The Freedom From Religion Foundation, with the help of area secularists, has placed an election-year caveat, “God and government are a dangerous mix,” on a red-white-and-blue billboard at the intersection of South Mission Street and Ferry, facing south, in Wenatchee, Wash. An identical billboard will be going up soon in Okanogan, on Highway 97 just north of milepost 282, two miles north of the turn-off for Malott and five miles south of the southern-most exit to Okanogan.
FFRF, with 18,500 members nationwide, including almost 1,000 in Washington, is the nation’s largest atheist/agnostic association, also working as a state/church watchdog. It placed the messages in tandem with its members and individuals connected with NCW Freethinkers of Wenatchee, a local meetup group organized in 2010. FFRF thanks them for donating toward the costs and arranging the rentals.
“Our efforts this year are to once again remind the public that ‘We, the people’ need to preserve our Founding Fathers’ goal to give this country’s citizens a secular government without dangerous religious entanglements,” said Kurt Wyant, a member of FFRF and spokesperson for NWC Freethinkers of Wenatchee.
“Some issues on our next state ballot deserve reflection in regard to secular government. One of these is Referendum 74, asking whether we support our state legislature’s decision to give gay couples the right to marriage. A citizen does not need to be a secular person to support a secular government. We should have a government that is fair to all citizens, regardless of individual religion or philosophy, and support the separation between church and state.”
FFRF and area freethinkers originally placed this message in Wenatchee in 2011.
“Last year we placed a single billboard in the city of Wenatchee, which received lots of attention. This year we placed the billboard message at another busy location in Wenatchee, and along a popular highway to the north of Wenatchee,” Wyant added.
“Although the U.S. Constitution forbids a religious test for public office, in election years there is great pressure on candidates to genuflect before the various religious powerbrokers and to wear religion on their sleeves,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
