'God still loves you' ad shadows atheist ads in Texas

A week after atheists rolled out their "Good without God" bus ads in Fort Worth, a blue mobile billboard truck appeared in the city declaring an entirely different message.

by Nathan Black

Posted: Wednesday, December 8, 2010, 8:13 (EST)

"I still love you. – God," the billboard reads. In a smaller font size, the ad also states, "2.1 billion people are good with God."

The blue truck was sponsored by an anonymous group of individuals, according to Heath Hill, president of Lime Media, which owns a fleet of mobile billboard trucks.

"These are business owners and individuals that really just want the atheists to know God hasn't give up on them and still loves them," Hill told Fox 4 News.

The truck ad is in response to the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason's ad campaign, launched last week. The ads, plastered on the sides of Fort Worth's "T" buses, declare, "Millions of Americans are good without God." The backdrop of the ads is an image of an American flag made up of the faces of actual atheist and agnostic people.

The coalition said the campaign is designed to raise awareness about people who don't believe in a god and to guide those interested to the 15 area nontheistic groups that make up the DFW coalition.

The atheist group had also planned to run the ads on Dallas buses, but the Dallas Area Rapid Transit rejected the campaign.

"They chose to stop running all religiously-related ads rather than include ours," DFW coalition coordinator Terry McDonald said in a statement.

Still, similar ads have been showing up in cities across the country as part of a national effort by the United Coalition of Reason.

McDonald said they are not only trying to reach out to like-minded Americans, but also sending a message to religious people.

"We want religious people to understand that non-believers are basically the same as everyone else," he said. "We are as good, as moral as any other group. If you look you'll find us among your friends, neighbors, coworkers and family members. There are about 50 million non-religious people in the United States. It's time we were recognized and granted our rightful place in society."

The DFW Coalition of Reason began advertising last year, with billboards informing the secular public that they are not alone in their unbelief.

While the atheist group tries to spread its message this holiday season, the anonymous group behind the blue truck is proclaiming its pro-Christian message from closely behind. The blue truck was hired to shadow a "T" bus in Fort Worth carrying the atheist ad, beginning Monday.

Christianity Today Online, December 16, 2010, http://au.christiantoday.com/article/god-still-loves-you-ad-shadows-atheist-ads-in-texas/9741.htm