Reply #48: Cannot be "legally...overturned"?

[GReedDiamond]

If the billboard company was responding to pressure from the local city government within whose city limits the billboard was located, that's a clear violation of the 1st Amendment rights of the organization that paid for the billboard.

Not-so newsflash: the U.S. Constitution exists to protect the rights of ALL, and especially those in a minority with beliefs that may not be considered "mainstream."

Once the advertising company that owns the billboard agreed to accept payment and billboard content from Atheists United, and then removed the billboard due to political pressure from local GOVERNMENT, it became a 1st Amendment issue. Had the advertising company refused upfront to accept the business from Atheists United, and never posted the billboard to begin with, it would NOT be a 1st Amendment issue, but that isn't what happened.

BTW, this statement: "(b)ut atheists don't have beliefs etc and nothing really to market," is ignorant beyond belief, especially coming from somebody on a "progressive" web site. Consider the fact that Atheists United is attempting to protect what little is left of the separation of church/state, and that is what they are "marketing." What they are "marketing" is as obvious as your lack of understanding of this issue, and of the utmost importance in protecting the rights of ALL, not just Atheists United.

Lastly, does this mean that the song "Imagine," by John Lennon, from which the billboard phrase was appropriated, is banned from the airwaves of Rancho Cucamonga as well, because the local government has banned the "offending phrase" on a billboard? Your position is ridiculous and indefensible in (what remains of) our Constitutional Democracy.