Fr. James Martin, SJ, takes issue with a billboard campaign launched by American Atheists attacking the faith of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.”That billboard makes the most common high-school error when it comes to atheism. It’s not arguing against the existence of God, but against religion. The American Atheists need to go back to school on this one.”
American Atheists have purchased up billboards targeting Mormonism and Christianity to go up next week in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Democratic National Convention will be held next month.
“Our political system is rife with religion and it depends too much on religion and not enough on substance,” said David Silverman, president of American Atheists, sponsor of the ads.
“Religion is silly and religion has components that are inherently divisive. … There is no place for any of that in the political system,” he said. From CNN’s Belief blog:
The billboard targeting Christianity features an image of Jesus Christ on toast and this description of the faith: “Sadistic God; Useless Savior, 30,000+ Versions of ‘Truth,’ Promotes Hates, Calls it ‘Love.’ ”
The billboard targeting Mormonism lambastes – and, Mormons would say, distorts – specific Mormon doctrines: “God is a Space Alien, Baptizes Dead People, Big Money, Big Bigotry.”
The Mormon billboard features a man in white underwear, a reference to special Mormon garments.
Both billboards feature the line “Atheism: Simply Reasonable.”
American Atheists had wanted to put the anti-Mormon billboard in Tampa, Florida, to coincide with the Republican National Convention there later this month. Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney is a Mormon. When no billboard company in the city would lease the group space for such a sign, Silverman said the organization decided to focus solely on the Democrats in Charlotte.
“Presidential conventions are for ideas, not ideology – platforms, not platitudes,” Silverman said. “If a person believes stupid things, we have every right to question his or her judgment, and that directly impacts how the nonreligious voter votes.”
One religious leader said the billboards showed a misunderstanding of how faith works.
“That billboard makes the most common high-school error when it comes to atheism,” wrote the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author, in an e-mail to CNN. “It’s not arguing against the existence of God, but against religion. The American Atheists need to go back to school on this one.”
Martin also questioned the language used on the billboard: “And as for ‘promoting hate’ they’re doing a bang-up job themselves with that billboard.”
It’s not the first time the American Atheists group has released in-your-face billboards. Earlier this year, the group put up two billboards in heavily Muslim and Jewish enclaves in New Jersey and New York bearing messages in Arabic and Hebrew.