One of the most religious states in America was not pleased with a billboard’s unfavorable message about God.

Mississippi is known as one of the most religious states in the country and a signboard that was put up there by the FFRF (Freedom From Religion Foundation) was pulled down after heavy community backlash. The digital board had Uncle Sam warning the onlooker that 'God Fixation Won't Fix this Nation'. The sign was put up in Tupelo, a majority Christian city.

The signboard was placed last Friday and was brought down in less than a week. The FFRF were quoted as calling this decision a 'Heckler's Veto'. The FRFF is a countrywide church watchdog that has a membership of over 24,000 people from around the country, including Mississippi.

The signboard was intended to stir up emotions and to send out a strong message, clearly, but it seemed to be too effective and as an FFRF member put it, it developed 'too much heat'. Another spokesperson from the organization expressed distaste at what happened and said that she was disappointed that there is no room for an alternate or dissent in Mississippi. It is not healthy when religion cannot be debated or questioned, she went on to say.

So I read a headline about an atheist organization buying a billboard mocking God in Mississippi. Smh. A mess. — Whit ✨ (@Whitley__Kayla) June 30, 2016

Alabama and Mississippi are tied for being the most religious states in the USA with 77% of the adult population claiming to be 'very religious', the numbers are taken from a Pew Research Center report. The FFRF has been active since the 1970's, but have met with stiff resistance through most of their existence.

However, since 2007, they have been quite successful with displaying their billboards all over the country. People are getting more open to the idea of debating and discussing religion all over the country, and censorship is freeing out almost everywhere. That, however, is not the case with Mississippi. A member of the FFRF said that facing such strong emotions and censorship in this day and age is disturbing.

Is it necessary?

The FFRF feels that the image and what it represented is appropriate for Mississippi. That is because, as the most religious state, it is also the poorest state in the country. Mississippi also has the weakest numbers in terms of quality of life. A Wall Street survey from 2015 put Mississippi at the 50th place as far as the best places to live in was concerned. It is, all things considered, the worst place to live in all of USA. The FFRF feel that the extent to which they take their religion could be a reason for this.

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