God's Country



Billboard in Davenport, IA

EVANSTON, IL - Anybody who really believes that we live in a secular country probably hasn't driven through the Midwest recently. Billboards like the one pictured above are commonplace on interstates and local roads.

This was something that I noticed on the first day that I arrived in Indianola. As you take the highway into town, there's a black billboard that says starkly, "Christ died for your sins." The Christian influence was far more prevalent in Missouri. As we traveled on Interstate 70, you couldn't drive more than 10 or 15 miles without seeing a billboard that carried a biblical verse or simply stated, "JESUS."

Along the same lines as the religious billboards are the pro-life advertisements, which appear from time to time to urge drivers to "choose life." One billboard I saw had a smiling baby saying, "Aren't I special? Let me live." The more subtle billboards in this vein encourage the practice of adoption. According to one such billboard, 2.4 million Americans are anxiously awaiting an opportunity to adopt a child.

Interestingly, perhaps the only billboards that you see with the same frequency as the religious ones are the billboards advertising the seemingly dozens of casinos that you find out there. Maybe it's no coincidence to find religious fervor side by side with a wasteful passion for something as covetous and spiritually bankrupt as gambling. When people drive home from the casinos with their pockets drained and their lives effectively ruined, they must surely feel like they need some kind of divine intervention.

Posted: Thu - March 24, 2005 at 08:52 AM      

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