It’s the explicitly religious signs on public land that they take issue with. Street pirates don’t mind paid billboards or signage on church property since that’s within separation of church and state, Clark said. That includes their latest initiative to clear city streets of religious propaganda. “We’re going to go at it uniquely because we live in a Christian society and we happen to not be believers in God.” “Just because you don’t have a belief in God doesn’t mean you should lose access to community,” said Clark, 33. The group also holds a monthly food bank and recently took a stargazing trip to Death Valley. Atheists United hosts a “recovering from religion” support group and an addiction recovery program that’s an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous. “The question of whether God exists can be left to the theologians and philosophers,” he said. He sees the organization as a space to build community for atheists. Since 2019, Clark, who identifies as an atheist and humanist, has served as the executive director for Atheists United.
If signs are “illegally marooned, our pirates will report or plunder,” Atheists United declares on its website.Ĭhristine Jones, of Atheists United, loads illegally placed religious material from public streets in Los Angeles into a car after removing them, Feb. They’ve been officially active since 2021. The map currently shows about 70 signs across LA County, including material taken down by the pirates or others. That led to Clark creating a public Google map database where they upload photos and locations of the signage they encounter during their commutes. Calling it “religious rubbish removal,” the alliteration inspired the Atheist Street Pirates. The idea for the street pirates first emerged as a joke during an Atheists United meeting where members bantered about what to do with religious signage they encountered across the city. RELATED: New report finds nonreligious people face stigma and discrimination
They’re a subset of the LA-based Atheists United, a nonprofit that’s been in the city for nearly 40 years and that seeks to “empower people to express secular values and promote separation of government and religion.” I just wanted to do this as a casual thing to keep our streets secular.”Ĭlark is part of the Atheist Street Pirates, a team of lookouts who track and occasionally take down illegally placed religious material on public streets and overpasses around the city of Los Angeles and neighborhoods in the county. “I don’t like to be confrontational about any of that. “People put a lot of passion behind these signs and their messages and ideas about Jesus and God,” Clark said. The man, Clark said, likely assumed he was placing the sign, not removing it.
The life!,” quoting the words from the Bible verse emblazoned on the placard Clark was trying to take down. The sign quoted John 14:6, and as Clark spun and pulled it to loosen it from the pole, a man in a car shouted, “The way. LOS ANGELES (RNS) - Standing atop an approximately 8-foot-high ladder, Evan Clark tugged at a sign tightly nailed to a utility pole on the intersection of Echo Park and Bellevue avenues, just beyond the 101 freeway ramps.
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