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November 21, 2008 | 3:57 pm

Freedom From Religion billboard taken down

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Photo
Photo: LAist

This billboard from the Freedom From Religion Foundation lasted about a week alongside a Rancho Cucamonga freeway before complaints prompted General Outdoor signing to take it down. The removal isn’t surprising considering the audience. I used to cover religion in San Bernardino County, and it’s pretty much a no-foolies community—conservative Christianity dominates. A message like this would not be welcome.

The foundation’s co-president, though, was steaming about the ad’s speedy removal:

“Are religionists so thin-skinned they must squelch free debate?” Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement. “One small freethought billboard in the immense state of California is such a threat to insecure religious egos that it must be censored? With local freethinkers’ help, the Freedom From Religion Foundation would love to plaster the valley with our message. Let’s fight back!”

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If the Freedom From Religion Foundation wants a bit more of a presence, perhaps they should join forces with their natural allies the gay marriage advocates.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 11/22/08 at 9:47 pm

Most of the United States thinks that invisible and silent spirits are watching our every move and that soon, a messiah, who is at least 2,000 years late already, is now going to come down from “heaven” and convert guns into plows, so we can all become farmers and grow rutagabas or something. This messiah will then dig up all the graves and bring all the dead back to life so they can wander around, probably as zombies and scare the shit out of us all. We, the “crazy” people who don’t harbor such insane beliefs, are supposed to respect and revere our ntolerant religios brethren, who run around in funny clothes, perform ceremonies that commemorate past events that never happened and pay homage to an imaginary diety that no one has ever seen or heard.  Yet, they mistakenly think that WE are the nut-cases. Unable to tolerate even the mildest suggestion that they reconsider their beliefs in the impossible, the unproven and the so-called miracles and fairy tales of ancient civilization, if they had their way, they would kill anyone who doesnt agree with them. I am thankful that atheism is even allowed to exist in this not-so-free country, that isn’t smart enough to pull itself free from the mild insanity of religious belief and the lure of the economically-driven mass religious hysteria that infects our society.

Comment by George Lippman on 11/24/08 at 1:44 pm

The best evidence for the existence of invisible and silent spirits are watching your every move are your paranoid delusions about the limitations upon your feelings and movements. Wattsamatter, still traumatized by the Pledge of Alliegance you said as a kid? I’ll make you a deal; you don’t have to respect and revere me and I don’t have to respect and revere you. I won’t put up billboards in your neighborhood and you can keep your mild suggestions in your neighborhood. Look on the bright side; if the messiah doesn’t come in your lifetime you can spend the rest of your days not even thinking about the issue and feeling sane and enlightened, like I do.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 11/24/08 at 2:51 pm

Land of the free, indeed, lol

Comment by Fritz Hohenheim on 12/01/08 at 5:39 pm

The Constitution guarantees Freedom of Speech, not Freedom of Commerce. Commerce may be regulated and restricted any way we want, including to conform to community standards. Furthermore, we may use the model of sensitivities to various forms of pollution from the forcible exposure of smoke, chemicals, sound, light, images and other communications by the minority upon the majority. We can all think of examples such as porn, violence, tobacco advertising, etc. You can argue that that sign in that message in that place does not meet those criteria, but it is arguable and not as easy to prove as you might think.

Now if the FFRF simply waited for interested parties to contact it and interact with it there might be no problem. If it acually bought the billboard it would also be a different legal case.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 12/01/08 at 10:02 pm

Although the freedom and religion mess the billboard group is trying to stir up in xtian in nature, I am grateful that a jewish group is willing to highlight the stupidity behind the billboard.  The same group recently erected a pro-darwin billboard near the town of Dover in south-central pennsylvania.  Dover was the site of a federal creationism trial involving the local school district’s science teaching policy a few years ago.  This group apparently seeks to stir up the emotions which have gradually been cooling since the judge issued his ruling.

Comment by sauerkraut on 2/11/09 at 10:57 am

We must unplug the religious. They comprise the Matrix.

Comment by Alan White on 8/21/09 at 7:02 am

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