The American Atheists’ “Go Godless” billboards are simply smear campaigns with no purpose.

The First Amendment guarantees us the right to express our opinions, however controversial, to the general public: It allows us to protest unjust policies and corrupt practices. But at what point do we draw the line in determining when free speech is taken too far and is no longer used for empowerment but as a form of slanderous attack?

The American Atheists, an organization that seeks to promote civil liberties for atheists, recently announced a billboard campaign in Texas denouncing high-ranking conservative politicians for their religious views, according to CNN. The campaign, which prints taglines such as “The Church Protected Priests Who Abused Children” and “Go Godless Instead,” contains inaccurate and misquoted information from politicians, such as former Gov. Sarah Palin.

Though American Atheist President David Silverman tells CNN that his goal is to “shame these leaders for their bigoted and backwards remarks and attitudes,” his campaign will have the opposite effect. By targeting specific individuals and by using out-of-context sound bites, his campaign is reduced to nothing more than an incredible smear campaign that seeks to antagonize an already polarized nation rather than unify it.

This isn’t the first time that the organization has led a controversial billboard campaign. During the 2010 Christmas season, the group put up spreads in New York City preaching: “You Know It’s A Myth. This Season, Celebrate Reason,” according to The Huffington Post. As an organization that seeks to promote the use of rationality, its approach is extremely hypocritical. By disseminating sweeping generalizations via short catchphrases on billboards, the organization is exploiting sensitive and complicated issues, such as the sexual assault of children by religious officials, all in order to promote its viewpoint.

Free speech guarantees Silverman the right to promote atheism through an insensitive billboard campaign. But as a nationally recognized organization that seeks to “stimulate and promote freedom of thought,” according to the American Atheists website, it is the organization’s responsibility to not fight fire with fire and resist bowing to childish “he said-she said” tactics that have been running rampant in recent political campaigns.

The launch of the campaign will unfortunately reflect and re-affirm the current “sound-bite era” — an era in which fact and fiction are intentionally blurred for the purpose of promoting a certain political party or cause. In such a partisan nation, it has boiled down to a vicious battle of words. We are all victims to our passions, biases and emotions, but only until we can achieve rational discourse will we be able to make social and political progress.

Daffany Chan is a junior majoring in political science and print and digital journalism.

The American Atheists have a right to free speech and should be able to express their ideals in ways they see fit.