46.8 F
New York
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Community Leaders Express Outrage at Atheist Billboard

Related Articles

-Advertisement-

Must read

Local Jewish community leaders have expressed outrage at advertising company Clear Channel’s decision to allow a sign mocking the Jewish faith to be installed on a billboard overlooking the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Greenpoint, calling it offensive and an unprovoked attack on the Jewish community.

“This billboard is meant to offend a large group of people and attack their religion,” said Brooklyn City Councilman David Greenfield. “While I firmly believe in freedom of religion and speech, the placement of this offensive message on private property is a clear affront to the large Jewish community in Brooklyn. The property owner should do the right thing and have the advertisement removed immediately out of respect to the community,” said Greenfield.

The billboard was installed at the corner of Stewart Avenue and Thomas Street in Greenpoint earlier this month and refers to G-d as “a myth” in both English and Hebrew. The group behind the advertisement, American Atheists, had first sought to install the sign on a building on South 5th Street in Williamsburg in the heart of one of the largest Jewish communities in Brooklyn, but the owner of that building objected to the message contained on the billboard. Despite the relocation, the sign is still prominently displayed at the entrance to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside Israel.
In addition to the offensive message contained in the advertisement, community leaders objected to the group’s use of G-d’s name in its original Hebrew form as written in the Torah. According to the Jewish faith, this name is prohibited from being written in any text outside the Torah, or spoken, so having it included on a billboard, especially in this context, is widely perceived as deeply offensive.

balance of natureDonate

Latest article

- Advertisement -