In January, the Sacramento Coalition of Reason (SacramentoCoR) rented 10 billboards in and around Sacramento. The message on them, "Are you good without God? Millions are," was intended to let fellow nonbelievers know they weren't alone and "to increase awareness of secular-minded groups throughout the Sacramento area.". That's why SacramentoCoR's web address appeared right below the main message. Only a few days after the billboards went up though, the one on Interstate 80 between Sacramento and Davis was vandalized. Someone spray-painted the words "also lost?" just below "Millions are." Clear Channel, the company that owns the billboard, quickly replaced it with a new one.
Now, with less than a week to go before the billboards are scheduled to come down, vandals have struck again. This time two billboards were damaged. One, on the west side of Roseville Road just north of Longview Drive, had almost all of its vinyl torn off by vandals, revealing most of the previous billboard underneath. The other, on the west side of Auburn Blvd., just south of Myrtle, had "Christ Loves U" spray-painted roughly in the lower right-hand corner. The vandalism took place over the weekend.Since the billboards were scheduled to come down Friday, SacramentoCoR has decided not to ask Clear Channel to replace the billboards. Instead, they will ask that two of the eight undamaged ones just remain up an extra week. In a press release, Fred Edwords, national director of United CoR, said,
"This isn't Clear Channel's fault, nor is it ours. The fault rests entirely with the vandals. So our goal is to ensure that this mischief has as little negative impact as possible on both our campaign and on the billboard company that has so ably served us."
In the same press release, Mike Krebsbach, a press representative for Sacramento CoR, added, "Our billboard message reaches out to those who know that people can be good without belief in a supreme being. It doesn't say that believing in a god makes one bad. So why would the vandals act as if the belief actually had that effect? It's a sad day when we have to witness such cavalier disregard of property and free speech rights. Wouldn't it have been better if those who disagreed with us had sought to open a dialogue, instead?"
United CoR filed a police report on the vandalism today. "The defense of liberty and property are central American values," said Edwords. "Their protection benefits us all, religious and non-religious alike. So, by our standing firm on the importance of our message and our right to proclaim it, everyone wins except the vandals."
Photo Credit:
1) The first vandalized billboard
2) One of the two billboards vandalized this weekend (source for both pictures: Sacramento CoR)
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Comments
Oh no! Not again! That's just so wrong for anyone to vandalize the boards.
I begin to smell six kinds of rat.
Thank you for this important article.
It is time for all of us to acknowledge the rights of others in matters of faith, religion, belief, and the choice not to believe.
I put this article on my Facebook page
Please tell me you're not trying to blame the victim for the crime, Terry.
I don't feel lost.
why do people feel they have a right to vandalize just because they do not approve
Terry,
I agree with you completely - and the rats you smell appear to be church rats carrying a bible, a can of spray paint, and a ladder...
Peace.
I don't really see what the big deal is. Everyone who acts in God's name is always right.
Ah, the tolerance, peace, and compassion of Christian Amurka. It's heartwarming. Freedom of religion to these people means freedom of Christianity and nothing else.
This made me think of a Gandhi quote, that I am paraphrasing - "I like your Christ. It's your Christians I don't like. They don't seem to be like Christ."
Terry,
I agree with you completely - and the rats you smell appear to be church rats carrying a bible, a can of spray paint, and a ladder...
Peace.
I am only surprised that it took them so long to vandalize someone's property. Breaking the law, disrespecting the rights of others and ling have never been a problem for the religious reich.
If it had been one of their billboards, they would have the FBI, state, and local police performing intensive manhunts. After all, they are "good christians". That means no one else has any rights and has to just shut up.
Find the perps, shove their bibles up their asses, stretch 'em out and nail their feet and hands to the defaced billboards. They fear the truth and try to suppress it in every way possible, brainwashing all the weak-minded as they go.
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