Just one word. And yet, someone in Scranton, Pennsylvania is bound to get all huffy about it.

“Various ads placed by atheists on billboards, buses, and elsewhere — no matter how innocuous they may be — throughout the United States have been called ‘offensive’ by theists. This led me and others to question if some theists are offended merely because atheists exist and are promoting a message (regardless of its content),” Vacula says. “Instead of theists reacting to messages from atheists with vitriol,” Vacula explains, “they should take some time to learn what atheists have to offer and what individual atheists believe. In the case of the NEPA Freethought Society, all persons have the opportunity to visit our website, read our content, listen to our podcast episodes, and even listen to a recent respectful debate I had with a Methodist minister. There’s no reason to be angry with us.”

The ad will be sponsored by individual donors, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Freethought Society (NEPA), and American Atheists.

All Justin’s waiting for is the green light from the bus company’s board of directors.

If they reject this ad, how newsworthy would that be…?

Now they need you to vote on the one you want to see go up.

These are my personal favorites, though there are plenty more to choose from:

I would love to see any of those go up, but my vote’s for the top one (by Michael Tyznik).

More information on the banner is here.

As far as I know, there hasn’t been any real media coverage about the banner…

The banner will read “Football beats church anytime – atheists.org.” The banner is scheduled to be in the air from 9:30-11:30 AM local time.

Dave Silverman, President of American Atheists, stated, “We took advantage of a unique opportunity to remind many Americans that their religion is not as important as they like to pretend it is. In many cities around the country the running joke is that football is the most popular religion.”

Mr. Silverman continued, “The banner will be seen by thousands of tailgaters, who clearly agree with American Atheists since they chose to sit on a tailgate instead of a pew. They chose to party with friends instead of praying with preachers.”

Silverman also paid for banners to fly over select cities last July.

Back then, many pilots refused to fly the banners, but there doesn’t seem to be much resistance this time around.

The Darwin on the Palouse events herald not only Charles Darwin’s 203rd birthday on February 12 but the 153rd anniversary of the first publication of “Origin of Species” on November 24.

…

“We have teamed up with the new Palouse Coalition of Reason to bring four of the nation’s preeminent speakers on science and philosophy to middle America,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. “We also wish to mark the 203rd birthday of Charles Darwin in a big way, celebrating his continuing contribution to humanity, science and rational thought.”

The events are free to the public!

In case you’re wondering, these aren’t the first atheistic billboards in Idaho. Previous signs can be seen here and here.

The press release (PDF) explains the need for the campaign:

African Americans may be the most religious minority in the United States, but many feel that the churches don’t speak for them. AAH hopes that the campaign will bring attention to the presence of and increase in religious skepticism within the black community, encourage those who have doubts about religion to share their concerns and join other freethinkers in their local communities, and educate many about the history of black freethought.

…

“African Americans who question religion often feel rejected by religious family and friends, and by the greater black community,” said Debbie Goddard, director of AAH. “But there is a rich heritage of religious skepticism and humanism in black history. By featuring the historical faces as well as the modern in our ad campaign, we show people that questioning religion is not new and that there are many of us here.”

How often have we talked about the special need for outreach to minorities so that they feel welcome in our movement? This is a wonderful step toward fulfilling that promise. In the process, it may even help educate people about the abundant secularism possessed by the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance.

There will also be billboards and bus ads promoting “religious skepticism in the African American community” across the country beginning this week. Check out the ads below:

In Atlanta, Georgia:

In Chicago, Illinois:

In Dallas, Texas:

In Washington, D.C.:

In Durham, North Carolina:

In Los Angeles, California:

In New York City, New York:

AAH owes a debt of gratitude to the Stiefel Freethought Foundation, which provided “substantial creative and financial support for the campaign.”

When Justin Vacula recently saw “God Bless America” scrolling across the outside buses in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, he didn’t just want to complain. He wanted to respond to that message — and test the “how little does it take to offend someone?” hypothesis — by proposing the following ad:

The idea, as seen above — for the advertisement — is quite simple, effective, and interesting. In the past few years, atheist billboards — no matter how inoffensive they may seem — have been met with utter contempt from theists leading atheists to wonder, “Is the fact that we exist and want to advertise ourselves offensive to theists or is it something else?” In order to test this… I want to place a king-size… advertisement on the same buses which host the “God Bless America” messages with a blue sky/white cloud background with the word “atheists” and the URL for the organization for which I am a co-organizer, spokesperson, podcast host, and board member of: the NEPA Freethought Society.

He’s waiting for a response from the advertising company — and if they reject him, they could be facing a potential lawsuit.

If he gets the green light, this could be a really fun billboard campaign…

Well, Katie Hartman of Skepticon is taking the idea one step further.

She wants to put up a cute, inoffensive billboard. All she needs are your donations and suggestions. Here’s a template of her idea:

We’ve priced billboards in the Springfield area and think it can be done for as little as $2,000 –- and if we end with more? We’ll put it on buses in St. Louis and Kansas City.

They need to figure out what image should go in the empty space and that’s where your votes could help them out. So please vote and please chip in if you find the idea entertaining

…

Richard Wade here.

In the continuing debate over the benefits and drawbacks of “in your face” atheist billboards versus “soft sell” atheist billboards, the assertion that the religious public will claim that they’re “offended” whether the message is strident or mild is frequently put forward.

As a good skeptic, I thought that perhaps this proposition should be put to a test. So in a half-serious, half-lighthearted spirit, I propose that we try displaying billboards that are truly innocuous, so that the only thing that might provoke “offense” would be the word “atheist” in the billboard sponsor’s name. Then we would see if the claim is true that “our mere existence is what offends them.”

Below are my suggestions. The sponsoring organizations depicted are merely my whimsical choices. Their approval of these billboards is not implied.

*Update:* Many commenters are saying that they’d donate to have an ad or ads like these published, and they’re asking about who will do it. Please, don’t expect me to. My life is already filled to the brim with family responsibilities. If any atheist group wants to use any of these ideas or something similar, go for it! I’ll be very happy to join in contributing money toward it.

As a counterpoint to these, it would be interesting to see if a billboard such as this one (my invention) would stir any controversy at all:

(***Edit***: Commenters points out that the font in question is not Comic Sans. It’s Chalkboard. This doesn’t make me feel any better.)

The message is solid: Kids don’t deserve to be indoctrinated with religious nonsense. Let them ask questions and figure things out on their own. Ditto for adults who might be questioning their own faith.

(via Greg Laden)