SANTA ANA – It’s not an ideal spot for a billboard. It’s difficult to see from the southbound lanes of the 55 freeway, which it faces. But it was available, and for the next four weeks – at a cost of $6,000 – it will promote atheism.

“We don’t have a voice,” said Bruce Gleason, head of Backyard Skeptics, the local group that paid for the billboard with help from an anonymous donor. “This is our voice.”

In May, Gleason was on hand for the unveiling of a billboard on Beach Boulevard in Westminster that said, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.” On Wednesday, his group of non-believers brought their media mini-circus to Santa Ana, holding a news conference in the shadow of an industrial building next to the 55’s Edinger Ave. on-ramp.

The Santa Ana billboard, measuring 48×14 feet, shows an image of Natalie Khazaal along with her quote: “Atheism is philanthropy without mythology, peace without superstition.”

Khazaal, a Maryland resident, is better looking than most of the local atheists, Gleason said. “She’s smart, she’s attractive, and she doesn’t believe in God. She’s my kind of lady.”

While the Westminster billboard provoked a tiny kerfuffle, with that city’s mayor saying it “is going to turn my stomach every time I drive by it,” the Santa Ana billboard didn’t appear to be making anyone uncomfortable on Wednesday.

David Benavides, a Santa Ana Councilman and a Christian, said the billboard’s message would make people think and “reflect on faith.”

“You realize why you believe what you believe, and it actually strengthens the foundation of your faith,” Benavides said by telephone.

Two more billboards will go up in September, Gleason said, one on Chapman Ave. east of the 55 and another along the 22 freeway near Valley View Street. “They will be controversial,” he warned.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7956 or agalvin@ocregister.com