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June 23rd, 2010
You’re driving down a highway in North Carolina, when you see a bill board that says “one nation indivisible”. This is a segment of the pledge of allegiance but without the phrase “Under God.” This bill board was put up by atheists. The whole bill board campaign cost over $15,000! William Warren is the man who is responsible for this, a member of the North Carolina Secular Association.
More specifically a group of atheists and secular humanists put up the bill board in Charlotte, North Carolina. On the bill board the background is Old Glory (the U.S.A. flag) and the words “one nation indivisible” is on top. This is a segment from the pledge of allegiance although the phrase “Under God” is missing.
William Warren is a member of the North Carolina Secular Association and admits his group put up the billboards across the south including the one listed above. Warren says, “We hang up the billboards to let people know that patriotism and belief in God are not always synonymous.” The billboards are spreading to locations across the state of North Carolina, including Asheville, Winston-Salem, and Raleigh, in addition to Charlotte (see above). Warren states, “People who share my belief (atheists) often fear losing their job or friendships. The billboard is designed to encourage them to be more open. We’re here. We’re your neighbors, co-workers, we’re not happy that we have to hide who we are everyday.”
On Warren’s group’s website says the billboard campaign “is intended as a conscious-raising effort to point out how every U.S. citizen who doesn’t believe in a Monotheistic god is being ‘officially’ marginalized, disrespected, and discriminated against by the insertion of ‘under God’ in the Pledge..” Also the North Carolina Secular Association’s states that North Carolina’s constitution “restricts anyone that doesn’t believe in a monotheistic god from holding public office.” Which means only people who believe in one god can run for elections in politics. Warren also states that two billboard companies refused to hang up his message. One company said “The pledge ad was too controversial.” The other billboard company never called them back after the figured out what the billboard was going to say. “It’s a pretty innocuous message,” says Warren “If someone sees controversy in the message, they’re looking for controversy.” Some people may consider the location of the billboard (see above) controversial. Considering it’s along a parkway named after Rev. Billy Graham, the evangelical minister. But Warren says they picked the spot because it was $3,300 a month.
People may want to know about this if they are atheists, because the billboard campaign is aimed at them. The cause of the affect is atheists across the country are coming out and strongly presenting their point. They affect has many, atheists will probably try more times to get the phrase “Under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance. Some Christians may also be upset with this.
So Atheists are coming out stronger and the nation is being split again. Hopefully this won’t get so serious that it will turn violent. But next time you’re driving down a highway in North Carolina keep a watchful on the billboards.
K
