Atheist Billboard Downtown Stirring...No Trouble?

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Oct 20, 2009 9:30PM

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.