...for good Kerstians everywhere who love Jeezuss and Gawd the father of us all! These non-believers will burn, and rot in hell forever! And a few may actually change their minds, but by then it'll be to damn late because if nothing else, Gawd (and his number 1 #one son Jeezuss) hate hypocrites!

Billboards: No religion? No problem

DETROIT -- Who needs religion?

That's the question being raised by a group of secular activists that has put up billboards in Michigan containing photos of smiling people that read: "Millions of Americans are living happily without religion."

Those might be provocative words for the devout, but the Center for Inquiry a New York-based group that put up the billboards here and in New York, Washington, D.C., and Indiana says its "Living Without Religion" campaign will resonate with growing numbers of Americans. It points to surveys that show an increasing percentage of people in the U.S. don't identity with any religion.

"We want to let nonreligious people in our communities know that they're not alone," said Jennifer Beahan, assistant director of the Michigan chapter of Center for Inquiry. "They are among millions of Americans living happy, purposeful lives without religion."

Beahan, 25, of Grand Rapids, is one of them. She was raised as a conservative Christian first Baptist and then Calvinist trained to believe that every word of the Bible was true. But the more she read, she said, she found errors and contradictions that didn't make sense. Around the age of 20, she realized: "I'm not comfortable believing this stuff anymore."

"I wanted to find a community where I could ask questions without being told we're going to hell" for not believing.

Hassan Khalifeh, 25, of Detroit, used to be a devout Muslim but also has given up his faith.

"I was actually extremely religious," Khalifeh said. "I read the Quran, prayed five times a day."

But at 17, he started reading more science and philosophy and felt that Islam wasn't for him. Now, he's a student organizer at a secular students group at Wayne State University, where he studies business.

A survey released last year by Pew Research Center shows that people like Khalifeh and Beahan are increasingly not alone. About one out of five Americans are not affiliated with any religion. That rises to one out of three for those younger than 30. One-third of all adults say they're not a "religious person," the survey said.

The billboards, put up two weeks ago, will stay up until Oct. 27. The billboards in Michigan cost $7,500 to put up.

The smiling, diverse photos in the billboards one white, one African American, Latino were by design, said organizers. They want to help dispel stereotypes people may have about atheists and others who question religion.

"We're honest, hardworking people who love our families, and we're involved in our communities," Beahan said. "Please stop demonizing us. Atheists aren't immoral, terrible, angry people."

As for those who say religion is essential to America, she replies: "Some people believe that America was founded on Christian principles, which is false. It was founded on enlightenment principles, humanistic principles that everyone can agree on. There are things that are common to all cultures.... The golden rule has been around long before Christ came on the scene."