The Freedom From Religion Foundation, working with a nontheist student club at Kent State University, is taking its irreverent bus signs to Ohio for the first time.
The Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., has placed 4 different exterior bus ads on buses serving the campus. Two “king” ads say:
• “The United States is not founded on the Christian religion. – President John Adams”
• “Keep Religion Out of Government”
Two smaller exterior ads say:
• “Imagine No Religion” (with a stained-glass window motif)
• the humorous “Sleep in on Sundays”
There are 20 interior designs, too. One features evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of the blockbuster, The God Delusion, saying: "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction." The other features atheist and actress Katharine Hepburn: "I'm an atheist and that's it. I believe that there is nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people." The sign was tailored to the university's famous Katharine Hepburn fashion exhibit.
“We also want to thank our Lifetime Member Dianne Centa for underwriting the cost of the interior advertisements,” said Foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor, “and the student Freethinkers Association for joining our campaign and making this possible.”
FFRF launched a national billboard campaign in late 2007, and has reached nearly 50 cities and 25 states since then with a variety of thought-provoking billboards. Last year, it began a bus campaign as well, and has placed freethinking bus signs in Madison, Wis., Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago.
“We’re taking our campaign to the unmassed masses via the mass media,” Gaylor added. “We also think it’s nice that our advertising, in this case, helps subsidize and encourage mass transit.”
The national Foundation has nearly 16,000 members nationwide, including more than 415 in Ohio. FFRF’s membership is atheist and agnostic, and it works as a state/church watchdog. FFRF has brought more than 50 lawsuits, and currently is defending its historic National Day of Prayer victory, wherein a federal court ruled the presidential proclamations unconstitutional, before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
