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Op-Ed Contributor
Christians Up in Arms Over Atheist Billboard
By Robert Paul Reyes
Controversial billboard reads: Being a good person doesn't require God. Don't believe in God? You're not alone. www.FreeThoughtFlorida.com
"The recruitment billboard put up by the Florida Atheist and Secular Humanist Society stands just east of Interstate 95 on Sunrise Boulevard and 27th Avenue, next to a business owned by an African-American preacher.
The members of the community cite two main problems: born-again Christians own the business right next to the sign, and the billboard is located right in the middle of an African-American community.: http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI124870/?56
I take issue with the sign being referred to as a "recruitment billboard." The billboard isn't urging Christians, Jews and Muslims to become atheists, and stop believing in religious superstitions. The message is addressed to atheists and agnostics, letting them know that they are not alone.
It's evangelicals who feel a compelling need to spread their Gospel to every corner of the world, atheists and agnostics have a "live and let live" attitude.
I am a freethinker and a strong believer in free speech, and the Florida Atheist and Secular Humanist Society has every right in the world to convey their message of enlightenment.
So what if born-again Christians own the business right next to the sign? The guy at the end of my block has a huge wooden cross on his front yard, and I don't demand that he take it down. I don't expect everyone to share my political and philosophical world view.
I fail to see the significance of the sign being located in the middle of an African-American community. Are the good folks in Fort Lauderdale implying that blacks are so weak in their faith that they might be influenced to forsake Christianity by a "godless" billboard?
We live in a democracy, and nobody should have any problems with a group that is exercising its free speech.
Robert Paul Reyes is a NewsBlaze writer on Politics, Pop Culture and Pointless Pontificating. Contact him by writing to NewsBlaze.
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