Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

this analysis, I will: 1) discuss the background on the secular organizations and their billboard campaigns; 2)
describe Bormann’s fantasy theme and rhetorical vision; 3) analyze the secularist billboard messages; and 4)
offer a summary and conclusion.
I will first discuss the historical background related to the rise of the secular billboard campaigns
across the United States. This discussion will analyze a set of billboards created by UnitedCor, the Freedom
From Religion Foundation and the North Carolina Secular Association along with a response billboard
created by a church coalition in North Carolina.
Background on Secular Organizations and Billboards
The production and distribution of billboards by regional and national secular alliances is not a new
or recent phenomenon. National organizations like UnitedCoR and the Freedom From Religion
Foundation have funded campaigns since 2007 (“FFRF”).
UnitedCoR is a national organization that promotes and highlights coalitions of secular groups
spread across the country in order to raise awareness of communities of reason (“United Coalition of
Reason”). UnitedCoR funded, on average, $5,000 towards each billboard that local coalitions erected near
U.S. major cities (“Godless Groups”). The earliest news report of such billboards posted by UnitedCoR
that I could find dated back to November 2008 when the Colorado Coalition of Reason created and placed
eleven billboards throughout the Denver metro area and Colorado Springs region of Colorado (Haythorn).
This was not an isolated incident. In 2009, UnitedCoR launched a nationwide campaign, utilizing
these billboards in 20 cities including Boston; Charleston; Chicago; Dallas; Fort Worth; Des Moines;
Morgantown, West Virginia; Newark, New Jersey; New Orleans; New York; Philadelphia; Phoenix; and
Portland (“What’s New” 2009). This campaign has continued into 2010 with other major cities including
Austin; Des Moines; Detroit; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Louisville; New Orleans; Oklahoma City;
Jacksonville; St. Augustine; St. Petersburg; Tampa; Tucson; Sacramento; and Seattle (“What’s New”
2010).
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