Religion Kills Free Speech
A billboard with the message “Imagine No Religion” is no more.
Sign company General Outdoor removed the sign by the Freedom From Religion Foundation on Thursday after it received a request by the city to do so.
According to Redevelopment Director Linda Daniels, City Hall had received 90 calls of complaint since Wednesday.
“We contacted the sign company and asked if there was a way to get it removed,” Daniels said.
The billboard - which went up last week on the southwest corner of Archibald Avenue and Foothill Boulevard - is part of a national billboard campaign by the Wisconsin-based group advocating the separation of church and state.
The foundation’s co-president, Annie Laurie Gaylor, said the billboard is meant to encourage a debate on religion by using the John Lennon-inspired message.
Gaylor was shocked over the city’s role in the billboard’s demise.
“The city has no business suggesting our billboard be censored,” Gaylor said. “They’re not allowed to interfere over religious controversy.”
It was the second billboard to come down following city request.
In September, the city asked a different sign company to take down an advertisement on Foothill Boulevard advertising a vagina rejuvenation procedure.
Daniels said the city did not demand General Outdoor take down the “Imagine No Religion” sign.
“We didn’t say they had to (take it down), but they respected the
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concerns of residents,” Daniels said.
The sign was the first in California for the foundation, whose members are atheists and agnostics.
Gaylor said sign companies have declined business before, but no company has taken down a sign after it went up.
The group currently has signs in Atlanta, Phoenix and Seattle.
“My gosh, we have a billboard in Colorado Springs right now, about a mile from Focus on the Family,” said Gaylor, referring to the evangelical organization headquartered in Colorado Springs. “If we can have it in Colorado Springs, why not in Rancho Cucamonga? It doesn’t speak well for the state of tolerance if you have to stifle your critics.”
Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, said the city’s actions are “dangerously close” to censorship and a violation of the First Amendment.
“A city government has no business trying to dictate or influence the content of an advertising image, particularly one that’s political and controversial as this is simply because some people don’t like it and complained about it,” Scheer said. “The whole point of the First Amendment is to protect speech that is unpopular, to protect the views that are in the political minority, as long as they don’t cross the line and use the speech for some seriously unlawful purpose, which clearly did not happen here.”
Scheer said the city may not have forced General Outdoor to take down the sign, but it’s obvious the company did not act independently.
“It’s pretty clear that if the city didn’t pick up the phone, the image would still be there,” Scheer said.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/6b5stc
Duration : 0:3:31
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Your a moron. …
Your a moron. Atheism is NOT based on hatred you ing tool.
I’m a theist and …
I’m a theist and the billboard doesn’t bother me at all.
These people are just to highstrung. I support these guys, they have the right to put up whatever they want on a board.
freedom o religion, …
freedom o religion, not from religion. atheists have major biases too.
answer my point …
answer my point about stalin buddy.
“If i could hit +3 …
“If i could hit +3 on a comment, this would be the one chosen for this month”.
-DrunkenDragon award for whacking rampant stupidity- -July 2009-
The sign won’t …
The sign won’t convert anyone, since Atheism is something to which nobody can convert.
But it’s a great outreach for those non-believers who think they’re alone.
Some christians …
Some christians need to grow up and stop using their belief’s to get their own way all the time - OPEN YOUR MINDS AND RESPECT OTHER PEOPLES BELIEFS AND NON BELIEFS! you must lead a sad little life if a song lyric offends you!
>hitler and stalin …
>hitler and stalin were atheist,
Fucking liar.
“As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.” - Adolf Hitler
“… regard Christianity as the foundation of our national morality and the family as the basis of our national life.” - Adolf Hitler
“My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter.” - Adolf Hitler
>i cant remember …
>i cant remember anytime jesus told his followers to kill
>some good old atheists. i think you know communism
>was imposing atheism on others.
Asshole. That’s a ing attempt to malign atheists.
Stalin, Mao, and the rest simply subscribed to atheism, but gave no thought to it. They killed because of the POLITICAL views, not religious ones.
The link between communism and atheism is about as strong as that between the Bible and the KKK!
>i cant remember …
>i cant remember anytime jesus told his followers to kill some good old atheists.
Liar!
Jesus condemns the Jews for being “the children of them which killed the prophets.” Matthew 23:31
Heretics are to be rejected since they are subverted, sinners, and condemned by God. Titus 3:10-11
Every skeptic and nonbeliever has “an evil heart of unbelief.” Hebrew 3:12
Every non-Christian is liar and an antichrist. 1 John 2:22, 4:2-3
God destroys non-believers. Jude 1:5
Wuzup Mr. …
Wuzup Mr. DragonBorracho!! I totally agree with Dawkins, PURE GOLD, you got itt!! But this ing christians feel ofended onbehalf of their imaginary friend god!!! lol
Howdy dude! Did you …
Howdy dude! Did you remember those lines from Dawkins? “I have the right to feel offended if our children are denied a proper education; i have the right to feel offended if our children are told they will spend an eternity in …”. PURE gold.
YHVH tube still… …
YHVH tube still… but this cannot last forever if we keep resisting.
hmm, I think that …
hmm, I think that proves the point made in the title, don’t you?
It is very funny, i …
It is very funny, i did gave your comment a positive valoration, it had already a +2, then i hit the refresh button; and every athiest comment goes down to 0, less than 1 second that took my browser to refresh… seriously… and this is not the first time i´ve observed this on a +8comment…
COMMENT ON SCENE 1: …
COMMENT ON SCENE 1:14
So you’re feel ofended because you’re religiones person ?!?! Go cry to your imaginary friend, oops I meant god, and tell “him” to put the sign down “him” self!! You s with imaginary friends are delusional and now you also want to silent others? That is ed up!!
if there really is …
if there really is an afterlife, then where we end up should be determined by our actions, not by our beliefs. No matter how much someone prays and believes in their faith, they are no less likely to screw up their lives than the rest of us mere mortals
jesus was god’s son …
jesus was god’s son, making him his equal, and you don’t see new testament christians(not OT jews ) following a command from jesus killing people. those people make shiite up and kill others, then irrationally say it was in the name of jesus.
and on a side note …
and on a side note atheists dont kill in the name of atheism unlike religion.
think about it. =)
God and jesus was …
God and jesus was supposedly was one in the same. God in the OT told his believers to kill nonbelievers.
i cant remember …
i cant remember anytime jesus told his followers to kill some good old atheists. i think you know communism was imposing atheism on others.
Yay. You can quote …
Yay. You can quote other people. Now think for yourself.
Muslims believe …
Muslims believe that they should kill everybody who doesn’t believe in the same god. The christian bible OT says to kill people who don’t believe in their god. The atheist belief doesn’t say kill. It says make life good, live and let live, understand the way the universe works, he who dies with the most toys wins.
Do some research …
Do some research hitler was a catholic. The nazis had “god is with us” on their belt buckles. Stalin was atheist but he could have believed in a god I don’t think it would have helped he was psycho. Communist killed religious because most believe that they could make everybody the same. Based on the marx and mao form of communism. Marx and Mao were atheist and the communist leaders based their govt on marx and mao’s ideas of govt.
hitler and stalin …
hitler and stalin were atheist, they killed christians, so lets not get into thiswho killed who debate. its childish and absurd