Agnostic attorney Clarence Darrow once said, "I don‘t believe in God, because I don’t believe in Mother Goose."
Now those controversial words and others are being used in part of a new push to promote the thinking of atheists and agnostics. Dozens of new ads will target the people of San Francisco.
The campaign is the brainchild of the Midwest-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, which represents some 14,000 nonbelievers across the country. The association has been working since 1978 to keep church and state separate.
The ads are already popping up on city buses. The group ordered 75 exterior signs with messages like "Imagine No Religion" and Mark Twain's "Faith is believing what you know ain’t so."
Both of those messages will be printed against a stained glass-looking backdrop. Several hundred additional signs will be placed inside buses with longer messages.
Dan Barker, a foundation co-president, said the bus signs are a sign of the times.
"Those of us who are nonreligious– freethinkers, atheists and agnostics–are a growing force in America," Barker said.
According to the foundation, San Francisco is one of the cities with the fewest believers and the fewest churchgoers.
