(WASHINGTON, DC) -- The national advocacy group In God We Trust today announced its billboard campaign has begun in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, to pose the question: "Why Do Atheists Hate America?" The campaign is in response to a billboard posted in that city by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, the nation's largest atheist organization.
 
    In God We Trust's billboard features the question, "Why Do Atheists Hate America?" alongside a picture of a school girl saying the Pledge of Allegiance.
 
   The atheists' controversial billboard urges Americans to "Imagine No Religion" and has been posted since last December.

     "The Freedom from Religion Foundation has embarked on a national campaign to denigrate religion and convince Americans that their country's religious heritage is somehow wrong," says In God We Trust Chairman Council Nedd who is a resident of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. "Their offensive billboards insult the millions and millions of Americans of varying faiths who believe that religion has been, and still is, a force for good. So, we decided to respond and expose this organization's real motives - to oppose the free exercise of religion and attack our nation's heritage," says Nedd.

     "The leaders of the Freedom from Religion Foundation have a long history of holding hate-filled anti-American views," Nedd explains. "They believe that religion, specifically Christianity, is harmful and that faith in God is dangerous to one's mental health. They believe that our national religious heritage has resulted in ‘American colonial intolerance,' and they ridicule the phrase ‘Proud to be an American.' They have declared repeatedly that merely having to hear the Pledge of Allegiance is offensive and should be banned, and they railed against the National Day of Prayer following the attacks of September 11th. This group is not simply a collection of non-believers who wish to be left alone. They are a collection of organized, well funded zealots who are insulted by the mere existence of people who believe in the Almighty. They are determined to drive religion underground," he explains.

     In God We Trust first spoke out against the atheists' billboard last December. This week, Kegerreis Outdoor Advertising, the company hosting both road-side signs, joined In God We Trust and posted a sign of its own that features "In God We Trust" with a message from the company repudiating the hateful opinions expressed on the "Imagine No Religion" billboard.

     In conjunction with the "Why Do Atheists Hate America?" billboard effort, In God We Trust launched a national direct mail campaign mobilizing its supporters against the Freedom from Religion Foundation's ad campaign. It has also posted on its website a series of quotes by the Freedom from Religion Foundation's leaders exposing their political agenda.  The list of these quotations is included here.

     "It is unfortunate that the nation's leading atheist organization has decided to make its mission a political one in which it advocates the government regulation of churches by taxing them, promotes the notion that belief in God is a mental defect that can be cured or corrected, and screams about what they believe to be the evils of patriotism, the Pledge of Allegiance, and our nation's heritage," says Nedd.

     The "Why Do Atheists Hate America?" billboard is posted on Route 30 West across from the Food Lion in downtown Chambersburg.

     In God We Trust is a national political advocacy organization with nearly 64,000 supporters across the country. It is organized as a special project of The Alliance for Health, Education And Development, Inc. (AHEAD), a non-profit organization that has been determined by the IRS to be tax-exempt under the provisions of Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. In God We Trust is committed to providing an active voice in opposition to the special interest groups that seek to ban God, religion, and America's religious history from public display and public discourse.

     Council Nedd is a traditional Episcopal priest and serves as the Bishop of the Chesapeake and Northeast for the Episcopal Missionary Church.

     In God We Trust can be found on the Internet at www.InGodWeTrustUSA.org.