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Marni and Mark Tiborsky of the Northern Ohio Freethought Society are pictured on a billboard at Harvard Avenue and East 176th Street.

(Freedom From Religion Foundaton)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A new billboard campaign in Cleveland and Akron features local atheists and agnostics sharing positive messages about what they don't and do believe.

Sponsored by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and its local chapter, the Northern Ohio Freethought Society, the month-long campaign aims to make other "non-theists" comfortable with themselves and make religious believers comfortable with them.

"The title of the campaign, 'Out of the Closet,' explains a good deal of it," said Mark Tiborsky of Richmond Heights, who appears on one billboard with his wife, Marni, local chapter director.

"The main idea is to help other freethinkers not be afraid to come out of the closet and know that there are plenty of other people of similar worldview.

"We also try to alleviate some of the stigma, especially for those of us who identify as atheists," he said. "We're your neighbors and co-workers, we're your family. Putting our names and faces out there should make the rest of the community more comfortable."

The 11 billboards show 20 members of the Freethought Society with messages in their own words.

They range from grandparents from Chesterland ("Doing good is our religion") and a bricklayer from Lakewood ("Not immortal, just a caring mortal") to an artist and humanist chaplain from Cleveland ("Freedom comes within, not without") and aerospace engineer from Peninsula ("I believe in science, reason and secular values").

The range aims to demonstrate that "non-theists are not monolithic -- we do have a diversity of opinions," Tiborsky said. "One thing that ties us together is secularism. We would prefer church not to intermingle with state."

The Northeast Ohio campaign is the eighth local effort launched since 2010 by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. It has received "a lot of positive response," Tiborsky said.

"This campaign introduces the community to the atheists and skeptics in their midst," said FFRF co-president Laurie Gaylor. "Research shows that atheists and other nonbelievers are still at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to social acceptance. One reason is that even though at least 20 percent of the population is non-religious in the United States, many Americans have never knowingly met an atheist."