'You know it's a myth': Atheist billboard causes a storm at entrance to New York tunnel

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'You know it's a myth': Atheist billboard causes a storm at entrance
to New York tunnel

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By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:15 PM on 29th November 2010

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The religious message of Christmas is often forgotten amid all the
partying and gift-giving at this time of year.


So church leaders will be horrified to see their efforts further
undermined by an atheist billboard which has gone up in New York.


A traditional nativity scene features a silhouette of a traditional
nativity scene with manger, donkey and the Three Wise Men has been
unveiled on a bridge tunnel.

But thanks to a group called American Atheists it comes with the
message: 'You KNOW it's a Myth... This Season Celebrate REASON'



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'Celebrate REASON': The billboard, commissioned by the American
Atheists, is looking to target 'closet' non-believers



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The sponsors hope the provocative anti-Christian message will
convince 'closet' non-believers who are ‘praying to air’ to join their
cause.

It is located on Route 495 outside the Lincoln Tunnel in North Bergen,
on the New Jersey side.


David Silverman, the president of the organisation, said he was hoping
to 'attract atheists who are currently in the closet' with the
billboard, which went up last Tuesday and is expected to remain up
throughout the Christmas period.

‘I don’t think it’s any good for the kids,’ he said about Christmas.


Mr Silverman said atheists were unfairly targeted in the ‘war on
Christmas’, a phrase often related to the public display of Christmas
imagery on government funded



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He said: ‘We get blamed for a war on Christmas every year. This time
we’re actually going to pay attention to that. We’re actually going to
earn a little bit of that.

‘We have been blamed repeatedly for being unpatriotic, we have been
told that there are not atheists in fox holes, we have been told that
we are immoral.


‘Nobody has ever cared if we would be offended.’

While acknowledging ‘everybody has the right to believe as they see
fit’, Mr Silverman said his group believed there were ‘a lot more
people’ who were atheists, but feared publicly admitting it.

‘A lot of people in church, a lot of people in the mosque, a lot of
people in the synagogue know they’re praying to air.’

Mr Silverman said despite the fact that the billboard has only been up
for a few days, he and his group are calling the campaign a success.

‘We’re getting a lot of response from closeted atheists saying: “Thank
you for putting it up.”’



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