--- description: Anti-Christmas billboards have cropped up in five cities across the U.S., as part of an atheist association's outreach campaign to "in-the-closet" atheists. title: Atheist Organization Decks Billboards With Christmas Jeer image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78ac807127c2f64f/69876f19e20a87bf92a840da/american-atheists-inc.png?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Atheist Organization Decks Billboards With Christmas Jeer  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 16, 2014 5:04 PM CUT  American Atheists, Inc.  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 16, 2014 5:04 PM CUT Anti-Christmas billboards have cropped up in five cities across the U.S., as part of an atheist association’s outreach campaign to “in-the-closet” atheists. “Dear Santa,” reads the text on a roadside billboard in Springdale, Arkansas, “all I want for Christmas is to skip church!” It’s one of several billboards sponsored by American Atheists, an organization that aims to [relieve](http://news.atheists.org/2014/12/01/atheists-promote-skip-church-christmas-billboards-in-south/ "undefined") atheists from social pressure to observe religious holidays. “Today’s adults have no obligation to pretend to believe the lies their parents believed,” said American Atheists President David Silverman in a public statement. The group has sponsored similar billboards in Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis, and Fort Smith, Arkansas, though the groups says billboard lessors in Jackson, Mississippi denied multiple requests for ad space. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3635817/atheist-billboards-christmas-jeer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3635817/atheist-billboards-christmas-jeer/"},"headline":"Atheist Organization Decks Billboards With Christmas Jeer","datePublished":"2014-12-16T17:04:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:54:01.567Z","description":"\"Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is to skip church!\"","url":"https://time.com/3635817/atheist-billboards-christmas-jeer/","keywords":["Religion"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78ac807127c2f64f/69876f19e20a87bf92a840da/american-atheists-inc.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78ac807127c2f64f/69876f19e20a87bf92a840da/american-atheists-inc.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"American Atheists, Inc.","caption":"","creditText":"American Atheists, Inc.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3635817/atheist-billboards-christmas-jeer/","name":"Atheist Organization Decks Billboards With Christmas Jeer"}}]}] ```