Atheist Billboard.jpg

A new billboard on I-94, rented by the atheist group Center for Inquiry-Michigan.

(James Buck| Mlive/Kalamazoo Gazette)

PORTAGE, MI -- While religious billboards are a fixture along U.S. highways, a new billboard on I-94 has a different message: "Millions of Americans are living happily without religion."

The billboard, which went up Monday a half-mile east of exit 76, is part of an ad campaign by Kentwood-based Center for Inquiry-Michigan.

Other billboards have gone up in Grand Rapids and Royal Oak and, nationally, Indianapolis, New York, and Washington, D.C., the atheist group said in a press release.

"The main goal is just to help people to know our group is here," said Jennifer Beahan, assistant director of Center for Inquiry-Michigan, in a phone interview. "The point is to help people who aren't religious know there is a community they can be a part of. The second purpose is to help people who don't know a lot of nonreligious people dispel some of the stereotypes."

According to a 2012 Pew survey, 20 percent of Americans are unaffiliated with any religion, with 6 percent describing themselves as atheist or agnostic.

That amounts to more than 18 million people, said Beahan.

While she said conditions in West Michigan have improved for atheists in recent years, the group's members still grapple with negative social pressures, concerns that their careers might be adversely affected and, in some cases, ostracism from their relatives. That's particularly true on the east side of the state for members who come from Muslim families, she said.

"One of the things we hear: We're told we're going to go to hell. We're told we're terrible people," said Beahan, who said the group got started in Michigan 15 years ago and that membership ranged between 300 and 400 people. The Kalamazoo chapter opened about five years ago. "We love our kids and give back to our community. We're not just angry people sitting in a room wanting to get rid of religion. We think everybody is entitled to their own personal beliefs."

In 2011, the group rented a billboard along US-131 in Grand Rapids reading, "You don't need God -- to hope, to care, to love, to live," which sparked debate.



This is the first time they've had one in Kalamazoo, she said. The billboard is expected to remain up throughout the month of October.

In its first week, responses to the billboard have started to trickle in, she said.

"People are certainly discussing it. Responses range all over the board," she said.

There are those who have written in to say they are offended by the statement.

"Fine, but I have a right to say it," said Beahan.

But some who identify as religious have defended the group's right to freedom of speech, she said.

"It's really cool: We're hearing from people who are religious who are very respectful," said Beahan.