America鈥檚 Atheist Street Pirates
The American atheists removing illegal religious signs from streets across the states
On a busy street in Los Angeles a group of people in yellow vests are holding a ladder against a lamppost. Up the ladder, 34-year-old Evan Clark is ripping down a sign that鈥檚 nailed to the post. It reads 鈥淛esus: The Way, the Truth, the Life鈥�. These are members of the Atheist Street Pirates, local activists who track and remove religious signs affixed to public property. 鈥淛esus Saves鈥�. 鈥淩epent鈥�. 鈥淏ible or Hell鈥�. It鈥檚 not uncommon to see signs like this whilst sitting in Los Angeles鈥� notorious traffic, whether on placards stapled to telephone posts or on large banners draped across freeways. And whilst the First Amendment of the US Constitution allows freedom of expression and religion, this groups says that there are laws that forbid the erection of religious messages on public property. In 2020 the American non-profit group Atheists United started tracking these signs in Los Angeles and realised that, with the help of volunteers, they could legally remove them. They also launched an interactive map tracking sightings of signs across the US. One pirate in Texas even recently went on an eight-state tour, tracking and removing such signs. There are even interfaith leaders and progressive Christian pastors who have joined the pirates to remove signs, as they believe they interfere with creating a pluralistic society. Evan Clark is the Executive Director of Atheists United. He says atheists are radically under-represented in public life. But he denies that they鈥檙e against people practising their faith. He says many of the signs they track are Evangelical, and is concerned about the growth of the Christian Nationalism across the US. Nastaran Tavakoli-Far travels to Los Angeles and joins the Atheist Street Pirates out on a hunt for religious signs to find out more.
