American Atheists 'Myth' Billboard In Jewish Brooklyn Neighborhood Rejected By Building Owner (PHOTO)

An atheist group has been blocked from erecting a billboard in a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

American Atheists had planned to place a dual-language sign with the words, "You know it's a myth, and you have a choice," in the Williamsburg area, but the site's landlord rejected the action on Wednesday, CNN reports.

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Apparently, the group was caught off guard by the landlord's decision, only discovering the billboard would not be allowed after going to the site with reporters and seeing it had not been erected.

"The Jewish landlord of the building saw the billboard and refused to let it go up," American Atheists President Dave Silverman told CNN.

Building owner Kenneth Stier has declined to comment on the matter, saying only "I don't want to get involved in this," according to the Brooklyn Paper.

Nevertheless, Silverman sees the move as a case of reverse discrimination.

“The Jews have stopped the billboard,” Silverman told the Brooklyn Paper. “It’s really ugly bigotry. As a former Jew, it’s repugnant to see Jews act like this.”

But Stier's dismissal won't stop the sign from going up elsewhere in the area. The organization has reportedly chosen a new location along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway for the controversial message, according to MSNBC.

In addition to promoting an upcoming convention in Washington D.C., Silverman said the signs were meant to send a message to Jewish non-believers.

"We have received a dozen emails from Hasidic Atheist Jews since we announced the billboards," Silverman told MSNBC. "They feel totally alone. We want to tell them they are not alone."

The organization also planned on erecting billboard with a similar message, written in Arabic and English, in Paterson, N.J.

Silverman said he knew the sign would upset some people, but he told CNN the group was not concerned about potential backlash.

"The objective is not to inflame but rather to advertise the atheist movement in the Muslim and Jewish community," Silverman told CNN.

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Comments

[BridgetGaudette]

11:24 AM on 08/15/2012

Toned down doesn’t mean less truthful, or less ballsy; it means you’re flexible, in tune with your audience, and just as savvy about the long-term goals of your project as you are with the short-term gains. My further thoughts:

http://emilyhasbooks.com/the-closeted-atheist-the-billboard/

[mrdailydigger]

01:47 PM on 03/21/2012

The funny thing is that numerous adverts probably went up that completely went against this land owners beliefs but by stopping this one from going up he not only lost the money for it but drew more attention to it.

[Rickyrab]

10:40 AM on 03/16/2012

Rule #1 of posting billboards: you'd have issues with board-post owners of opposing points of view.... of course there were difficulties with putting that board up. A fervently theistic land owner is not going to want to promote atheism, so why would he or she allow the billboard on his or her land?

Think, McFly, Think!

[sifc33]

07:54 AM on 04/28/2012

"Think, McFly, Think!" (slow-clapping)
Well said Ricky.

[Annette Rf]

06:58 PM on 03/14/2012

For a bunch of people who claim NOT to have any beliefs, the atheists sure do proselytize a lot, lol

[AZLibDem]

11:20 AM on 03/15/2012

Again, since you refer to beliefs, it seems that you are misusing the term "proselytize".

[myopinion2]

04:54 PM on 03/13/2012

Seems to me the result is reasonable. The billboard will go up, but will not be in the community's face. A little respect goes a long way. Disdain and contempt achieve nothing good.

[jessjesskk]

07:28 AM on 03/18/2012

you're right, as demonstrated by the disdain and contempt most believers have shown to people who don't care about religion over the last thousand years...

[jgjpwpjms]

12:50 PM on 03/13/2012

"We have received a dozen emails from Hasidic Atheist Jews since we announced the billboards," Silverman told MSNBC.

Is this guy for real?????

[AZLibDem]

04:03 PM on 03/13/2012

What part of it are you having trouble with?

[Annette Rf]

06:59 PM on 03/14/2012

I was raised in a very insular Orthodox Jewish community, not unlike the Chasidim. A "Hasidic atheist Jew" is a contradiction in terms, since simply BEING a Chasid means you believe in G-d.

[dschiff]

01:14 PM on 03/16/2012

A Hasidic Jew who actually doesn't believe in the practices of his community. Hence he follows the rituals but is a closet atheist.

You can call him a closet atheist trapped in a Hasidic community if you want. Or just a Hasidic Jew who is actually an atheist.

[LostDemocracy]

08:59 PM on 03/12/2012

"The Jewish landlord of the building saw the billboard and refused to let it go up"

Something tells me this guy did not vote for Obama....nor will he.

[hsspringman]

07:49 PM on 03/19/2012

And what could possibly lead you to this assumption?

[afwxman adrop]

01:59 AM on 03/12/2012

God's Checklist:

"Authorize the sacrifice of yourself to yourself as a means of granting all other cognitive beings immunity from the consequences of their sinful nature.....which you allow them to be born with, in the first place. Check"

http://youtu.be/VY2u7JZck_I

but it's not a myth.

[Steve Lives]

09:11 PM on 01/30/2013

Awesome vid.

[Hillbilly49]

09:27 PM on 03/11/2012

Blasphemy unlike beheading is a victimless crime.

[jcshiloh]

10:02 PM on 03/11/2012

Quack Quack Quack!

[dschiff]

01:08 PM on 03/12/2012

Cool comment bro.

[Damon Archuletta]

11:58 AM on 03/11/2012

"Sectarianism is a disease of institutional religion, and dogmatism is an enslavement of the spiritual nature. It is far better to have a religion without a church than a church without religion. The religious turmoil of the twentieth century does not, in and of itself, betoken spiritual decadence. Confusion goes before growth as well as before destruction".

[AllegroTroppo1]

11:40 AM on 03/11/2012

I support placing atheist billboards in all religious enclaves-- Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Bahia, and Buddhist.
My preferred quote for it:
"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."--Carl Sagan

[Djay0252]

10:15 PM on 03/12/2012

You seem to hate that Christians push their belief on you so you go ahead and want to do the same thing. Wonder where Carl Sagan is now.

[rbowman271]

10:07 AM on 03/13/2012

Part of the universe...the atoms that made up his body have been redistributed to the only thing that is eternal. He has become one with the universe.

[Annette Rf]

07:00 PM on 03/14/2012

But isn't that doing the very thing (proselytization) that atheists decry in Christians and others

[AZLibDem]

11:19 AM on 03/15/2012

Only if you use the term proselytizing as a synonym for soliciting, which is technically acceptable, but not the common usage.

Proselytization more commonly refers to an attempt at conversion, which is not the case here.

[oldpreacherman]

01:21 AM on 03/11/2012

Non-believers continue to be the majority of posters on the Religion site. Believers enjoy your posts because you make us laugh and it keeps you off the streets.

[detroitblkmale30]

10:23 AM on 03/11/2012

doesn't say much for the non-believers who obviously have better things to do. I guess that means it keeps more of you off the street than us by your own logic. So yes, keep posting. lol

[AZLibDem]

11:32 AM on 03/11/2012

This way, you vent your hatred harmlessly, so it's a good investment of time.

[Hillbilly49]

09:28 PM on 03/11/2012

God is Santa Clause for adults!

[AZLibDem]

11:29 AM on 03/11/2012

This is one of the few forums where we can speak openly without facing repercussions from religious bigots.

All you can do is make here is make fun of us; that's no big deal.

[oldpreacherman]

03:22 PM on 03/11/2012

AZLib. Perhaps non-believers could recommend that HP start a non-believer site so they can all agree to attack believers together and all agree to agree. Or they could just look into the mirror and attack believers. Both would have the same effect on true believers--none. Actually believers really appreciate the attacks. Believers welcome tribulation, as it puts us back into the Word, gives us patience and increases our faith.

[Varys]

06:50 PM on 03/10/2012

For those who (mistakenly) believe that atheists only direct these campaigns at Christians and Jews, here you go:

http://i.imgur.com/yRtOv.jpg

[StephenJK]

06:41 AM on 03/12/2012

Where are the atheists in the face of Taoists, Buddhists or Hindus with this attempt to indoctrinate to the atheist's worldview. And yes, now, with these billboards and the erecting of "atheist gathering buildings", websites and the like, it's more of the same tired BS indoctrination trying to swell their ranks. Cast the doubt out there and wait for the doubters to come crawling into the atheist ranks. Live and let live. It's really effing simple.

[Varys]

08:50 AM on 03/12/2012

"Live and let live" implies a mutual agreement between two parties.

[AZLibDem]

09:47 AM on 03/12/2012

Just because we didn't get to everybody on the first pass doesn't mean we won't get there; one thing at a time.

There's little evidence that there are Taoist and Buddhist communities in the U.S. analogous to the ones being discussed here.

However, there are probably similar Hindu ones, and so there will likely be similar campaigns for those communities as well, just like the one aimed at African-American atheists..

[Zachary Reiling]

12:16 PM on 03/10/2012

Could God microwave a burrito so hot even he couldn't eat it? There is an actual answer to this question, believe it or not.

[Flying Sparkz1]

05:35 PM on 03/10/2012

The answer is 42.

[Zachary Reiling]

10:55 PM on 03/10/2012

We have a winner!

[F-BVFF]

11:45 AM on 03/15/2012

That question is invalid. How can something infinite eat? That would imply some sort of need, and since anything infinite has no needs, it's not a valid question.

[Zachary Reiling]

02:04 AM on 03/16/2012

Except it isn't a question of needs, it's a question of could or couldn't(or would/wouldn't). All the question implies is that he wishes to microwave and eat a burrito, and whether or not heating it to a point where even the 'creator' of the universe couldn't eat it without cooling it off. Simply because he wouldn't need it for nourishment doesn't mean he couldn't eat it(and since he's a god, he could most certainly eat it if he so desired, because an infinite being wouldn't be bound by universal laws of physics or rules of logic). So yes, it is a valid question. Either he can handle the burrito(in which case, he would fail to make one hot enough he couldn't eat it, thus implying that this 'infinite being' isn't so infinite), or he can't(which also implies that he isn't 'infinite'), in either case the question does a good job of outlining the absolute logical quagmire that the concept of a divine being with no limits that aren't self-imposed represents.

[afwxman adrop]

11:17 AM on 03/10/2012

"Your faith is a joke"

http://youtu.be/P4dSiHqpULk

Well said, Mr Condell

[AZLibDem]

09:52 AM on 03/12/2012

I agree with his sentiments on belief, but I find his blanket condemnation of believers to be distasteful.

Breaking free form religious indoctrination isn't easy, and most of the atheists I have known were fortunate to have life situations that allowed them to cast off the blinders. Not everyone is so lucky.

[afwxman adrop]

07:16 PM on 03/12/2012

It is distasteful, and when I posted this I was still incensed by some of the personal attacks, from believers I encountered over the weekend. I am really asking myself, what is the point of trying to maintain civility, and why Mr Condell's approach is not the appropriate one. I don't agree it is the right tone, but it may be appropriate, in light of the circumstances.

[AZLibDem]

12:10 PM on 03/31/2012

I just saw this on another thread:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hKEd6rzbeg&feature=player_embedded

I must admit, I have a better handle on Condell's anger now.