Catholic billboard responds to atheist message outside Lincoln Tunnel

Catholic billboard responds to atheist message outside Lincoln Tunnel
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Last updated: Wednesday December 1, 2010, 9:01 AM
BY STEPHANIE AKIN
The Record
STAFF WRITER
Days after an atheist group posted a billboard mocking the Christmas holiday at the New Jersey approach to the Lincoln Tunnel, a Catholic organization has responded with its own message on the New York side.




MICHAEL KARAS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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The Catholic League has responded to an atheist billboard in North Bergen with one of their own in New York City by the Lincoln Tunnel.
“You know it’s real,” the newer billboard tells drivers passing the corner of Dyer Avenue and West 31st Street in Manhattan. “This season, celebrate Jesus.”

The sign, sponsored by the New York-based Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, mimics the wording and design of a 14-by-48 foot billboard erected by an atheist group along Route 495 in North Bergen on Nov. 22.

Both billboards depict Nativity scenes. The Catholic sign, which was visible and lighted on Tuesday night, has a red background; the atheist one is blue. But the messages are markedly different.

“You Know it’s a MYTH,” the atheist sign, paid for by a national group called American Atheists, states. “This Season, Celebrate REASON.”

The Catholic League’s president, William Donohue, called the pro-Jesus sign a “counterpunch” to the atheist message.

“Our approach is positive, and services the common good,” he said in a statement issued Tuesday. “Theirs is negative and is designed to sow division. It’s what they do.”

Donohue could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but the press release said his organization decided to respond to the atheist display with a pro-Christian message at the request of a donor. The release did not say how much the sign cost.

“After Christian motorists have had their sensibilities assaulted as they exit New Jersey, they will experience a sense of joy, and satisfaction, as they enter New York City,” Donohue said in the release. “It’s what we do.”

American Atheists president David Silverman said he did not think the Catholic sign will dilute his group’s message.

“They stole our scene and copied what we’re doing, and that’s fine,” he said. “Once again, the Catholic Church is co-opting something that isn’t theirs, just like they did to Christmas. It’s a great analogy, and I love it.”

Silverman said his group’s sign is meant to remind non-believers that the Christian story of Christmas is based on a winter solstice tradition that anyone can celebrate, regardless of their beliefs, he said.

The Newark Archdiocese, which declined an invitation to put up its own rival billboard early this week, applauded the Catholic League’s decision, archdiocese Spokesman Jim Goodness said.

“I’m happy to see that a donor came through and feels as strongly as we all do that the message of Christmas is an important one and one that should be trumpeted,” he said.

E-mail: akin@northjersey.com



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