The “Religion” section the local newspaper (The St. Louis Post-Dispatch) has reported that a new billboard has sprung up smack dab in politically and religiously conservative west St. Louis County:
“Imagine no religion,” it reads in a medieval-looking font, framed in a colorful stained-glass window pattern. The small billboard, on a strip of Manchester Road crowded with retail outlets, also gives the Web address for its sponsor, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation.
The Post-Dispatch article includes an interview with the founder of FFRF, Annie Laurie Gaylor. She was asked about the inspirational aspects of religion:
What about the message behind the Beatitudes that Christ delivered in the Sermon on the Mount? The meek shall inherit the earth, blessed are the peacemakers, etc.
“I have a lot of objections to the Beatitudes which encourage meekness, docility and not changing this world,” Gaylor said. “That’s a good message for rulers to give to those who they rule over.”
The stated purpose of FFRF is to promote:
the separation of state and church. Its purposes, as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
