And it looks like at least some have now earned themselves a failing grade:

“Godless” Billboard Relocated Due To Threats (Jessica Brown/The Cincinnati Enquirer; Nov 12)

CINCINNATI: A billboard that reached out to those who don’t believe in God lasted less than 48 hours before threats forced organizers to move it, they said.

Billboard company Lamar Advertising tore down the billboard at the intersection of 12th Street and Reading Road in Over-the-Rhine Thursday morning due to what the United Coalition of Reason – the billboard’s sponsor – termed “multiple, significant threats” to the property owner. Lamar re-erected the sign that same day on a billboard tower along the Sixth Street Viaduct in Queensgate. The sign faces traffic traveling west from downtown toward Delhi and Price Hill.

The billboard contains the phrase “Don’t Believe in God? You are not alone,” and lists the web site of the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason, a coalition of atheist and other “free thinking” groups in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky in which members don’t believe in any god.

This is the first time the group has moved a billboard in this year’s campaign. It’s launched 14 prior billboard campaigns in cities throughout the country including this week in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus.

“It (the threats) caught us totally by surprise,” said Fred Edwords, director of the Washington, D.C.-based national organization. He said the report of “multiple, significant” threats came from Lamar.

The situation indicates a need to continue the outreach in Cincinnati, said Shawn Jeffers of Hyde Park, co-coordinator for the local chapter.

“It proves our point, that bigotry against people who don’t believe in a god is still very real in America,” he said in a news release. “Only when we atheists, agnostics and humanists come together and go public about our views will people have a chance to learn that we too are part of the community and deserve respect.”

The billboards are among 1,400 in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky owned by Lamar Advertising. It leases the land that most of those billboards stand on, including the one on Reading Road.

The United Coalition of Reason paid Lamar $3,875 for the 30-day billboard which was visible to southbound traffic on Interstate 71. It was erected Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday afternoon, Lamar informed the group of the threats.

“(The landowner) called and said he was receiving threats and wanted it removed or he’d remove it himself,” said Tom Fahey, vice president and general manager of the company’s Cincinnati office. “We went ahead and moved it. We didn’t want him up there climbing on a ladder, trying to get it down.”…

Lamar does not notify property owners of billboard content, but “we comply with community standards so we usually don’t have any real issues,” said Fahey. He didn’t think this one would cause such controversy. “It’s pretty innocuous in my mind,” he said of the ad.

Lamar owns the land that the Queensgate billboard sits on so Fahey doesn’t expect any issues with the new spot.

Add it to the ever-growing list of recent attempts to illegally interfer with the free speech rights of atheists.

(And be sure to click on that Columbus link I included in this story if you’re interested in seeing a few live examples of the sort of intolerant mindset that might prompt someone to phone in a threat against those who dare to publicly remind others that not everyone wants or needs an imaginary friend in the sky.)