Atheist billboard mocking people of faith taken down after backlash

TUPELO, Miss. (Christian Examiner) – An atheist billboard mocking the religious values of citizens in Tupelo, Miss., has been taken down after complaints from the city's residents.

The digital billboard, which features an image of "Uncle Sam" and the words, "God Fixation Won't Fix This Nation," was posted by the litigious Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation on July 1, just before Independence Day.

The organization frequently posts signs mocking Christianity, which it claims is given preferential treatment and too heavily influences government. At Christmastime, for instance, they sought to place a religious display outside of the Texas State Capitol which featured the founding fathers and the Statue of Liberty looking over the U.S. Constitution, lying in a manger.

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the display removed, for which the group sued the state.

Mississippi is tied with Alabama as the most religious state in the country, according to a 2016 Pew Research Center report. Seventy-seven (77) percent of adults in the state describe themselves as "very religious." They didn't take kindly to the insult offered by the Wisconsin atheists.

FFRF claimed it had been "censored" after Lamar Outdoor, the private company that hosted the ad, took it down to protect its business interests.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the atheist group, said she was disappointed "there is no alternative or dissent permitted in Mississippi, that the claims of religion cannot even be questioned or debated."

The company cited the public backlash as the reason. It was, it said, taking "too much heat" over the display.