Lincoln Atheists billboard coming down

But a day earlier, the group's president, Brian Aden, was at the regular Sunday get-together at Meadowlark Coffee, and there it was.

“The Good Life without God?” the sign reads. “It’s possible. Visit us at LincolnAtheists.org.”

According to Lamar’s statistics, the south-facing junior poster makes an average of 26,218 impressions a week. The text, printed atop an outline of the state of Nebraska, was set to be on display for a month.

But then several people threatened to stop doing business at the gas station/store, and the sign's coming down early, according to correspondence between Lamar’s Lincoln general manager and the Lincoln Atheists.

The group was told Tuesday.

“We are grateful for the work Lamar did for us and with us, but we are disappointed that we don’t get an equal platform to share ideas,” said Shawn Capler, marketing director of the atheist group. “I think a group like ours is necessary because not everyone is religious, but I think everyone needs a community. We’d like to think that we provide community for those without any religious beliefs.”

The reason the group sought to advertise in the first place was to reach out to other atheists, said Aden.

“Our goal of course was never to upset any property owners or anything,” he said.

A day before he learned the billboard would be removed, Aden said reaction to the sign had been cordial, if limited.

“Surprisingly, we haven’t had as much feedback regarding our billboard as I expected,” he said in an email on Monday.

A few people had commented at LincolnAtheists.org that they were happy to see the sign.

The group’s Facebook page saw an uptick in members as well, Aden and Capler said. Aden said it’s likely that was driven by the billboard and by an article on a blog called the Friendly Atheist that has been shared this month.

He said he'd gotten no negative comments about the sign.

“To us directly, we still haven’t gotten anything,” Aden said Tuesday. “The comments were made without ever bothering to contact us through our website.

“In some ways, it’s what I expected, to be honest. Our very existence is offensive to a lot of people.”

Scott Morton, general manager of Lamar's Lincoln branch, said the company must respect the wishes of landowners upon which the company leases space.

“At this point, we’re just going to refund them all of their money, even though they got some display time,” he said.

Morton said he and the company’s staff consider free speech rights when making decisions on which organizations and companies with which they do business. They also balance those considerations with the possibility that the words on the billboards could offend passersby.

“I’ve turned away so many messages over the last 28 years, I can’t tell you,” he said.

In the case of the atheists’ billboard, the company rejected the first design submission -- a black background with the words “Let God” on it with the “d” crossed out, leaving the words “Let Go” visible. Soon after, the parties agreed on a second choice, the runner-up in a design contest voted on by the group's 24 members.

“My first choice would be to put it up somewhere else in Lincoln,” Aden said. “If that’s not possible, we’re not upset at Lamar. It’s unfortunate because I don’t think there’s anything offensive about it.”

Capler said the group, which incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in March 2015, will continue with its scheduled get-togethers and volunteer work. Members meet for coffee and board games and adopted a two-mile stretch of U.S. 79 near Raymond. This December, the Lincoln group and the Omaha Atheists (who put up a billboard in the summer of 2012), will have displays at the Capitol for the second-straight year. Capler said the paperwork has already been filled out.

As for the billboard on private property, he said, his group is willing to let go. 

“We have nothing to gain from that fight,” Capler said. “That’s beyond the scope of our organization. We’re just a humble little nonprofit that wants to help people.”

Hai Dao, owner of the gas station, said Wednesday morning that he called Lamar on Tuesday “because I had customers complain about it a lot.”

Prior to hearing the complaints from several of his regulars, he said, he hadn’t given the ad much thought.

“I didn’t pay attention to the sign,” Dao said. “I didn’t know how long it had been there.”

In the 10-plus years he has owned, as well as worked at, the corner gas station, Dao said, he had never had shoppers threaten to take their business elsewhere because of a sign on the property.

“I want to make my customers happy,” he said. “I have my regulars, they say they love my business, but they don’t like to see (the ad) out there.”

On Wednesday, Dao said one person had come into the store to express disappointment that the sign was removed. He said he has since considered removing the billboards altogether from the parking lot.