On November 20th, 2008, a writer named David Olson wrote an article on a topic involving Atheism, with hidden messages between the lines of text. His article, a rhetorical argument essay called “Billboard promoting atheism will be removed”, posted by Press-Enterprice.com, shows the battle of two different values/beliefs in modern American world. The American culture is a society that is mostly comprised of religious views such as Christianity, yet in this article it shows both sides of Christianity and one of the small untold truths behind freedom of speech, our 1st Amendment right.
After a few days of having complaints sent into an Ontario based billboard company, the beneficiaries decided to remove the pro-Atheist message that was paid for by the Freedom for Religion Group. The group claims that they were being censored by the company for not being able to display what they posted on the billboard, which paid upfront and had the ad run for about a week before being pulled. It was initially meant to be displayed until January. The company went so far as reimbursing the groups fee.
The real problem that lies under the surface is that, taking down the sign is closing down someone else’s belief, saying that it is sick to believe in no god and disheartening to the masses. Yet, this is a violation of the 1st Amendment. In the United States of America there is a freedom of press and a freedom of religion the freedom of our ‘god given right’ speech. Yet, is it truly free if the masses disagree with ones view? It is amazingly contradictory, for a religious group to use the 1st Amendment to support their views, yet on the other hand say the first amendment does not apply because is does not support my religious view. One supporter for the removal, Judy Rooze, was quoted as saying, “I understand people have the freedom of speech, yet this is taking it too far… it’s very jarring.” I guess in our country it is okay for the masses to deem something inappropriate when their views are protected, but for the minorities their religious beliefs or that their of, are to be censored and covered up.
What is the difference between both? Your religious Affiliation
Image Citation:
Imagine No Religion. [Online Image] Available http://www.religionnewsblog.com/graphics/imaginebillboard.jpg Dec 8 2008.
-God [Online Image] Available http://ypcommando.com/images/billboard_hurricane.jpg
Dec 8 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment