Heading down I-26 this morning and I saw that the billboard for the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry has been replaced with one touting Jesus as the answer. I thought I read it as “www.faithistheanswer.org,” but I guess I was wrong because that doesn’t work. UPDATE: One more look at it and I’m pretty sure it’s directing drivers to “www.faithishere.org.”
The previous campaign angered a few local Christians, but the humanists said their intent was just to let other atheists know they’re here.
Letters to the editor of The Post and Courier expressed the anger of true believers: “At best this is just plain mean and spiteful. At worst it is an attempt to continue the assault on Christian and religious values,” wrote a Charleston resident. “God is love.
So these sad souls want to erect a sign asserting their disbelief in love? I suppose they have the right to do so, but why? Where’s the love?”
The sign wasn’t meant to assault anyone, but instead to let secular humanists know there’s a local group out there, says Fred Edwords, spokesman for the American Humanist Association. The national group shepherded this campaign, as well as others over the past year in New York, Denver, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
“We don’t all live in the same neighborhood,” he says. “We’re not on the same block.”
The contract was up last week, so the humanists’ billboard had remained up for several days simply because there was no other paid ad for the spot. I’d say that this new faith billboard is less about spreading the good Lord’s message and more about getting rid of the SHL sign. They’re supposed to have the sign in storage now, so expect to see it up again before too long.
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