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.




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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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'You know it's a myth': Atheist billboard causes a storm at entrance to New York tunnel

'You know it's a myth': Atheist billboard causes a storm at entrance to New York tunnel

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1334040/You-know-myth-Atheist-banner-causes-storm-entrance-New-York-tunnel.html#ixzz16uICCZFN

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:15 PM on 29th November 2010

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The religious message of Christmas is often forgotten amid all the partying and gift-giving at this time of year.


So church leaders will be horrified to see their efforts further undermined by an atheist billboard which has gone up in New York.


A traditional nativity scene features a silhouette of a traditional nativity scene with manger, donkey and the Three Wise Men has been unveiled on a bridge tunnel.

But thanks to a group called American Atheists it comes with the message: 'You KNOW it's a Myth... This Season Celebrate REASON'



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1334040/You-know-myth-Atheist-banner-causes-storm-entrance-New-York-tunnel.html#ixzz16uIHCntp




'Celebrate REASON': The billboard, commissioned by the American Atheists, is looking to target 'closet' non-believers



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1334040/You-know-myth-Atheist-banner-causes-storm-entrance-New-York-tunnel.html#ixzz16uISdDum


The sponsors hope the provocative anti-Christian message will convince 'closet' non-believers who are ‘praying to air’ to join their cause.

It is located on Route 495 outside the Lincoln Tunnel in North Bergen, on the New Jersey side.


David Silverman, the president of the organisation, said he was hoping to 'attract atheists who are currently in the closet' with the billboard, which went up last Tuesday and is expected to remain up throughout the Christmas period.

‘I don’t think it’s any good for the kids,’ he said about Christmas.


Mr Silverman said atheists were unfairly targeted in the ‘war on Christmas’, a phrase often related to the public display of Christmas imagery on government funded



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1334040/You-know-myth-Atheist-banner-causes-storm-entrance-New-York-tunnel.html#ixzz16uIY08A4


He said: ‘We get blamed for a war on Christmas every year. This time we’re actually going to pay attention to that. We’re actually going to earn a little bit of that.

‘We have been blamed repeatedly for being unpatriotic, we have been told that there are not atheists in fox holes, we have been told that we are immoral.


‘Nobody has ever cared if we would be offended.’

While acknowledging ‘everybody has the right to believe as they see fit’, Mr Silverman said his group believed there were ‘a lot more people’ who were atheists, but feared publicly admitting it.

‘A lot of people in church, a lot of people in the mosque, a lot of people in the synagogue know they’re praying to air.’

Mr Silverman said despite the fact that the billboard has only been up for a few days, he and his group are calling the campaign a success.

‘We’re getting a lot of response from closeted atheists saying: “Thank you for putting it up.”’



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1334040/You-know-myth-Atheist-banner-causes-storm-entrance-New-York-tunnel.html#ixzz16uIpaLak

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