I Saw the Signs

The latest billboard put up by the American Atheists is a promotion for the Southeast Regional Atheist Meet in Huntsville, Alabama, but you wouldn’t know it from first glance.



The first one was pretty catchy (“You KNOW it’s a Myth”), and I can see why Christians would think that it’s an ‘in-your-face’ kind of deal. I mean, just look at the abysmal choice of font size and irregular capitalization. Nitpicking aside, the billboard here is an interesting one.

First, let’s get a clear definition of what exactly a scam is; it’s a fraudulent (and intentionally so) practice, engaged to be a lucrative venture. It’s designed to make money. I am sure most of you reading this will agree that religion does a pretty good job of this; tithing, donations, other miscellaneous monetary offerings, all for promises of an afterlife that doesn’t exist. Unethical, to be sure. After studying the symbols in this picture for a while, though, I’m torn.

I’d like to think that the Rhode Island Atheist Society is an organization devoted to promoting positive atheism, civil rights, and the separation of church and state in our great State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. I think that’s a keyword we need to focus on, as it’s clearly in our mission statement. To me, this sign clearly is not about promoting positive atheism; it’s about provoking thought. I’m not saying at all that this is a bad thing, though. If the “You KNOW it’s a MYTH” sign is any indication, being blunt is a highly effective tactic when it comes to advertising.

This sign is smack-dab in the middle of the Bible Belt; it isn’t necessarily an insult, as O’RLY would like you to believe, but at the same time a very simple line of logic (in a fundamentalist mind) will follow from ‘atheists are calling my religion a scam’ to ‘atheists just hate god’. To a lot of these preachers and followers, they don’t think it’s a scam. They genuinely believe in giving their hard-earned money to the church or whatever house of worship they desire, because they believe it is a worthy cause and there is no deception involved. It’s entirely within their rights. However, no amount of money you put behind your dogma can quantify the truthfulness of your beliefs; only the sincerity behind having them.

The smaller line below the catchphrase is an announcement of SERAM. Outreach. I think we can all get behind that. What bugs me is that in bold text at the bottom, AA seems to pride itself on “Telling the Truth”. The fact that “Truth” was capitalized already made me shiver, but unfortunately I’m going to have to call them out on this one. Not all religions are scams, and not all religious leaders are intent on deceiving their flock for monetary gain. I sincerely believe this, and having been good friends in the past with priests and rabbis, I think it’s justified.

Local humanist/atheist groups around the country have the right idea with the “you are not alone if you don’t believe” billboards. That’s outreach to everyone, as well as invitation for discussion. When the fundies go apoplectic over signs like that, then we’ll know who is really being the hostile ones.