If you’re an atheist in the US, chances are you don’t go around trumpeting your views too loudly. After all, the country was settled by Pilgrims who came here in search religious freedom, our pledge of allegiance acknowledges the man upstairs and even our money is a testament to our trust in God.
But starting this Monday, Oct. 26, atheists in New York City at least, will feel a little more “a part of” thanks to an ad campaign in the city’s subway system.
A coalition of eight atheist organizations, collectively called the Big Apple Coalition of Reason, is looking to raise awareness of atheism with a month-long poster campaign in high-traffic subway stations in Manhattan. The $25,000 campaing is being paid for by an anonymous donor through the United Coalition of Reason.
The advertisements (pictured left) feature a simple image of a blue sky with white clouds and the tag line: “A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?”
“Nontheists sometimes don’t realize there’s a community for them because they’re inundated with religious messages at every turn. So we hope this will serve as a beacon and let them know they aren’t alone,” said Fred Edwords, head of the United Coalition of Reason, in a press release about the campaign.
On their Web site, the Big Apple Coalition describes itself as a collection of organizations that “share common ground — promoting wider acceptance of a more rational and realistic view of the universe,” each with its own slant.
The group says the message of its ad campaign isn’t intended to be anti-religious, but rather to raise awareness of atheists as socially-connected individuals who may not believe in God, but still believe in being good.
“We want everyone to know that people can be good without religious beliefs,” said John Rafferty, a spokesperson for Big Apple CoR, in the campaign press release. “There is a lot of misinformation out there about us. But we humanists, agnostics and atheists are part of society. We’re your friends, neighbors coworkers and family members.”
The coalition says the Manhattan campaign is part of a nationwide transit campaign, but according to a New York Times article, the New York campaign was timed to coincide with the release of the book Good Without God by Greg Epstein on Oct. 27. Epstein is the Harvard University humanist chaplain and will be in town this week to promote his book.
Oh, and if you’re wondering about that number — one million New Yorkers — the Coalition says it’s not exact, but rather an extrapolation based on recent national numbers.
The most recent American Religious Identification Survey indicates that atheists now outrank every other major US religious group except Catholics and Baptists. Almost twice as many Americans now identify themselves as having no religion as compared to 20 years ago. In 1990, 8 percent of the population checked “none” when asked their religion, compared to 15 percent in 2008. Surprised? So are we.
If you’re looking to catch a glimpse of the ads while they’re up, check out the following stations:
- 14th Street-Sixth Avenue
- 14th Street-Seventh Avenue
- 14th Street-Eighth Avenue
- 23rd Street-Eighth Avenue
- Pennsylvania Station (three ads)
- 86th Street-Lexington Avenue
- 96th Street-Lexington Avenue
- 42nd Street-Sixth Avenue/Bryant Park
- 66th Street-Broadway/Lincoln Center
- 72nd Street-Central Park West
- 86th Street-Central Park West
- West Fourth Street
Photo courtesy of Big Apple Coalition of Reason.
