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Remember the atheist bus ads that hit the CTA this past spring? Now there's a new example of atheism in advertising, this time in the form of a downtown billboard but it doesn't seem to be causing much of a fuss. The billboard, located at LaSalle and Grand and paid for by the Chicago Coalition For Reason, says, "Are You Good Without God? Millions Are." The CCoR describes itself as "an exciting group of organizations in the Chicago area, each of which celebrates a human-centered and naturalistic approach to life. For us, non-dogmatic and rational approaches to ethics, culture and the human experience are the most meaningful and satisfying."
Kate Shellnutt, who writes the blog The Little Things for our pals at Windy Citizen, spoke to a CCoR coordinator about the billboard.
Hemant Mehta, the coordinator of Chicago Coalition of Reason, the group that sponsored the billboard, thinks no reaction might be a good reaction.“If Christians (or whomever) don't react, that means atheism is becoming more acceptable in society. Which is great. If they do react, then what exactly are they opposed to?” said Mehta, also known as the “Friendly Atheist, in an email.
This isn't just a local campaign either; a similar campaign in New York's subway system has also garnered some attention recently.
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Frankly, I think this campaign is a bit less grating. Not so much with the "You dolts are wasting your life" as much as "You good? Ok".
Really, that's the way to roll when talking about non-belief.
Maybe religious people don't look up as often as they'd have you think they do.
We've also had these billboards in Toronto, too, with a reaction.
Perhaps the lack of reaction to the billboard is due to its transparent intent to aggravate rather than spark conversation. It's neither interesting nor challenging. Whether you believe in religious belief or not, surely we can all believe that the world needs less divisive, hateful Rush Limbaugh figures- right, left, atheist, theist or otherwise.
How is this divisive and hateful? Furthermore, what text would you use to spark conversation? I don't really care about 'Atheist' billboards any more than I care about the jillions of Christian billboards across the country but I think your criticism is a little over the top.
I would love to film someone walking past this, or some Christian flogging billboard, and suddenly converting/unconverting on the spot.
If a billboard really makes you question your fundamental life stance you probably own a lot of Nike apparel.
I don't find the billboard in and of itself to necessarily be hateful or divisive- it's just a pointless, sarcastic declaration of nothing and a waste of money.
How is it sarcastic exactly? It seems to be pretty matter-of-fact. It actually seems designed specifically to be non-divisive, which is different than most Christian billboards that I see. It doesn't preach or judge, it just states a fact.
But yes, it is a declaration of nothing, and of some peoples' belief in nothing.