Atheist Group Starts 'Godless' Billboard Campaign

An atheist group in Iowa is attempting to reach commuters by erecting atheist-themed billboards on a major highway.

The Central Iowa Coalition of Reason and the Eastern Iowa Coalition of Reason have collaborated to erect billboards in Des Moines and Davenport that support their atheism in an attempt to attract more members to their organizations.

"Godless? So are we!" reads the billboards, which also include a website address for the Eastern Iowa Coalition of Reason.

Peter Nothnagle with the Eastern Iowa Coalition of Reason told The Quad-City Times that the purpose of the billboards "is to make any atheist, agnostic or nonreligious people in the area aware that there are groups of like-minded people who have been around for a long time."

Rory Moe, coordinator for the central Iowa coalition in Des Moines, told the Des Moines Register that he thinks the billboard is interesting enough to look at, but not controversial enough to offend any passerby. "It is provocative and eye catching, but it's generic," he told the local media outlet. "We're not attacking any religion. The idea is to reach out to like-minded individuals."

The atheist groups behind the billboards say that although they were erected at the beginning of the holiday season, their true intent was to not respond to Christmas or other Christian holidays. Rather, they were trying to get the billboards up before the Fall semester of school started at local colleges, but they were a little behind schedule.

The billboard campaign costs the atheist groups a total of $10,000.