Pharyngula

Posted by: Glen Davidson | November 12, 2009 2:16 PM

I doubt that Ruloff and Mathis will make a movie about how atheists were Expelled^TM, however.

But I'm sure they care, as unbiased folk would do.

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p

Posted by: PGPWNIT | November 12, 2009 2:18 PM

I'm in cinci right now...and I had no idea this was going on.

I don't think the city is burning quite yet.

Posted by: Stephan Goodwin | November 12, 2009 2:19 PM

Now, now, don't be putting Ken Ham on Cinci's head. That bastard's museum is in Kentucky, not Ohio. Sad that they caved to threats though.

Posted by: Geds | November 12, 2009 2:22 PM

Christensen @2: For all we know, an atheist made the threats.

Um, what? Are you joking, not aware of the past atheist billboards, or working up to be the troll of the day?

There's always an uproar when these billboards go up. Indiana government officials stepped in to stop the Atheist Bus Campaign. I think it happened in Iowa, too. People got pissed about it in Chicago and London back during the summer. Some atheist billboards have even been vandalized.

There is absolutely no need for an atheist false flag operation to draw attention to these billboards. Idiots claim that it's an attempt at proselytization and hate speech against the religious every time they go up. So why fake it?

Posted by: raven | November 12, 2009 2:34 PM

christensen the kook:

For all we know, an atheist made the threats.

It would make good publicity, wouldn't it?

It would be totally unnecessary. Xians are constantly making death threats towards anyone they don't like. It is common and predictable. They occasionally show up on this blog and threaten to kill people. IIRC, PZ sometimes gets up to 100 a day. Many of us get a few here and there as well.

To make things worse, they do occasionally kill the people they threaten.

For many sects of xians, death threats, hate, and violence are central characteristics. It's all very biblical, their god is an inept, genocidal maniac.

Posted by: Andrew | November 12, 2009 2:37 PM

This just goes to show, that even though this billboard was literally blocks away from a college campus, the surrounding area is still very much ignorant and bigoted. I'd be ashamed of my hometown, but I don't think this is really anything terribly new, and probably has nothing to do with this being close to the Creation Museum. For as many people as I know around here who financially supported the museum, I know just as many, if not more, that hate that it was put up to begin with.

Posted by: Mr T | November 12, 2009 2:38 PM

The unicorn museum website is hilarious. There's even a poll! You can vote for your favorite billboard.

I simply can't understand the delusional, hate-filled mentality necessary to threaten violence over a billboard.

Posted by: Crudely Wrott | November 12, 2009 2:44 PM

I like how well UCR and Lamar adjusted to the situation.

They took it down from there and carried it over there and put it up again. They didn't raise a big stink, make counter threats or assume and an indignant pose. As far as I can see from the article they didn't call law enforcement or lawyers.

No sir, they didn't do any of that. They. Simply. Moved. The. Billboard. BRILLIANT!!

*cunning as serpents, harmless as doves*

Posted by: SteveM | November 12, 2009 2:49 PM

Now, now, don't be putting Ken Ham on Cinci's head. That bastard's museum is in Kentucky, not Ohio.

So is the Cincinnati Airport. There are billboards for the Creation Museum along I-75 in Cincinnati. And then there was that infamous "partnering" between the Cinci Zoo and the Creation Museum. So, while Ham may be in KY, Cinci is very much part of his "country".

Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | November 12, 2009 2:54 PM

Disgusting acts of bully behavior countered with peaceful resolution...

Hey christians... know which camp you belong to?

Posted by: Caine, ghetto féministe | November 12, 2009 3:00 PM

From the comments (same commenter):

here's how they sound "we're athiest we want equal treatment but you have to treat us special when we put our message out. We can complain about yours but you can't say anything bad about ours."

Next time a church puts a billboard up I want to see this same type of media coverage. Equal time!!!

The density factor is overwhelming.

Posted by: Gruesome Rob | November 12, 2009 3:08 PM

@Caine:
I'm not so sure that's not a poe. Given all the church billboards and how obvious they are without issues, it reads sarcastically to me.

Posted by: HP | November 12, 2009 3:24 PM

For what it's worth, the original was in a pretty crappy location, on the fringe of downtown in an area that mostly connects one disused warehouse to another disused warehouse.

The new location will be visible on a major artery that connects downtown to the western suburbs, where most of the city's social conservatives and religious fundamentalists are concentrated. (By the way, the term "urban Appalachian" is well on it's way down the euphemism treadmill.)

Presumably, Lamar is charging UnitedCor the same ad rate for the billboard in the less desirable location, so I'd say this worked out about as well as possible.

Posted by: uppity cracka | November 12, 2009 3:51 PM

i bet bill donohue is outraged.

Posted by: Jessica | November 12, 2009 4:00 PM

We had a similar situation with the billboard put up by FLASH here in southeastern Florida. The billboard was very similar, not offensive in any way - just misinterpreted to be... so the community harassed a shop owner who had NOTHING to do with the message, just had an unfortunate location. We had to move it because no, it's not fair for the store/building owner/whomever to be harassed and threatened - BUT how often are you going to find a place that's "okay" for it to be displayed? My thoughts are very slim.

Posted by: uppity cracka | November 12, 2009 4:03 PM

i'm a closet atheist, at least when it comes to my parents. fundies...ugh. maybe i should just put up a billboard in front of their house: "mom, dad...i'm an atheist." the whole neighborhood could show up with pitchforks and torches. they'd have bigger problems and forget all about me.

on second thought, i think i'll just tell them i'm gay.

Posted by: JJR | November 12, 2009 4:17 PM

@ HP #25 above.

HP that is brilliant. If your description is accurate, then the fundies just scored an "own goal", getting the sign moved from its original location to an even more visible one...

Makes me ROFLMAO thinking about it.

Posted by: ZADL | November 12, 2009 4:21 PM

Speaking as a lifelong resident of Cincinnati (no matter how much I try to leave) I would like to point out that we're a big city, with lots of different viewpoints. Probably just like the places you live.

Yes, it's a bit more conservative down here in some places (Indian Hill is an area that hosts $25,000 a plate dinners for GOP folks) but there's plenty of us godless liberals as well.

We're just outnumbered is all.

Please don't tar us all with the same brush.

Thank you.

Posted by: A lurker | November 12, 2009 4:35 PM

I am still partial to:

"Read your Bible. A message from your friendly neighborhood atheists" or something to that effect.

Posted by: bobxxxx | November 12, 2009 4:54 PM

Christians also threatened to murder the Dover judge and his family because they are threatened by science. There's not much difference between Muslim terrorists and Christians.

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, Quel Dommage | November 12, 2009 4:56 PM

I thought it was the Christians who were persecuted. That's what Bill Donohue and his brother, Bill O'Reilly, claim.

Posted by: havoc | November 12, 2009 5:03 PM

Mighty Atheist:

Ohio: land of mediocre sports teams, watery chili, and intolerance.

BLASPHEMY!

...now I'm feelin good and hungry. Must be Skyline time.

I was driving down 75 last night and saw one of the billboards for the creation 'museum'. It's pretty annoying. I'd love to see one of those Unicorn billboards go up near an AiG sign.

SteveM @ 17:

I know he has a good relationship with some of the bible colleges in the area as well. A friend of mine happens to go to one and he's made appearances to pimp his museum.

Posted by: uppity cracka | November 12, 2009 5:38 PM

"Speaking as a Steelers fan..."

on behalf of the rest of us, and don't take this personally:

FUCK YOU!

Posted by: Adam Tjaavk | November 12, 2009 6:15 PM

Can't vote in the survey - one missing.

I liked it - but glad it was moved to a better position.

Same here, JJR, ROFLMAO!

_____

Posted by: Joshua Zelinsky | November 12, 2009 6:19 PM

The most fascinating thing here is that the threats weren't even directed at the correct targets. Rather than direct them at the billboard company they just directed them at the business at which the billboard was located. There seems to be some serious ignorance here about how billboards work.

Posted by: uppity cracka | November 12, 2009 6:47 PM

i think the real lesson here is being lost:
don't stand near billboards that may offend violent people.

"ha hates these cans! stay away from the cans!"
-steve martin, "the jerk"

Posted by: the_fishiologist | November 12, 2009 7:11 PM

This is possibly the least offensive billboard I can imagine. How can a supportive message to atheists (especially one that's not even aimed at promoting atheism or converting the god-bots) inspire anyone to violence? I have a neighbour who has a sign on their garage in million-point font that says "Jesus saves. Accept no substitutes" Run down the road a ways, and you'll find one of those despicable "abortionbreastcancer.com" billboards (that someone hilariously graffiti'ed a few weeks ago. Where the billboard says "why wasn't I told?", someone spray-painted "because it's not true"). And go a few miles in the other direction, and there's a hand-made sign up in the trees that tells you "Prepare to meet God". I'm particularly fond of that one because it implies that he's waiting just around the next corner. Every time I fail to meet God, I giggle a little. But jebus forbid that I put up a sign promoting atheism. I'm even afraid to advertise my Green Party affiliation on my lawn during elections..

Posted by: stogoe | November 12, 2009 7:40 PM

"Don't believe in God?"... why are people so threatened by that? I don't get it.

YOU'RE KILLING GOD BY NOT BELIEVING!!!! CLAP, PEOPLE! CLAP CLAP CLAP! WE CAN SAVE GOD IF ONLY YOU CLAP A LITTLE HARDER!!

Posted by: HarmlessEccentric | November 12, 2009 7:44 PM

1. The comments page on the Cincinnati Enquirer is mainly frequented by people who are not just ordinary conservatives but members of white supremacist groups. Most of the sane people in Cincinnati with internetly inclinations have long since given up on the site.

2. Mighty Atheist- Oh, no, you, DIDN'T. You can mock my sports teams, you can make death threats against my billboard companies, but don't nobody diss our chili. Them's fightin' words.

Posted by: Ben | November 12, 2009 7:49 PM

I'm from Ohio, and used to live in Cincinnati. I can attest myself to southwest Ohio being full of Bible nutters. After driving many times on the stretch of I-71 between Cincinnati and Columbus, I can attest to the following items along that part of the freeway:

1) About 40 miles north of Cincinnati, there is a barn no more than 50 feet from the freeway, with a Confederate flag painted on top of the entire roof (and recently repainted). In the yard nearby, there is a large cross erected.

2) About 25-30 miles south of Columbus, there are two giant billboards a few hundred feet apart at the side of the freeway. When traveling north, the billboards have the 10 Commandments written on them (5 on each one). When going southward, the first billboard reads, "if you were to die today, where would you spend ETERNITY?" The second one reads, "HELL is REAL".

These items stand out, because between the suburbs of Cincinnati and the suburbs of Columbus, there is little contained in this stretch of road but farmland. If you choose instead to travel north on I-75 towards Dayton and Toledo, you run into this item:

3) A gigantic statue of the upper torso and face of Jesus, with his arms lifted to the sky. People locally refer to the giant statue as "Touchdown Jesus". So while the creation museum is comfortably on the Kentucky side of the border, don't pretend that rural Ohio is any better.

Posted by: Amenhotepstein | November 12, 2009 8:30 PM

uppity cracka @ 38

The Browns right now can only aspire to be mediocre.

Posted by: Sven DiMilo | November 12, 2009 9:12 PM

and don't take this personally

no worries; best laugh all day.

Posted by: F | November 12, 2009 9:56 PM

Cincinnati sort of sucks that way, but on the other hand, it breeds an amazing counter-culture. Cleveland is much more bland, though not without its nutters. (And a 30-year or longer "Turn back to the bible... and read it" ad campaign.)

- When did the Browns become mediocre? Not sure. They've been below mediocre for so long. But don't lump Cincinnati residents in with Browns fans without some evidence. ;)

-Cincinnati chili? You have got to be kidding, unless you are whipping up something wicked at home. You'll never catch me doin' a 3-way with Skyline ever again. (Or any other way. Spaghetti?)

Posted by: woozy | November 12, 2009 11:06 PM

*sigh* the comments to the Unicorn Museum doesn't seem to work.

This post deserved clarification but there'd be no point here:

Remember that the Hebrew word is re’em; the Assyrian word is rimu. This is the creature that the Greeks, translated into monokeros, which means “one horn”, as does the word, “unicorn”.

The point, that has been made time and time again, is that this creature is NOT the horsey-like critter we’ve come to know as a unicorn.

I (and a number of posters here) have repeatedly the folks here, who are yucking it up and claiming that Christians believe that unicorns exists, to actually show that the ancient Hebrews (Moses, David, Isaiah, etc.) were referring to the critter, depicted on this site.

To this day, no one has done so.

Again, the whole purpose of this site is to mock AiG’s Creation Museum, in this particular case, by claiming that Christians believe that “unicorns” exists, simply because that word is used 9 times in the KJV translation of the Bible.

Month after month has passed by; but, we’ve yet to see anyone show that when David, Moses, Isaiah, and the other authors of the books, containing those nine verses that used the word, re’em, they (in fact) were making reference to the creature depicted on this site.

Posted by: strangest brew | November 13, 2009 5:50 AM

Creotards and religio bigots are worried...simple like so.

Otherwise they would ignore it...'jeebus and pappy are big enough and ugly enough to handle themselves' so they boast...
but deep down the cretins are aware that it is all make believe.

The more they bleat the more it becomes obvious...piety and belief are but skin deep...a light scratch will infect...and they are uneasy!

Posted by: Samantha Vimes | November 13, 2009 6:54 AM

Woozy, then why are creationists so likely to include unicorns with giants and dinosaurs as things the Bible mentions that must have been killed off in the Flood? Why don't they say, "The word just means one horn, so it must refer to the rhinoceros."
Woozy, the kind of Christians who make death threats over the "Don't believe in God?" billboards are far less sane and clever than you think.

Posted by: raven | November 13, 2009 7:23 AM

Woozy, then why are creationists so likely to include unicorns with giants and dinosaurs as things the Bible mentions that must have been killed off in the Flood?

Because they are stupid and uneducated and don't care anyway what is correct.

The unicorns in the OT are mentioned after the flood.

Woozy may well be correct that it is a mistranslation. The KJV was an early translation from fewer sources and it isn't very accurate. The kooks that claim it was god guided are just making things up. There is absolutely no proof for that claim.

There is no perfect translation of the bible. Some of the newer ones are slanted in ways to try to make it look less malevolent and the product of bronze age sheepherders. The NIV was edited for that reason. The inerrant word of god is continually being rewritten and always has been.

Posted by: strangest brew | November 13, 2009 8:06 AM

#73

"The inerrant word of god is continually being rewritten and always has been."

Oh hell yep!...

As soon as the righteous get a sniff that the ol' pamphlet is leaking the stench of utter embarrassment...they change it...simple like so!

They do it in all sorts of ways...either by ignoring whole books from the original pile of tacky crap to rewording and rejigging a whole new pile of crap.

The dead sea scrolls confused the bunnies and still does...

Seems that the bible is a complete mishmash depending on who or what decided who or what was divine...and they were not all the same thing and several versions went in different directions...latter generations of scholars tended to overlook the grammatical and factual dissimilarities and regard them as *canonical anyway...*shorthand for acceptable...

It is a mess...how anyone with a quarter of a brain could even suggest the tawdry script as inerrant has indeed serious issues with reality and a complete and utter ignorance of literary history.

Posted by: puseaus | November 13, 2009 8:32 AM

The Christians are scared by the fact that they realize that they have put their integrity, intellect, emotions, the future of their children and other things at stake for outdated tales, morality and promises that (...) never will be met. It is not necessarily cowardice. They and we have good reasons to be scared while pulling another mask off our own human legacy.

Posted by: Juice | November 13, 2009 2:36 PM

"The word just means one horn, so it must refer to the rhinoceros."

Actually, the literal translation is "Reem" which is a type of ox.

Posted by: woozy | November 13, 2009 3:56 PM

Wooh!!!!

!!!BIG!!! error in the posting of #67!

To Lockgoats and Samantha Vimes (ha! *great* pen name! Love it!).

I made an *big* error in blockquoting from the unicorn museum site. *Everything* in the post between "no point here" and "*sigh*" was said by a guy named MCKAY on the unicorn museum site and everything that looked like it was said by *gulp* me, was actually said by him.

In other words my post should have read like this:

=======
woozy: the comments on the unicorn museum site don't seem to be working. That's too bad because I'd like to respond to the this:

quoting MCKAY: folks on this unicorn museum site are smuggily laughing at how dumb christians are for believing in unicorns. But "unicorns" is a mistranslation of re'em for aurochs and is NOT the horsey critter. So for none of you guys have yet to demonstrate that the original text meant the horsey critter. So you all fail.

woozy: *sigh* I wish I could have responded to that.
========================

(My response was, FWIW: we are not laughing at Christians for believing in unicorns. We are laughing at Creationist for believing that the Bible in its current form is the infallible word of God. To believe in creationism *because* it is in the bible and the bible is infallible despite millenia of editing, translating, misinterpretation, etc. is to believe mistralations and human error are incapible of marring the word of god. Thus even if the original text meant aurochs, its the word unicorn in the current text. If one concludes T. Rex's were vegitarians in the garden of eden *because* it is in the current infalliable bible, then one must also conclude unicorns existed.)

Posted by: not a gator | November 13, 2009 4:22 PM

Isn't it funny how rapacious capitalism and pious christianity go hand in hand? What's the phrase, "Justified by the Blood"--?

Must be nice to be right all the time.

Posted by: not a gator | November 13, 2009 4:42 PM

@Wisunka

I don't dare tell anyone of my views because its not safe. That alone tells you what Christianity is all about. :(

Where do you live (what community) that you feel that way? Most places I've been it's acceptable to play Devil's Advocate and tweak people a bit, although barging and declaring "I'm a atheist and I think your religion is rot," might very well put in you jeopardy in many parts of the US.

Posted by: Steve in Dublin | November 13, 2009 9:19 PM

Ah, what the heck. Here was an example of some of the screed I found over there:

bengalintn4-have you clicked on the user names?-Seems we not only have atheist we have outsiders who are probably not even USA-citizens-all signed up 11/12/09to 11/13/09.They're on here as reps.of a group and I don't believe atheism,(only) is their intention.Very questionable if you ask me.I think I'll quit beating the dead horse, till I find out what's really behind all this God protesting.-Barb

And this is how I responded (though I can break it up into paras here, thank the non-deities):

"Yeah, well Barb, it's a big bad world out there on the 'internets'. Unfortunately, this site doesn't allow oneself to express themselves in a coherent manner because you can't even delimit your rant into paragraphs. So I'll need to be brief... I was born and bred in NJ and am very proud of that. But I left the States 30 years ago to pursue my career, and well, let's just say that that experience has given me a completely different worldview than the one you would have."

"I responded a few hours ago in this thread, but I suppose the questions that I was asking were just too difficult for people to grapple with. It was about 20 pages back, but the main question was essentially: "What do atheists talk about when they get together?". My answer was: 'We like to talk about how much better the world would be with no religion in it.' John Lennon asked the same question, and look where it got him."

"Atheists are not fanatics, by and large (every movement has its lunatic fringe). Mostly, we are rational, caring, moral people. We see what blind faith in religion has done to the world, and we seek to change that. Please do not continue making that tired old supposition that people who do not believe in god(s) can have no morals. Meh."

GTICPI (Glad That I Could Pharyngulate It),
Steve