Atheist Billboard Springs Up In The Springs

A billboard up in Colorado Springs has a bold message. It reads: “God is an imaginary friend. Choose reality. It will better for all of us.”

Marvin Straus, the co-founder of Boulder Atheists, is behind the sign. He said the sign was designed to encourage dialogue and communications among both believers and non-believers.

The Springs Church Associate pastor Patrick Dow offered his throughts on the billboard. “I hope, if anything it will cause people to think, ‘I wonder if there is a God. I wonder if this is true,'” said Dow. “I hope people will think and will look into God and ask Him if He’s there and reach out to Him.”

Straus said conversion is not the goal. “No one has driven by our sign and says ‘there is not God, I hadn’t realized that. I’ve been a religious person all my life. I’m going to be an atheist,'” said Straus. “That has never happened. But we’ve had a huge success in increasing communications and dialogue.”

As people drive by, some are talking. However, the impact on the opinions of believers and non-believers remains to be seen.

“I don’t know how much power a billboard has to change an opinion or a life or a philosophy,” said Dow.

Dow hopes people will look beyond the billboard, to the mountains.

“How can you look at the mountains and not think that there isn’t a designer behind the design,” said Dow.

The billboard is located off of I-25 near the Garden of the Gods exit.

Drivers traveling southbound will be able to see it on the east side of the highway.

Straus said his group paid $1200 for three billboards to be put up in random locations throughout Colorado.