Last Christmas, the American Atheists and the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights went to war. The battle site: the New Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. The weapons: billboards.
It all started when the American Atheists posted a billboard depicting the Three Wise Men with the line “You KNOW it’s a Myth.” Then the Catholic League, backed by an anonymous donor, countered with a billboard showing the infant Jesus with Mary and Joseph that read, “You Know It’s Real: This Season, Celebrate Jesus.”
Together the two groups spent about $40,000 in media and garnered at least as much in free press for their causes.
This Christmas the American Atheists have bought a billboard at the New Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel once again and are launching the second year of their “You Know It’s a Myth” campaign in what seems a ploy reap further publicity.
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| Courtesy of American Atheists |
Their holiday billboard features images of Jesus, Santa Claus, the Devil, and Neptune and reads, “37 Million Americans know MYTHS when they see them. What do you see?”
According the American Atheists website this billboard was not meant to call out the Catholic league again, but to call out closeted atheists.
“There is no effort here to convert theists into atheists, but there IS an attempt to get the church pew atheists to consider what they are doing. If they look at our billboard and see four myths, including Jesus, then why are they going to church and donating money?”
Still, when you wade through the PR speak, even the president of American Atheists, David Silverman, admitted in a press release that the he expected this year’s billboard to cause the same kind of raucous that it did last year.
“Last year’s MYTH billboard was incredibly successful and garnered a lot more attention than we conceived. This year’s billboard should be equally thought-provoking and spark plenty of conversations nationally.”
To bad for the American Atheists that its adversary, the Catholic League aren’t biting this year. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, doesn’t think its good enough to deserve a response.
“It’s inane,” Mr. Donohue said to the New York Times. “Nobody knows what this means. I mean, Neptune? Over here, we just looked at each other in puzzlement.”
But maybe his tune will change when the second billboard is posted on Monday. It will highlight both Jesus and Neptune and is, by their own account, shocking.
That billboard was premiered on yesterday on Fox’s Huckabee with Mike Huckabee, a host of whom American Atheists has been critical.
Maybe American Atheists is looking for a new opponent since the Catholic League isn’t taking the bait this year.
After all, who debuts a billboard on TV?
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