SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - "Don't believe in God? You are not alone." These words appear on a prominent billboard in Salt Lake City on the north side of Highway 201, a half mile west of Exit 11/Highway 172.
It will remain up through the run of the Utah State Fair. The 14 by 48 foot billboard features the words superimposed over an image of a blue sky and white clouds. It was placed by the
Utah Coalition of Reason with $3,678.00 in funding from the United Coalition of Reason.
The Salt Lake City billboard is part of a larger effort. Since the spring of 2009 there have been similar ad campaigns in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia.
"The point of our ongoing nationwide awareness campaign is to reach out to the millions of atheists and agnostics living in the United States," explained Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason. "Such non-theists sometimes don't realize there's a community for them because they're inundated with religious messages at every turn. We hope our effort will serve as a beacon and let them know they aren't alone."
"Being visible is important to us," Edwords concluded, "because atheists and agnostics in our society often don't know many people of like mind. Furthermore, if traditionally religious people can be open about their views, why shouldn't we be open about ours?"
