Moscow, Idaho gets all the fun humanist billboards.

But this one may be my favorite:

“This billboard nicely sums up two of the main messages of the American Humanist Association,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the AHA. “First, that you don’t have to believe in God to be good — in fact, humanists and other nontheists see being good as one of the most important of responsibilities in our one and only life. Second, that church and state should remain separate for the benefit of us all.” Speckhardt argued that “In Good We Trust” is a more inclusive and appropriate sentiment than the “In God We Trust” motto, which runs afoul the First Amendment. … David Niose, president of the American Humanist Association, pointed out that the official national motto had an unsavory beginning. “The adoption of the ‘In God We Trust’ motto came at the height of the Cold War and McCarthyism in the 1950s, and it is unfortunate that we still cling to such religious rhetoric today. E pluribus unum, the Latin phrase for ‘out of many, one,’ would be a much more appropriate motto. It reflects the true character of American society and government.”

According to the AHA’s press release, the billboard can be seen on Highway 95, “just south of Moscow near the Sweet Avenue cross street, facing northbound traffic.”

The billboard is a wonderfully simple concept. It’s an idea anyone can get behind… unless you’re deluded enough to think that we can only be good if we believe in a god (a proposition that is so easily disprovable).

Ironically, it’s probably someone from that group who will inevitably vandalize this billboard. I hope it doesn’t happen, but for some reason, the “moral, God-fearing” people are the same ones who can’t seem to stand any challenge to their beliefs.



