Mairona West’s Neighborhood

Koop - Koop Island Blues

Ilamai oonjalaadukirathu Vaarththai thavari Ilaiyaraaja

A billboard posted by the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason, on a building in downtown Cincinnati. The owner of the building contacted Lamar Advertising and asked them to remove the ad, because he had received "multiple threats, including death threats," if he didn't take the billboard down.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm scratching my head on this one. I know inflammatory when I see it, and there's nothing patently offensive about this billboard. The Coalition of Reason, a national organization with an affiliate in Cincinnati, said this is the first time this has ever happened to them in the United States (removal of ad space due to threats). Way to go, Ohio. Always a bastion of progressive ideals and tolerance, aren't we?

See, here's my problem. I drive all over the interstates of Ohio to visit family and friends. For the past few years, each of my trips throughout Buckeye land have been in the company of some awesome billboards dotting the farmlands of the Midwest. There's the one with the Ten Commandments. There's the one with the aborted baby on it, a surefire way to get me to reconsider my position on abortion. There's the notorious Big Butter Jesus on I-75, from a church who apparently missed the section of the bible about graven images and idols. There's the billboard screaming at me, "If you died today, would you spend eternity in HELL?" The word "HELL" is adorned by some nifty artwork flames.

My point is, I'm surrounded every where I go by people's expressions of faith. They run the gamut from a simple cross adorning someone's front yard, to the cheesy, glaring jumbo-tron messages at mega-churches on the side of the road. While I find much of these expressions silly and at times even ignorant, it never occurred to me to demand that these monuments to someone's faith be removed because I don't agree with the underlying philosophies. It certainly has never occurred to me to threaten someone to remove their personal expressions of faith. I believe strongly that everyone has a right express how they feel, which isn't always an easy stance to stomach when you tend to be in a minority demographic for, well, most things. Especially religion. So why is it that I, a person without faith or religion, can exercise civility and tolerance in the face of diverging worldviews (and pictures of aborted fetuses and reminders that I'm going to hell)...but those under the tutelage of religions espousing those very ideals cannot? Curious. Very curious.

If you visit the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason's website, their mission is pretty simple. They are a group of nontheistic individuals working to increase awareness and tolerance of secular-minded principles. And campaigns such as the billboard above are intended to reach out to the (at last count) 15% of Americans who claim no affiliation to religion or belief in God. It is intended to help these individuals know that they are not alone, and they are not pariahs in their communities. That they can come together, and share ideas. Can I think of a reason people might find that offensive? Hmm. I can think of a few, ones that are altogether antithetical to the messages many religions claim to espouse. 

Isn't it interesting how so many religions, and subsequently splintered denominations of those religions, are birthed from oppression and persecution...and yet, ultimately so many of them go on to repeat the sins of their predecessors?

And in any event, apparently someone has not learned the most important lesson of all here. In drawing more attention to something, you simply give it more power. Which is how I came to find and connect with the Coalition of Reason in the first place. So, I guess if anything, I actually owe somebody a thank you.