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Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

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Analysis of Secular Billboard Campaigns<br />

In this essay, I argue that the billboard campaigns funded by secular organizations, including<br />

UnitedCoR and Freedom From Religion Foundation, fail to create convergence with the U.S. public by<br />

presenting a rhetorical vision that says “unity is found in the personal choice to abandon religion” through<br />

fantasy themes of heroic reason, villainous God and the hindrance of religion to a society that rejects this<br />

interpretation of reality.<br />

Looking at this piece of persuasion, several dominant fantasy themes appear within its intended<br />

message. These include presenting reason and the reasonable as heroic, God as villainous and religion as a<br />

hindrance to the advancement of society. Each of these themes portray themselves both as character themes<br />

as well as setting themes, presenting the actions of the reasonable as to the good of society with those that<br />

pursue God as the enemy to the unity and benefit of a society thereby including any actions done by the<br />

religious as outdated and inferior to humanistic thought. The remainder of this essay will expound on how<br />

these themes portray themselves within the various billboard messages and the effect they have upon<br />

American society.<br />

The most prevalent fantasy theme in these campaigns is one characterizing reason as heroic. The<br />

answer to life’s problems and the means by which we will overcome societal and moral issues are not<br />

through religion; they are through reason. This is clearly seen in the billboard by the Freedom From<br />

Religion Foundation that says, “Praise Darwin: Evolve Beyond Belief” (“Anti-religion”). The billboard<br />

utilizes a textual style similar to that of the Bible and sets reason and evolution as the pinnacle of worship<br />

and praise, not God. Unlike the God of the Bible that Christians find to be the hero, the foundation uses a<br />

play on words to prop reason to the elevation of a hero worthy of praise. The ultimate goal by UnitedCoR<br />

echoes this theme, bolstering the religious community, encouraging the reasonable to take a stand in a<br />

predominantly religious community and reaching out to the “millions of humanists, atheists and agnostics”<br />

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