Things That Don't Bother Me This Time of Year

Things like this atheist billboard in New York:

David Silverman, the president of American Atheists and the man behind the billboard, said it would remain in place at least until the winter solstice on Dec. 21 and possibly through Christmas. He said the billboard was partly inspired by one that American Atheists’ founder, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, set up in Dallas in the 1970s proclaiming “Atheism: It’s not what you believe.”

Mr. Silverman said the billboard served two purposes. The first was to get the many people who do not actually believe in God but practice religious rituals to “come out,” in his words.

He said the billboard’s location was especially effective because commuters “drive by this sign very slowly every day for a month, right in the Christmas season.”

“And when they go into New York to go shopping,” he said, “they’re going to see it.”

These things are designed to inflame, but they don't bother me any more than the Muslim or Baha'i displays that are put up right beside the Nativity scene in the center of my town every year.