This is absolutely amazing. An Atheist billboard was erected in NC in the Billy Graham Parkway (ironic). It read in accordance to the original Pledge of Allegiance. A group of people (who are being called vandals) spray painted "Under God" on the bottom of the billboard. I completely agree with what they did. Maybe it could have been discussed legally, but they did something that will be a whole lot more noticed than driving up and 'discussing' the billboard. What do ya'll think? Here's a news report video on the billboard going up.








One Nation
Indivisible
Under God!

So because they aren't believers they don't have the right to voice an opinion?

If this had been a religious board criminally damaged then i'm sure there would be plenty of complaints from the church.


So you agree its fine to deface a billboard and that they don't have the right to voice their opinion?

Can't say I agree with you here. Atheist have just as many rights as any other group. What these vandals, and they are vandals, did is criminal. Just because you believe in a God doesn't mean you have the right to deface another group or ideas or possesions. And in my opinion, no one has the right to shove their religion down someone else's throat like this.

And for the record the original pledge of allegiance originated in 1892 and read:

I pledge allegiance to my Flag,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.

You'll notice the words under God do not appear. Those weren't added until 1954 during the Eisenhower Administration. That's because in the original, which by the way was written by a minister, people still believed that God had no place in Government.

Well dynamitesgurl, any other man (except a religious fanatic) will tell you that what they did was wrong and I have to agree with both Loki and dev.
But, try and tell a man/woman that slightly believes in god that you're an atheist and he or she looks at you worse than if you came out as being gay. It's just the world we live in and I don't see it changing anytime soon. Not believing in fairytales = being crazy. But, if you wanna keep your friends don't talk about your beliefs and your political orientation (I don't remember where I read it, but it hits the nail right on the head).

Cant see the point of getting stressed about somebody writing on a bit of hoarding myself. It happens all the time and nothing much wrong with it imo. It didnt do Banksy much harm either

I don't know why people think that Under God was originally in the Pledge of Allegiance... It's Freedom of Religion, not Freedom FROM Religion... Religion has NO PLACE in government. Your beliefs should not effect how I live.

You mean a group of people who ARE vandals. Just because you are of a certain religion it doesn't give you any special rights... You commit a crime you are a criminal, just the same as any one else.

There is no such thing as the separation of church and state in the US. Most holidays are Christian holidays, they like to sneak god into their rants all the time such as the Pledge of Allegiance and on the money, and the premise of the legal system is based on the so-called "ten commandments."

Unless there is a coup of some sort, the likelihood of Anglo-Saxon Christian values being dis-integrated from the US governmental structure is slim to nil.

(Ironically, the official language of the US was almost German and English won by one or two votes, as I recall. So it's not quite one hundred percent Anglo-Saxon.)

I would consider what was done to this billboard to be on par with painting a swastika on a Jewish billboard. As much as a many atheists would hate to acknowledge it, Atheism is a religion unto itself. It may not be like Christianity or Hinduism, but is has a pertinent belief that there is no god, but a belief nonetheless. And beliefs require faith in the unknown.

I think a lot of people get confused between Atheism and Agnosticism.

Hmmm lol when i heard billboard i thought *hmmm some small board*...The boards huge!!! lol, anywho, im atheist myself and i honestly dont see whats the difference between these guys spraying that on the billboard or some guys going around germany sprayin nazi crap all over the walls...someones always not gonna like it....i'd just figure its everyone's own opinion to choose whether what they did was right or wrong...and what it means...

Edit* re-read laotzu's post, i agree im not sure im agnostic cause the amount of times i say your going to hell in a day proves heaven might exist etc, but to be honest i cant really be bothered to choose a side, and you're right being atheist is in its own way a religion...

Damn right. Now you can see how wars start, because religion can't take criticism or it figures it has to be the centre of everything, which, of course, it isn't

Well, I'm not from the USA......I bet ya didn't know that, folks..... But we spend millions of pounds each year, clearing graffiti off of walls; posters; buildings; underpasses etc,. Money that could be better spent on the homeless, and needy. Npw in my opinion.....Hey! Everyone is entitled to their own....If the person/persons unknown, had put up a sign alongside the one shown, with an amended view of what it should have said.....think how much better it would have looked.

Nothing to see...Just your ever day christian values at work ...move along now..

If something offensive to (insert religion) had been spray painted on a (insert again) billboard this would be called a hate crime and would have serious consequences beyond vandalism.

Strange:

Step on a wasp, that's about to hurt someone you know with it's sting. Your a hero.

Destroy a wasp nest. Your a Mass murderer of a species.


Go figure....

It's the same with this incident above, if you think about it.

I see worse things written on walls and buildings every day, and this is just one miniscule example of it. Miniscule, because every town and city in the world, has it's own Graffitti artists, wanting to get their own individual point across. Some against Religeon; some against the government; some against education, and the list goes on.
It seems though, that religeon is the only one that get's big press coverage, these day's.

As a footnote:

Anthrax, you may have heard the name, did a personal rendition of our national anthem {God save the Queen}, a long time ago. I think it was in a film...can't remember what it was called. Nobody flew into an uproar, because it was done......and you know how we feel about our national anthem...you can usually hear it sung or played, in the Olympics and at football matches.

If thats is what the fuss is about...then i gotta laugh with the sillyness of it. I see the same thing twice....Indivisible or Under God, the way i see it, they both mean the same thing, a nation as 'one". And when you add the fact that americans always moan about 'having rights', i find it rather offensive that one group cant understand that the other has the equal right to cast a vote. Islam is always defined in the world as being an non-tollerant religion, well, it doesnt matter what religion you pick, not one is tollerant to the views of other, this billboard is proof of that imo. Another reason why i keep saying religion should be private, not a public thing. If you can not respect the views of others you eventually will end up with the exact opposite of what the billboard says, from any viewpoint be it atheist or religious.

Apart from that its just another case of vandalism, nothing more nothing less. That atheist group payed for the billboard, so as long as its there its kinda theirs. So spraypainting on it is vandalism. Grafitti painters get arrested too. Doesnt mean that because you spray are that its any different, without consent of the owner of the wall you put grafitti on, its vandalism.

Good point, about the vandalism aspect, though it was pointed out above by almost everyone else. It does show we have a common empathy on the matter.

LOL @ criminals, If I tear off the tag on my pillow I'm a criminal too.
This is classic divide and conquer tactics that batshit religious folk have been using for ages.
Just laugh at them.

And ease up with labeling someone that breaks the law as a criminal as if it's somehow bad.


There's plenty of bad laws out there.

I agree. Just because it is a law doesn't make it right. i.e white man kills black man>hate crime. black man kills white man>regular crime.

Probably not the best example but an example nonetheless.

I just hate graffiti. For if you have something to say , why not just say it over and over till somebody starts to interact with you? Patience is one commodity that the world is running short of.

As to vandalism , my views are rather different . It is an expression of a view not just plain drawing , writing on walls , that oughta be kept clean and fresh.

Here , in my town Alexandria , we have a grafittier named : Gamal El-Dawly , transliterated : Jamal the International. He writes only in light green , and never draws anything. He is a nuisance , for he sometimes uses swear words that are of course family inappropriate . But he majors in sports coverage for a football club that represents most of Alexandria : Al-Ittihad Al-Sakndary. Other times , he writes some comments on politics and mainstream ideas like Palestine , etc. Sometimes he could be funny , other times : ughhh...

Back to subject , I have to state that it's never about graffiti that the real problem arises , but it is all centered around the meaning that is meant to be conveyed by it , though. As to atheism and god and vandals , they are all a big nuisance . Religion is meant to be for personal use , but it is widely and wildly abused.

however much i agree with religion being a personal thing the problem in that is that many religions have an inbuilt rule that you must spread the "good word" in other words you arent to keep it personal.

Now let me begin by saying I dont follow all rules... but graffiti is graffiti. Seems people in this town are outraged cause their belief is that it was in the original constitution. which they are wrong. Now personally I dont have a religion or practice one but this is no different than this which happened in my area today!

You have the right to your opinion, and you get that right... picket by the sign. Doesnt mean you can deface others opinions trying to get yours out.

"Kilroy was here" been around a long long time, so who is the guy that wrote this? What was the point he was trying to make....apart from the fact he was rich enough to get his graffiti all over the world.

i wonder how many hungry people could have been fed for the cost of that billboard.

This is actually illegal in Germany. You are not allowed to do the heil sign, display swastikas, or even have some of the Nazi paraphernalia. It's the German version of "reparations" . . .

see many religious billboards

does that make it ok for me to vandalize them??

I don't believe religion is right.......so if the religious can vandalize a message I agree with............then you won't mind if I vandalize every religious billboard see do you ??

after all if its fair for you to try and force me to believe your way

then it should also be fair for me to force my thoughts down your throat


religious people......I swear

rights is only right to them..........if its their idea of right.......but to hear them say it they love us all

if you love us............let us live our own life

and quit trying to force me to believe as you do

I don't religion simply do to the fact it ended the Roman Empire.

That's one way of looking at it, I suppose.

not true just changed its name to The Catholic Church!

ONE NATION UNDER GOD

Like that's ever going to happen.

exactly

all I can say....from my point of view , meaning I don't want to insult anyone

but basically they wrote one nation under god , when no one knew any better , or at least from my point of view ,

see I use to believe when I was little and un-educated

then I went to school , learned science ,history and quit believing lie's and fairy tails

This isn't contributing anything and isn't debating or encouraging debate on this topic.

I would have loved getting in on this one earlier but pretty much everybody has the same opinion as me. Painting on someone elses statement is wrong. We are all entitled to our own opinions and belief systems. I am Pentocostal my best friend Atheist. We are both very serious about what we believe but it has nothing to do with who we are to eachother. imo Defacing that billboard was wrong and actually quite the opposite of what a "Christian" belief structure would have called for.

For Every one every where I love you for who you are not what you believe.

Sorry, mate. But I thought that my point was valid, since many Religeons oppose one anothers points of view.