Ads: Praise Darwin, Imagine No Religion

DETROIT (WJBK) - An ode to John Lennon without the credit -- the "Imagine No Religion" billboard. In praise of Darwin with the "Evolve Beyond Belief" message. The billboard blitz around Detroit is the work of the Freedom from Religion Foundation based in Madison, Wisconsin.

"It... has a very religious reputation, and yet there are many people in Detroit of all races who reject a belief in a God and... we shouldn't just give the religionists the... edge by default," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

The leader of the Freedom from Religion Foundation says in the past, the group has had difficulty with some outdoor advertising companies getting them to carry their billboards.

School districts scrapping Darwin, the push to teach creationism in public schools and widespread public rejection of evolution disturbed members of the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

"We think it's a scandal in this country that so many people are illiterate when it comes to science and that they reject... the information that's right in front of them about evolution and instead think that... they should swallow the Genesis story that we were created in six days," Gaylor said.

The billboards have only been up for a couple of days, but the non-religious group anticipates criticism.

"It's a free country and this is the free marketplace of ideas, and we have every much a right to promote our viewpoint on billboards and in the mass media as religionists do, but I don't think it should offend them. Why should they be offended that we're praising Charles Darwin, and why should they not be willing to ponder a world without religion," said Gaylor.