Why American Atheists is advertising to Jews and Muslims

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/mar/18/american-atheists-advertising-jews-muslims?newsfeed=true

Our billboards are designed not to upset believers, but to inform atheists trapped by cultural affiliation in religious communities

Dave Silverman
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 18 March 2012 11.00 EDT



American Atheists is an educational organization; we always intended to inform, to make people think. We never avoid being provocative, though that's not the goal. We have not only a right, but a duty to speak the truth and to be heard. So our recent billboard campaign in Brooklyn and New Jersey, handy to neighborhoods where many Jews or Muslims live, was carefully designed to do exactly what they have done elsewhere and are successfully doing now: getting the attention of atheists and inviting them to the Reason Rally in Washington, DC, on Saturday 24 March, and to the American Atheists national convention immediately afterwards (25-26 March) in nearby Bethesda, MD.

We're not out to irritate or insult those who disagree with us, but we're also unwilling to be intimidated by them, unwilling to let them control or suppress our message. (If Pepsi starts letting Coke decide where their ads should be placed or what they should say, let us know and maybe we'll reconsider.) If we can get conversations, civilized arguments, and fresh reconsiderations going with our billboards, so much the better. Religious leaders aren't ever our concern and we have no interest in their self-serving advice. Valid ideas of any kind can be debated without any need for phony reverence, pretentiousness, or special privileging.

The greater New York City area (including Brooklyn, and central and northern New Jersey) is home to millions of atheists, including many who still engage in religious activities, including Jewish and Muslim rituals. While we have little interest in arguing against cultural affirmations, we are eager to question the false foundations for religious ideas – and to call out atheists who're helping keep irrationality alive.

Atheism needs the involvement of atheists, deserves the support of atheists – and that's every bit as true of atheists who read Hebrew or Arabic, as it is of anyone else.

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