Atheism At A Subway Station Near You
Ad campaign kicks off today
By EMILY FELDMAN
Updated 2:15 PM EST, Mon, Oct 26, 2009
Are you good without God? That's the question ads, plastered on the walls of a dozen subways stations, are asking straphangers.
Today, the Big Apple C.O.R. -- New York City Coalition of Reason -- kicks off their month long $25,000 ad campaign, courtesy of an anonymous donor.
John Rafferty, president of the Secular Humanist Society of New York doesn't anticipate a backlash.
"New York is quite unique in America," Rafferty told the UK's Daily Express. "Will we get individual people who will complain? Yes. Will we get people scribbling on posters? Probably. But organized groups? I don't think so."
The Archdiocese of New York will not be protesting the big blue posters. Spokesman Joseph Zwilling told the New York Times, "The First Amendment allows thees groups to preach their religious beliefs. I hope that the rights of other religious groups will also be respected when they also seek to advertise their beliefs."
The kickoff coincides with the release of "Good Without God" -- a book by Greg M. Epstein, the Harvard University Humanist chaplain -- which hits shelves tomorrow.
This is not the first time an Atheist ad campaign has hit the city. In July, The New York City Atheists put advertisements that said "You don't have to believe in God to be a moral or ethical person," on 800 buses.
That campaign was inspired by the success of a similar campaign in London six months earlier, intended to respond to ads posted by a Christian group.
Ads are up at the following stations:
- 14th St-6th Ave.
- 14th St-7th Ave.
- 14th St-8th Ave.
- 23rd St-8th Ave.
- Penn Station (three ads)
- 86th St-Lexington Ave.
- 96th St-Lexington Ave.
- 42nd St.-Bryant Park
- 66th St-Broadway/Lincoln Center
- 72nd St.-Central Park West
- 86th St.-Central Park West
- W. 4th St.
First Published: Oct 26, 2009 11:29 AM EST
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