Atheist billboard set up on Billy Graham Parkway in Charlotte | The Herald

An atheist billboard along Billy Graham Parkway?

Yep, there it is - "One Nation Indivisible," with the "under God" left out - high atop the parkway, near Boyer Street.

But "no, no, no," it wasn't intended as a slap at the world's most famous evangelist, said a spokesman for Charlotte Atheists & Agnostics.

"It just kind of happened that way," said William Warren, a spokesman for the group, which is part of a statewide coalition of nonbelievers that is placing the same billboard in five other cities.

The billboard company only had four Charlotte openings, Warren said. The two on the interstate were too expensive, he said, and a third lacked visibility.

Hence, starting last Monday, the group's presence on Billy Graham Parkway, named after the Charlotte-born preacher.

"It was basically an economic decision," Warren said. "We got more bang for our buck there."

The billboard features an American flag background and quotes the original phrase from the Pledge of Allegiance, before "under God" was inserted after "one nation," in 1954. That was at the height of the Cold War and the addition was meant to distinguish the United States from the Soviet Union, which officially embraced atheism.

Set to be up for four weeks, the billboards - costing a total of $15,000 - are a July 4 project of the N.C. Secular Association, a coalition of groups such as Charlotte Atheists & Agnostics, the Ethical Humanist Society of the Triangle and Western North Carolina Atheists.

Their message: non-religious North Carolinians are patriots, too.

"We're doing this to raise the consciousness of the people of North Carolina," said Warren, 29, an electronic technician who served in the Marines from 1999-2004. "We want to let them know that not everybody here is religious. There are atheists in North Carolina and we expect to be recognized and treated like everybody else."

The Pledge of Allegiance was penned in 1892 by a Baptist minister who left out any mention of religion. For generations, the Pledge has been recited by schoolchildren as they gazed at the American flag with their right hands over their hearts.

President Eisenhower signed the "under God" addition into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.

Over the years, the courts have been asked to rule on the constitutionality of the Pledge. Jehovah's Witnesses, who swear loyalty to no other power but God, challenged the requirement that kids deliver the oath. And atheists have said that adding "under God" amounted to a violation of the constitutional ban on government endorsement of a particular religion.

"When the words 'under God' were inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance between 'one nation' and 'indivisible,' they made a lie out of both those ideals," Joseph McDaniel Stewart, vice president of FreeThoughtAction and one of the N.C. coalition founders, said in an e-mail. "You can't have an indivisible nation if you draw a line between the godly and godless. We all belong here."

The billboard project is the latest sign that atheists - nationally and in North Carolina - are trying to boost their visibility and challenge conservative Christians in public forums. A recent series of assertive books by atheist authors such as Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and British biologist Richard Dawkins have climbed national bestseller lists.

And when Dawkins came to Charlotte this year to speak at Queens University, local atheists sponsored a fundraiser for the Richard Dawkins Foundation.

Warren said more than 600 people have signed up on his group's Web site ( www.charlotte-atheists.com). And its monthly gatherings usually attract about 50 people.

The Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association declined to comment.