Photos by CHRIS SEWARD - [email protected]
  Billboards on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh are meant to revamp the stodgy image that often accompanies nonbelief. Triangle Freethought Society is sponsoring the campaign, which will feature the faces of a dozen area atheists, agnostics and humanists.

Taking a cue from the gay rights movement, Triangle atheists are coming out of the closet with a new billboard campaign that attempts to project a friendly, wholesome image of a group long stigmatized for its unconventional beliefs.

Plastered on billboards in Raleigh, Durham, Pittsboro and Smithfield are the smiling faces of real Triangle atheists and agnostics, accompanied by pithy statements such as "I'm saved from religion" and "Another happy, humanist family."

The "Out of the Closet" campaign is just one of several ways the growing nonbeliever movement is flexing its muscles and elevating its profile amid a competitive religious marketplace in the Triangle and nationwide.

"We're ready to shift the stereotype of the curmudgeonly old, overly educated, angry white man," said Mark Zumbach, president of the Triangle Freethought Society, which is sponsoring the campaign. "We're a pretty diverse community. There are a lot of young people, women and families."

The billboard effort comes on the heels of a well-publicized setback for North Carolina atheists. Last month, a concert at Fort Bragg titled "Rock Beyond Belief" was scrapped after the garrison commander at the Fayetteville Army base offered the group use of a small movie theater instead of the larger, open field the organizers wanted.

Sgt. Justin Griffith, an atheist and the concert's organizer, said the commander vastly underestimated the size of his group and the draw of the concert's main guest, British biologist Richard Dawkins. As a result of media attention and increased funding since the cancellation, Griffith said he's negotiating with a "high-profile booking agent" to recruit a nationally known rock band to perform at Fort Bragg's Post Parade Field this fall.

"We're absolutely going to resubmit our application, and we're adding muscle to our lineup," Griffith said.

Event energizes atheists

The idea for "Rock Beyond Belief" came after the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association held a "Rock the Fort" concert at the base in September. Fort Bragg gave the Billy Graham group $50,000 from the Chaplain Tithes and Offering Fund.

The Army said it would give the atheist group equal treatment minus the funding, which the post commander said did not come from taxpayers though it was held in an Army account.

"The money didn't belong to the Army," said Benjamin Abel, spokesman at Fort Bragg. "It was collected by the different congregations on post."

Atheists at Fort Bragg have organized as the Military Atheists and Secular Humanists, or MASH, so they can begin to solicit donations.

Griffith said at least 18 percent of soldiers at Fort Bragg indicated in their records file they had "no religious preference," making unaffiliated soldiers the second-largest group on the post after Christians.

That's roughly the same percentage of Americans who have no religious affiliation, according to recent polls.

Free speech universal

Groups such as the Triangle Freethought Society, which now has about 200 members, are encouraged.

"Our biggest intent is not to disenfranchise anyone with [religious] belief but to make ourselves known to people who don't know us and feel they need to get together with others who have the same thoughts," said Kristen Douglas of Carrboro, a society board member.

Nonbelievers are far more willing to challenge the status quo these days, said Laurie Maffly-Kipp, a professor of religion at UNC-Chapel Hill. The spate of books by atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens is one example.

"They're emboldened by people unhappy with religious extremism," said Maffly-Kipp. "It's a way of proposing another road to take - give up on religion entirely."

And while different religious groups will respond in different ways, most recognize atheists' right to free speech.

"We recognize that others have reached different conclusions about faith," said the Rev. George Reed, executive director of the N.C. Council of Churches. "We wouldn't begin to suggest that they should be prevented from peacefully expressing those views, even though they are contrary to our own."

Nonbelief for all to see

This is not the first time local atheists have taken to billboards. Last year, the N.C. Secular Association paid for a billboard with the slogan "One Nation Indivisible" superimposed over an image of the American flag. The purpose of the slogan was to call attention to two missing words from the Pledge of Allegiance: "under God."

And in December, the Triangle Freethought Society put up a billboard on Raleigh's Capital Boulevard that read "Reason's Greetings."

But the "Out of the Closet" campaign is the largest and most ambitious so far. Most of the money for the effort, about $10,000, came from the national Freedom from Religion Foundation based in Madison, Wis. Another $2,000 was raised locally; and the people pictured in each billboard paid $50 to have a professional photographer shoot their picture.

"If all that people see are church marquees, steeples and crosses, then religion wins by default," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. "We want to change that."

Gaylor said the foundation chose Raleigh because of the strength of its Triangle chapter.

The national group plans to take the campaign to three other cities this year - Phoenix, Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio

Zumbach, the president of the Triangle freethought group, said many more people signed up to be on the billboards and publicly declare they were not religious. But the group decided to limit the initial campaign to 12.

"We're in your families," he said. "We're in your neighborhoods. We're in your workplace. There's nothing to be afraid of. We just think differently."

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/04/02/1098950/just-ordinary -people-all-smiles.html#ixzz1Iaw4S7yR

Great post.

When I took intro to sociology, I had to write a paper regarding religion. The abstract was to write a paper on how I would start a church. What kind of church would it be (catholic, baptist, etc). And what would be the church's role in the community be.

I said my church would be called, "The Godless and Free," and I ranted on for seven pages about how god is the devil. LoL. Anyhow, I got an A.



previously thepouchedpotato. Revision to DS  4/11 with Keshishian. Now I'm going to be theunpouchedpotato

 

Yay! I'm so famous! OK, so I'm just a member of TFS. I didn't actually do anything other than donate a little of the money.

The rest of the billboards are here. I love them!

http://www.trianglefreethoughtsociety.org/drupal/content/billboard-campaign-out-closet

Way to get involved, Victorious! 

Triangle Freethought Society Launches New "Out of the Closet" Billboard Campaign

 

View the Press Release for our Out of the Closet Billboard Campaign.

Keep your eye out for 12 new billboards with personal quotes from local non-religious members of Triangle Freethought Society (TFS)!  The billboards are appearing in Durham, Pittsboro, Raleigh and Smithfield thoughout the month of April. The effort is part of a nationwide campaign conducted by our parent organization, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which aims to show people that their non-religious neighbors are friendly, moral, and family-oriented.

Here are the 12 billboard images:

Raleigh

Raleigh

Pittsboro

Raleigh

Raleigh

Raleigh

Smithfield

Smithfield

Pittsboro

Durham

Smithfield

Smithfield

 

“We are very excited about this billboard campaign. This is the first campaign of its kind, in terms of number of locations and geographic diversity. We are not scary people in faraway places…we are your friends and neighbors.", says Mark Zumbach, our TFS President. The local campaign, underwritten by FFRF, centers on families and individuals who want the Triangle to know that they live happy and productive lives without religion. Each billboard contains a quote from the individual(s) pictured.

Eric Thomas, a community member who is pictured on one of five billboards in Raleigh, explained why he wanted to be part of the campaign: “By putting a human face on atheism, I hope to contribute to reversing the demonization of atheism that occurs so often…I want non-theists' concerns to be adequately represented in society."

Collette Winkler, one of two teenage sisters who will be pictured on a billboard in Durham, states that when she was in elementary school, a boy harassed her because her mother talked about evolution to her college students. Collette says that the boy wore religious t-shirts that said things like “Got Jesus?" to school, and “this was okay, but teaching evolution was not." The quote Collette and her sister chose to put on their billboard is, “We put all our faith in science."  

Ultimately, Zumbach wants people to know that non-religious people are here in the Triangle area. He states, “Our target audience is made up of freethinkers in the Triangle, and we want to let them know they are not alone. In addition to Raleigh and Durham, we wanted to reach into some smaller surrounding communities, because we often hear from freethinkers in these smaller towns that they feel particularly isolated."

If you are a freethinker, please consider joining us! If you are interested in learning more, you are welcome to attend one of our monthly meetings.

Join us for our National Day of Reason event on May 5th where we will demonstrate for separation of church and state on the North Carolina State Capitol grounds.  Please check back soon for more details. 

View the Press Release for our Out of the Closet Billboard Campaign.

I've only been in the group a few months, but some of the people are so awesome!  It has really made me stop feeling like I'm the only atheist in North Carolina!