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Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 11:23 pm
by Dardedar
Image

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 11:35 am
by kwlyon
hmmmm....is something wrong with this image or is it blocked here at kirksy?

Kevin

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 4:01 pm
by Savonarola
kwlyon wrote:hmmmm....is something wrong with this image or is it blocked here at kirksy?
Loads fine for me.

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:45 pm
by Betsy
works fine for me - and thanks for the link...good job nwacor.org!

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 7:20 pm
by Dardedar
I uploaded the picture to photobucket and linked to it. Works fine for me.

Hey, lots of talk about this going on at the KNWA facebook page. Also see the 10:00pm news for another little bit on it (channel 51, or 24, FOX KNWA).

Also watch see The Daily Record tomorrow. They should have a story on this.

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:14 pm
by kwlyon
Yup...it must have flagged something at kirksy. It loads fine at home but the elementary has a rather odd content filter.

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:04 pm
by Savonarola
kwlyon wrote:Yup...it must have flagged something at kirksy. It loads fine at home but the elementary has a rather odd content filter.
Well, we certainly can't be promoting reason in a school!

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:30 pm
by Doug
Transcript of the KNWA report.

(They misspelled Darrel's name.)

See here.

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 11:25 pm
by Dardedar
Let's just post it in case they take it down:

***
Are You Good Without God?

Reported by: Marci Manley, mmanley@knwa.com
Wednesday, Apr 7, 2010 @07:11pm

The billboard is being called a Godless billboard by the group sponsoring it, the United Coalition of Reason (United CoR). The Coalition has brought non-believing, free-thinking groups together to place the billboard and form a Northwest Arkansas branch of the group.

Members of the Northwest Arkansas Coalition of Reasonsay they didn't intend to attack religion or cause a stir with the Godless billboard.

"The message from the sign is to our people, but I suppose to let people know people can be good without believing in God," said co-founder of Fayetteville Free Thinkers Darel Henschell.

Henschell just wants to tune the community in to a belief that may strike a chord with some folks.

"Unbelievers exist in the community around them, among their coworkers, neighbors. family members and our society," Henschell said.

The group's billboard sits just above an ad for Rogers' Central United Methodist Church(CUMC).

"That was a complete coincidence. We didn't know that until we went and took a picture of the sign and said. Oh, we had no idea," said Henschell.

And neither Henschell, nor the church's pastor thinks it's a bad thing.

"That could be a metaphor for how secular people and church minded people can co-exist peacefully in our society," Henschell said.

"The first reaction is it breaks my heart," said CUMC Senior Pastor Carness Vaughan. "But on second thought, any opportunity to get people thinking about God is a good thing."

And whether you're a believer or not, Henschell says life is a solo you shouldn't have to play.

"That's the problem with people feeling isolated in the community like that. So, we wanted to open it up," Henschell said.

The billboard is just one aspect of the campaign. Four Ozark Regional Transit buses will display the advertisements on the side and rear.

Phil Pumphrey, Executive Director of Ozark Regional Transit(ORT) said the company accepted the advertisement at the reccomendation of the company's attorney. Pumphrey noted ORT does not endorse products, opinions, or beliefs portrayed in any of its bus advertisements.

Link

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 7:45 pm
by Dardedar
Video clip of the KNWA news story can now be watched online.

Don, can you peel that video off of there and keep a copy in case it goes away quick? Would be nice to play for a meeting.

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 7:48 pm
by L.Wood
.
Using Dar's link above you can log onto the NWA Online story IF you have an online subscription to Morning News, or The Northwest Ark Times, Ark Democrat-Gazette. If you have home delivery
of any of those papers then your online subscription comes without additional costs.

The reader commentary at the end of the story is getting hilarious and ridiculous.

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 10:29 am
by Dardedar
Notice just sent out:

*****
Hello Freethinkers, we have been busy little beavers.

Perhaps you've heard it on the news, or even seen the billboard, our "Are You Good Without God" campaign coordinated through the United Coalition of Reason is in full swing! It's all part of the new umbrella group we have joined along with several freethinker groups in the region. Here is the Northwest Arkansas Coalition of Reason website created to help people learn about us. We didn't even know there were this many groups springing up.

So we have been talking to the media and getting some good exposure. The response, as predicted by United CoR, has been mostly positive. See our forum discussion on this here. There has also been a lot of discussion on the KNWA Facebook page, almost 300 responses Wednesday. If you're on Facebook, join in.

United CoR has helped facilitate all of this and funded the over $8,000 for the sign (several buses will also have advertisements) and they have only asked that we furnish them with one thing. They would like a photo of us, a bunch of us, with the sign. It's really not too much to ask.

So this Saturday, we will gather by the Very Expensive Billboard and partake in a picture for the archives. It's located on a little road that is hard to find, and parking is limited, so we will meet at the new Macadoodles at the Elm Springs exit in Springdale. See a map here. We can do a little car pooling from there.

Let's meet at 11:45 this Saturday. We'll hang around until 12:00, or maybe a few minutes after. If you are just a little later than that, here are directions to the sign:

From Macadoodles go about 1/4 mile West on Elm Springs road. At the light, turn right on N. Oak Grove Rd. Go about a 1/4 mile then bear right on Bob Mills Rd. Our sign is on this road, less than a mile down. It's across the street from a church (purely accidental).

So, if you can come and help us out, please do. The more the better. They don't call us the Fearless Fayetteville Freethinkers for nothing.

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:15 pm
by juju
Darrel wrote:Video clip of the KNWA news story can now be watched online.

Don, can you peel that video off of there and keep a copy in case it goes away quick? Would be nice to play for a meeting.
I've got it. If you bring me a flash drive tommorrow, I can transfer it to that for you. I also put it on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOkwLGSIRHc

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 5:45 pm
by Dardedar
Will be doing an interview with Channel 5 news, on location at the sign, this evening. It may run tonight at 10:00. Check it out.

UPDATE: It will run tonight.

Here is their website:

http://www.kfsm.com/

UPDATE: Here is the blurb:

***
Controversial Billboard References God

Robert Boyd Reporter

10:30 PM CDT, April 9, 2010
Controversial Billboard References God

A new controversial billboard referencing God has been put up along I-540 in Springdale.

The billboard says, "Are you good without God? Millions are." It's located on I-540 North just before the Wagon Wheel exit. It's an advertisement directing readers to a web site for the Northwest Arkansas Coalition of Reason. It's an atheist organization that reaches out to individuals who may feel ostracized by the surrounding religious community.

"We want people to know in our community that may be religious skeptics that they are not alone and there are thousands of people in Northwest Arkansas that may want to find out about our groups and go to our meetings and our lectures and associate with people with a like mind," said Darrel Henschell, of NWA Coalition of Reason.

Billboards just like the one in Springdale are popping up in dozens of cities across the country. Religious based people in Arkansas are already talking about it.

"I personally believe the Lord Jesus Christ is my savior, but I understand that he would give you a choice too, in fact he has given us a choice to believe in him or not believe in him, so I think they should be allowed to do this," said Denise McCroddan.

Another man said he feels society as a whole is trying to distance itself from God, and this billboard is another example. "We as Christians have been suppressed the last 15 to 20 years especially when it comes to the name of Jesus encouraging us not to use it or push it forward," said Bucky Atkinson.

The new advertising campaign will also feature signs on Ozark Regional Transit Buses.

KFSM News

***

They do have a comment thread at that link, let's keep an eye on it. Now the video clip is up!

Can we get a copy of that video clip too? This could go in the video section of our nwaCoR site.

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 1:23 am
by juju

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 6:20 pm
by juju
Here is the video from the sign! Lots of background noise, but it's still audible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTm6L2pngMg

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:00 pm
by Dardedar
Ladies and Gents, here are our NWA Coalition Freethinkers!

Image

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:09 pm
by RobertMadewell
The pictures I took are uploaded to photobucket. Click Here

Image

Click the picture above for the full size.
The pics with a -1 after the filename are 320x240 thumbnails. The 1024x768's don't have a -1 at the end.

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:38 pm
by RobertMadewell
Here's a pic showing the church sign and the billboard in one shot.

Image

Re: Our New NWACoR Sign

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 8:28 pm
by Dardedar
From the mailbag, as passed along from Donald:

"Hello,
I was very excited to see the article in Thursday’s paper about your group’s billboard. My husband and I are both atheists and frequently talk about how isolating it can be in a community (and country) that is so utterly saturated with Christian ideology. I would love to find out more information about this organization as well as membership. Please let me know..."