'Atheists strike out at Christmas': Catholic League unveils new billboard to counter FFRF
The conservative religious organization the Catholic League has unveiled a new Christmas-themed billboard in response to an atheist organization’s display at the Wisconsin state Capitol.
The billboard, which was posted on Monday in the Madison, Wisconsin, metropolitan area, declared that “Atheists strike out at Christmas” and that “Celebrating Winter Solstice is a Child’s Game.”
“This is our season — not yours,” the billboard adds. “Celebrate the Birth of Christ … Merry Christmas!”
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Catholic League President Bill Donohue told The Christian Post that his group put up the billboard in response to a Freedom From Religion Foundation display at the Capitol building.
“We decided to display the billboard as a direct refutation of the annual Winter Solstice display in Madison, Wisconsin, that is erected in the Capitol building by Freedom From Religion Foundation,” Donohue said. “Their stunt is done to compete with, and therefore neuter, the meaning of the Nativity scene at Christmas. The billboard will be up for two weeks, until Dec. 29.”
Donohue told CP that he hopes “our billboard emboldens Catholics, letting them know that we will not be bullied by our adversaries.”
For their part, the FFRF briefly responded to the billboard’s presence on their X account, tweeting that the “scrooges at the Catholic League really know how to spread love and joy during the holiday season.”
“Happy holidays!” the FFRF added.
For nearly 30 years, the FFRF has put up a display at the state Capitol in response to the presence of a Nativity scene, with their display including an anti-religious message:
At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail.
There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell.
There is only our natural world.
Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.
The seasonal display also features a depiction of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington looking at a Bill of Rights in a manger while the Statue of Liberty stands among them.
In January 2023, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit unanimously ruled that Texas violated the First Amendment rights of the FFRF when the state government refused to allow a similar display at the Capitol in Austin.
FFRF announced in August that Texas had paid over $358,000 in attorneys' fees and costs, with approximately $184,000 of that being used to reimburse FFRF for their staff attorneys' time.
