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Great Quotes
We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition ... In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.
The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.
Believing that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.
Who does not see that the same authority, which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?
When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.
Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.
Official & Social DiscriminationCecil Bothwell, a duly elected councilperson in Asheville, N.C, had his right to hold office challenged because of the N.C. Constitution's religious restriction against anyone that doesn't believe in a monotheistic God. Eight states (AR, MA, MD, NC, PA, SC, TN, and TX) have exclusionary language included in their Bill of Rights, Declaration of Rights, official oath of office, or in the body of their constitutions. The Boy Scouts of America does not allow atheists as members. While they have that right as a private organization, the BSA has been a number of court cases over the last couple of decades regarding governmental sponsorship of scouting units in violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment. In 1999, the Gallup Organization concluded that being an Atheist was "the most discriminated-against characteristic of the eight tested in the research." Only 49% of American adults would vote for an otherwise qualified presidential candidate if he was an Atheist compared to 59% who would vote for a homosexual candidate and over 90% who would vote for black or female candidates. In 2006, Rasmussen Reports stated in that 60% of voters said they would never consider voting for an Atheist presidential candidate. A 2006 study found that 48% of respondents said that they would not want their child to marry an atheist and 40% said atheists as a group did "not at all agree with my vision of American society." Disapproval percentages of atheists outnumbered those for Muslims, African-Americans and homosexuals. In 2007, the Gallup Organization conducted a poll. The poll asked Americans "whether they would vote for "a generally well-qualified" presidential candidate nominated by their party with each of the following characteristics: Jewish, Catholic, Mormon, an atheist, a woman, black, Hispanic, homosexual, 72 years of age, and someone married for the third time." Only 45% responded they would vote for an Atheist. Atheism was the only category for whom the majority of Americans would not vote. Fast FactsAccording to a 2008 ARIS survey, "Based on their stated beliefs rather than their religious identification in 2008, 70% of Americans believe in a personal God, roughly 12% of Americans are atheist (no God) or agnostic (unknowable or unsure), and another 12% are deistic (a higher power but no personal God). According to a 2009 PEW Survey, "the study's statistics on religion show that more than six-in-ten Americans age 70 and older (62%) are Protestant but that this number is only about four-in-ten (43%) among Americans ages 18-29. Conversely, young adults ages 18-29 are much more likely than those age 70 and older to say that they are not affiliated with any particular religion (25% vs. 8%). If these generational patterns persist, recent declines in the number of Protestants and growth in the size of the unaffiliated population may continue." A 2005 study of religiosity, secularism and societal health in different countries found that more secular societies functioned better in comparison with more religious societies, with lower teen pregnancy rates, lower abortion rates, lower STD infection rates, lower juvenile and early adult mortality rates, and lower homicide rates. In 2009, a study of religiosity and teen birth rate in the United States found that teenage birth rates are higher in more religious states, even after controlling for differences in income and rates of abortion. Studies have found that the highest divorce rates are to be found in the Bible Belt, that rates among conservative Christians are the highest, and "The 10 Southern states with some of the highest divorce rates were Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas." According to Wikipedia "Secularism draws its intellectual roots from Greek and Roman philosophers such as Marcus Aurelius and Epicurus, medieval Muslim polymaths such as Ibn Rushd, Enlightenment thinkers like Denis Diderot, Voltaire, John Locke, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine, and modern freethinkers, agnostics and atheists such as Bertrand Russell and Robert Ingersoll." Notable Quotes"I questioned the faithful of all communions; I particularly sought the society of clergymen, who are the depositories of the various creeds and have a personal interest in their survival ... all thought the main reason for the quiet sway of religion over their country was the complete separation of church and state. I have no hesitation in stating that throughout my stay in America I met nobody, lay or cleric, who did not agree about that."- Alexis de Tocqueville, writing of his travels in America in 1830 "If any provision of the Constitution can be said to be more precious than the others, it is the provision of the First Amendment; which undertakes to separate church and state by keeping government's hands out of religion and by denying to any and all religious denominations any advantage from getting control of public policy or the public purse. This is so because the history of nations makes this truth manifest: When religion controls government, political freedom dies; and when government controls religion, religious freedom perishes." - Sam J. Ervin, Jr., U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1954-1974 and was chair of the Senate Watergate Committee "You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free." - Clarence S. Darrow "The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach." - Justice Hugo Black, U. S. Supreme Court, Everson v. Board of Education, 1947 Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives. - Barry Goldwater The separation of church and state is extremely important to any of us who holds to the original traditions of our nation. To change these traditions by changing our traditional attitude toward public education would be harmful to our whole attitude of tolerance in the religious area. If we look at situations which have arisen in the past in Europe and other world areas, I think we will see the reasons why it is wise to hold to our early traditions. - Eleanor Roosevelt Protecting religious freedoms may be more important in the late twentieth century than it was when the Bill of Rights was ratified. We live in a pluralistic society, with people of widely divergent religious backgrounds or with none at all. Government cannot endorse beliefs of one group without sending a clear message to non-adherents that they are outsiders. - Justice Sandra Day O'Connor The government must pursue a course of complete neutrality toward religion. - John Paul Stevens, majority opinion, U. S. Supreme Court, Wallace v. Jaffree First, this Court has decisively settled that the First Amendment's mandate that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" has been made wholly applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment.... Second, this Court has rejected unequivocally the contention that the Establishment Clause forbids only governmental preference of one religion over another. - Justice Tom C. Clark, majority opinion, U. S. Supreme Court, School District of Abington Township v. Schempp As I say, not all of Jefferson's ideas were popular, though most of them were absolutely right.... He was also called an atheist because he didn't believe in a state church, an official church of the government, and in fact made it clear that he didn't much like any church at all, though he did admire many, though not all, of the teachings of religion.... And you'll recall that it was Jefferson, as governor of Virginia, who wrote the Statute of Religious Liberty in 1786, which said that "no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship" but that all people "shall be free to profess ... their opinion in matters of religion." He summed up very bluntly one time his view that no man harmed anyone else in choosing and practicing his own religion, or no religion. "It does me no injury," he said, "for my neighbor to say that there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." - Harry S. Truman We know that religious beliefs cannot define patriotism. - Walter Cronkite We find that the basic Constitutional principle of absolute separation was violated when the State of Illinois, speaking through its Supreme Court, sustained the school authorities of Champaign in sponsoring and effectively furthering religious beliefs by its educational arrangement. Separation means separation, not something less. Jefferson's metaphor in describing the relation between church and state speaks of a "wall of separation," not of a fine line easily overstepped. The public school is at once the symbol of our democracy and the most pervasive means for promoting our common destiny. In no activity of the state is it more vital to keep out divisive forces than in its schools, to avoid confusing, not to say fusing, what the Constitution sought to keep strictly apart. "The great American principle of eternal separation"--Elihu Root's phrase bears repetition--is one of the vital reliances of our Constitutional system for assuring unities among our people stronger than our diversities. It is the Court's duty to enforce this principle in its full integrity. We renew our conviction that "we have staked the very existence of our country on the faith that complete separation between the state and religion is best for the state and best for religion." - Justice Felix Frankfurter, U. S. Supreme Court, in McCollum v. Board of Education |
Media Coverage & ReactionClick on any of the 4 headlines below to go directly to that section of coverage. "One Nation Indivisible" Billboard Campaign Launches!UPDATE #1: Charlotte Billboard VandalizedUPDATE #2: Vandalized Billboard Restored!UPDATE #3: Continuing Coverage
Click HERE for a hi-res image. "One Nation Indivisible" Billboard Campaign Launches!
The billboard in Charlotte goes up. Click HERE for a hi res image. AP has done two stories on the launch now and McClatchy Newspapers has picked it up as has UPI, so it is appearing in news outlets all across the country. It's on CNN, MSNBC, on the local news channels in the cities where the billboards are located, it was on the front page of the Charlotte Observer, the front page of the Greensboro News and Record, in the Raleigh News and Observer, the Winston-Salem Journal, the Asheville Citizen-Times, the Wilmington Star News, and other newspapers across the country, CBN covered it, a couple of news videos have made it to YouTube, the Richard Dawkins Foundation site posted one of the videos, we are getting emails from all across the country and even outside the country from Canada and the UK..... Here are just some of the dozens of news links out there about this. More to come as we have time. NOTE: The link at the bottom is to some news we just heard about on Wednesday night (evidently a group in FL put up almost the same billboard at the same time in 5 locations in one city there). What are the odds of that? Local news video coverage in Raleigh (includes an interview with our media rep Randall) Local news video coverage in Asheville (includes an interview with our media rep Jennifer) Local news video coverage in Winston-Salem Local FOX News video coverage in Charlotte (includes an interview with our media rep Will) Local media coverage video, Raleigh (with a statement by our media rep Mike from Wilmington) Local news coverage video, Wilmington (with a statement by our media rep Mike) Atheist billboard worries business owners (Same video as above on the national ABC News site) Billboard campaign rebuts 'one nation under God' (CNN) 'Under God' missing from billboard on Billy Graham Parkway (MSNBC) Atheist ad goes up on Billy Graham Parkway (UPI story) NC atheists put billboard on Billy Graham Parkway (AP story from the Charlotte Observer story below) NC atheists put billboard on Billy Graham Parkway (Charlotte Observer front page story) N.C. billboards say: Non-believers are Americans, too (Raleigh News and Observer story, front page Local section) Atheist-agnostic coalition promotes its patriotism (Winston-Salem Journal story) Atheist billboards in Asheville, elsewhere get support and slammed (Asheville Citizen-Times story) Drive-time -- One nation Indivisible "Godless" billboard is up (Wilmington Star News Online story) Group defends 'Godless' billboard campaign (Greensboro News and Record front page story) "Godless Billboard" pops up on the coast of NC (Local news coverage, Wilmington) "God" Left Off Billboard On Billy Graham Parkway (Local news coverage, Charlotte) North Carolina Secular Association billboards' message: We're American, too N.C. Atheists Declare 'One Nation Indivisible' Without God (Christian Post article) Atheists put billboard on Billy Graham Parkway (AP) Your answers -- What's more important -- 'under God' or 'indivisible?' A Strategically Placed Atheist Billboard (Friendly Atheist) 'Godless' Billboards Appear in North Carolina (Posting of one of the Charlotte news videos on the Richard Dawkins Foundation site) Pro-God marquees balance Godless billboard campaign NC Atheist Groups Object God in Pledge (CBN coverage which came from Wilmington coverage) Atheist billboards stir debate in Lakeland (Another "One Nation Indivisible" billboard in FL) Vandals Strike Godless Billy Graham Pkwy BillboardUPDATE #1: June 28, 2010 - Over this past weekend, one or more vandals defaced with spray paint part of the "One Nation Indivisible" billboard on the Billy Graham Parkway in Charlotte. The words "under God" were added below "One Nation Indivisible" with an arrow indicating their placement between "One Nation" and "Indivisible." The AP, Washington Times, Charlotte Observer, and several other newspapers have covered the story, as have several local television stations, and the story was featured on the Yahoo! home page, so now we are getting emails from even outside the country. See our earlier press release HERE. Below are the most relevant news links... Atheist billboard defaced on N.C.'s Billy Graham Parkway (Yahoo! coverage) Defacing the Pledge of Allegiance (again?) (The Washington Post "On Faith") Controversial sign vandalized (Local news coverage video with our media rep Will) 'Godless' billboard in Charlotte defaced with 'Under God' (Local news coverage video with our media rep Will) 'Under God' spray painted onto secular Pledge billboard (Local news coverage video with our media rep Will) Vandals Add God To God-less Billboard (Local news coverage video) Secularist billboard defaced (CNN) Pledge without God sign defaced in N.C. (Washington Times story) Controversial 'atheist' billboard is defaced (Charlotte Observer story) 'Godless' billboard in Charlotte defaced with 'under God' (Local news coverage, Charlotte) Billboard erected by atheists is vandalized (AP) Atheist Group's Sign On Billy Graham Parkway Vandalized (Local news coverage, Charlotte) Spray Painters Add "Under God" to Atheist Sign (Local news coverage, Charlotte) Billboard Erected By NC Atheists Vandalized (Local news coverage, Charlotte) Atheist Group's Sign On Billy Graham Parkway Vandalized (WFAE Radio from Charlotte, click on "Listen") Godless Billy Graham Pkwy billboard vandalized (Examiner story) 'Under God' Spray-Painted On Secularist Billboard (Local news coverage, Charlotte) Religious vandalism, continued controversy over pledge of allegiance (Local news coverage, Raleigh) 'Godless' billboard in Charlotte defaced with 'Under God' (Local news coverage, Wilmington) Billboard erected by NC atheists is vandalized Billboard erected by NC atheists is vandalized Billboard Boorishness: Vandals Attack Secular Patriotic Message In North Carolina (Official blog of Americans United for Separation of Church and State) Billboard by NC atheists is vandalized North Carolina's 'Atheist' Billboard: Vandalism & Reactions Mike Huckabee on the Vandalized Atheist Billboard (Friendly Atheist) Atheist Billboard in North Carolina Vandalized Within a Week (Friendly Atheist) Atheist Ads Vandalized (Institute for Creation Research coverage) Institute For Creation Research Explains Atheist Billboard Vandalism (Friendly Atheist response to the coverage above) My kind of vandals (WorldNetDaily commentary on the vandalism) WorldNetDaily Supports Atheist Billboard Vandalism (Friendly Atheist response to the WorldNetDaily commentary) WND Columnist Cheers Vandalism Columnist at Conservative Website Defends Vandalism of Atheist Billboard (American Atheist Press Release) An honest peek into the brain of a Christian conservative (Pharyngula) Atheistic Billboards Across N.C. Tout a Dangerous Message One Nation, UNDER GOD! (Christian Journey News) U.S. atheists fights monotheism with 'patriotic message' (Christian Today, Australia) Atheist Billboard Campaign Upsets N.C. Residents (CBN coverage) 
Click HERE for a hi res image. Defaced Billboard Restored!
Click HERE for a hi-res image. UPDATE #2: July 1, 2010 - The Charlotte billboard that was defaced by one or more vandals last weekend was replaced this morning. Within about an hour, the Charlotte Observer had posted the story online. Defaced 'atheist' billboard is repaired (Charlotte Observer story)
Out with the old, in with the new... 
For more pictures of this billboard and others in the campaign, please click HERE. Happy 4th of July!
Photoshopped Image of the billboard at night with Fireworks. Click HERE for a hi-res version. Continuing Coverage
Cover of the June 30 - July 6 Creative Loafing magazine. UPDATE #3: The reaction to the billboards continues with a featured story in Creative Loafing (a free entertainment magazine in Charlotte), discussions on radio shows, commentaries and op eds. Also, The Rev. Ralph Sexton, pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Asheville, and the We Still Pray movement has begun putting up billboards which read; "One Nation Under God," which has resulted in more coverage and interviews. We are gratified that we have been able to start this important conversation in North Carolina. Now let us hope the debate of the billboards develops into true dialogue among our citizens as we explore together this critical church-state issue. Nonreligious activists launch a new secular movement in N.C. (Charlotte's Creative Loafing magazine) Can You Have Patriotism Without God? Actual interview is HERE, but you must scoll down for the podcast.("Truth Talk Live" syndicated radio show interviewing Jim Moury our Winston-Salem media rep.) Separation of Church and State (WFAE Charlotte public radio discussion inspired by the billboard, click on "Listen Now") Let's not let Pledge divide 'one nation' (Durham News Op Ed inspired by the billboard) Dueling billboards in Asheville debate religion's role in government (Asheville Citizen Times story about "One Nation Under God billboards being placed) Battling Pledge of Allegiance billboards in NC (AP) More 'Under God' billboards going up in Asheville, other NC cities (More coverage of the "Under God" billboards from the Asheville Citizen Times, includes our media rep Jennifer's response) Godless Billboard Will Soon Have Some "Under God" Competition (Charlotte Fox News video) Controversial billboards to be seen in the east (More news video coverage of the "Under God" billboards which includes a response from our media rep Jennifer) Atheist Billboard Vintages (Friendly Atheist comments on the video above) Turn the other cheek (Post about a Greensboro News & Record story not online, includes a quote from our media rep Phillip) Church Group Responds To Billboards Removing "God" From Pledge (Local Greensboro video news coverage including a phone interview with our media rep Phillip)ABC interviewing people in Asheville about 'under God' billboard controversy (Asheville coverage) National spotlight to hit Asheville as billboard debate rages on (Asheville coverage includes part of an interview with our media rep Jennifer) War on Religion (Nightline segment about Edwin Kagin containing a very small, out of place, spot on the billboard in Charlotte and the vandalism) One nation includes all (Letter to the editor by our Raleigh media rep Randall) Billboard Battle in Bible Belt: One Nation 'Under God' or Not? (ABC World News Tonight coverage) God vs. Atheism in Battle of the Billboards (Direct link to the video above) ABC News Airs Segment About North Carolina Atheist Billboard (Friendly Atheist comments on the video above) An atheism debate writ large, on billboards (LA Times article) Religious battle fought on billboards (USA Today coverage of the LA Times article, scroll down toward the bottom to see) Local atheists say they 'want a seat at the table' (Charlotte Observer article) North Carolina Atheists Get Positive Press (Friendly Atheist post on the Charlotte Observer article above) Atheists bring out fearful side of faith (Front page B section of the Charlotte Observer opinion piece on the earlier Charlotte Observer article) Cartoon Commentary... 
From www.atheistcartoons.com. |
"One Nation Indivisible" Ad Campaign SponsorRelevant Quotes"...no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."- U.S. Constitution: Article VI "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." - U.S. Constitution: First Amendment "...the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion..." - Treaty of Tripoli: Article 11 
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." - Pledge as originally written by Francis Bellamy in 1892 "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." - Pledge as it was from 1924 - 1954 "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." - Pledge since 1954 
"E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One)" -The Motto our Founders gave us Historical
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