An ad put up late last week is causing controversy in Lexington.
It's a billboard stating, "Don't believe in God? Join the club."
It was put up as part of the Bluegrass Coalition of Reason's advertising campaign.
The coalition--a collection of secular, or non-religious, groups--wanted to get the word out.
Officials from the group say they wanted to let like-minded people know they're not alone.
"We're not here to change anybody's mind or convert anyone's deeply-held beliefs. We're just going to people that already agree with us and saying 'Hey, in case you didn't know, there are groups of people you can come talk to'," said Clay Maney of the Bluegrass Coalition of Reason.
But another organization,
The Family Foundation, worries what the campaign could mean.
Executive director Kent Ostrander of the organization says that families stay together because of their shared values. And, he says, "Those values are received from an individual's faith."
So for the coalition, which--collectively--doesn't have a set of beliefs like you'd see in a place of worship, should the campaign be considered offensive?
They say no.
"If you see the advertisement at all, it's not at all offensive. You know, it's not saying that you're wrong. There's nothing offensive to the advertisement other than saying 'We exist'," said Maney.
And the family foundation does say they think the campaign could be a part of a religious person's pilgrimage to finding whether they believe in God at all.
This isn't the first billboard of its kind--they've been popping up all over the country, some as close as Louisville and Cincinnati.
For more information on the Bluegrass Coalition of Reason,
you can visit their website.
