human needs when we fixate on gods,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “When we have faith in ourselves, we won’t need faith in gods.”
The sign didn’t even last a week.
Lamar Outdoor, contending it was getting “a lot of hate,” yanked FFRF’s digital display this afternoon [July 6].
…
A representative from Lamar told FFRF there was significant “backlash from the community” and “too much heat.”
Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president, expressed dismay over “this heckler’s veto.”
“It’s more than disappointing that there is no alternative or dissent permitted in Mississippi, that the claims of religion cannot even be questioned or debated,” she says.
What a quintessentially religious response: If there’s criticism of your ideas, don’t bother responding with a better argument; just censor your opponents.
It’s Moving Day for the Friendly ..."
It’s Moving Day for the Friendly ..."
It’s Moving Day for the Friendly ..."
It’s Moving Day for the Friendly ..."