A 14-by-48 foot billboard went up this week at the corner of Marietta Street and Simpson Street in Atlanta featuring a secular play on the national motto.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, the nation’s largest association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics), has placed the billboard with the slogan: “In Science We Trust.”
“‘In God We Trust’ is a johnny-come lately motto adopted by Congress during the Cold War,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor points out. “The motto, to be accurate, would have to be worded, ‘In God Some of Us Trust,’ and that would be very silly.”
The original motto, “E Pluribus Unum [From many, come one],” chosen by a committee of Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson, celebrates unity through diversity and pluralism.
“We need to place our trust not in some deity to rescue us, but in reason, compassion and humanity,” adds Gaylor. “The only afterlife that should concern us is leaving our descendants a secure and pleasant life in the future.”
The billboard will be on display for approximately one month as part of a year-long media campaign in the South’s most bustling metropolis. FFRF is grateful for the support of Georgia FFRF Member Jack Egger, who is graciously funding the campaign.
Egger notes that it’s satisfying to counter the godly motto, “In God We Trust,” which optionally appears on many Georgia license plates.
“If all of us had faith in science and humanism, we would improve life on Earth so fast,” urges Egger.
FFRF and Egger additionally have two rotating billboards up featuring rotating pictures of several young atheists with the message, “I’m Atheist and I Vote.”
One of these digital billboards is located along Highway 141 just north of McGinnis Ferry Road. The second is located along Interstate 75 just south of Delk Road.
FFRF contends that it is time to jettison the divisive “In God We Trust” and return to a celebration of American can-doism and respect for the separation of religion and government. Its Atlanta campaign aims to further these goals.
Previous billboards that FFRF and Egger have placed this year in the vicinity include a bulletin telling people to “Enjoy life — there is no afterlife,” a timely billboard reminding residents of our nation’s foundational wall with the message, “The only wall we need is between church-state,” and a provocative message proclaiming, “supernatural belief — the enemy of humanity.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation and its membership work to promote the viewpoint of freethinkers, including atheists and agnostics, and to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. The organization has more than 32,000 members and several chapters across the country, including over 500 members in Georgia and a chapter in Atlanta.
