In late October an atheist group in London responded to a Christian evangelism conference’s bus ads by blitzing the city with anti-God billboard ads. This Christmas season in the United States, Christians and atheists across the country are primed to stage a similar billboard war of beliefs. The American Humanist Association is sponsoring ads across the country—predominantly in major cities—throughout the holiday season that ask, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.” The organization hopes to install similar billboards in 46 states as part of its “Godless Holiday Campaign.” And starting this week in at least two Colorado cities, a network of atheist, humanist and “freethinking” organizations is running billboards that read: “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.”

“We are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you,” said Fred Edwords, spokesman for the American Humanist Association. “Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion.”
In response, various Christian organizations have vowed to reply with billboards of their own. [AP, 11/12/08; gazette.com, 11/12/08]