Atheist group targets Democratic convention with 'Sadistic God' billboard

A set of billboards released Monday by an atheist organization slams the faiths of both major-party presidential candidates as part of a campaign aimed at the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

According to CNN, The ads by American Atheists went up around the convention's host city, Charlotte, North Carolina, and will stay through Sept. 6, at a reported cost of $15,000.

The billboards are bi-partisan in their criticism, saying Christianity "Promotes hate, calls it 'love,'" and describing it as "Sadistic God; Useless Savior" and "30,000 Versions of 'Truth'." President Barack Obama is a Protestant, while Vice-President Joe Biden and Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan are Catholics.

It also mocks Mormonism, presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney's religion, with the phrases, "God is a Space Alien, Baptizes Dead People, Big Money, Big Bigotry."

“The election of our leaders in the United States is one of the most important decisions that we as citizens make," American Atheists president David Silverman said in a statement. "Allowing our judgment to be clouded by sheer silliness is unacceptable. We want to show the people of our country the foolishness of mixing religion with politics."

The group said it had also intended to display anti-Mormonism billboard in Tampa, Florida, site of the Republican National Convention later this month, but that no company would agree to run it.

[Billboard image courtesy of American Atheists]