Hmmm…on the other hand going directly to threats of a lawsuit as your first option might seem to many people a bit heavy-handed.

Moore says, ‘it’s my understanding they allow churches to advertise there, and if they allow churches to advertise there, they should allow our organization to advertise there.’

It is his “understanding?” Doesn’t he know whether or not they do? You would think that since this would be the main argument in his proposed suit against the theater owners that he could definitively state that they do. It seems to me that this person has most likely not taken the time to prepare and document his grievance adequately before resorting to the threat of court action.

While I am all for taking Government entities to task when they violate the 1st amendment and using the courts when it becomes necessary to do so in order to maintain the separation of church and state. I am by no means so keen on the idea of filing suits against private businesses in an attempt to force them to convey messages that neither they nor the majority of their clientele probably agree with.

Doing so invites and encourages a negative backlash against Atheism/Humanism by actually making real some of the hyperbolic threats that Christians have long claimed the Atheist movement poses to them and to businesses/society. Regardless of the outcome of this one particular case I really do not see this type of action as one that will in any way advance the cause it purportedly supports.

Rather, it will used tens of thousands of times on hundreds of sites as proof that Atheists are going to use the courts to make even private entities and citizens publicly proclaim support for Atheism against their will and “in denial of God.” (as Christians have been claiming they would do for more than thirty years now).

If you are trying to solidify public opinion against Atheism, scare people with the actual proof of diminishment of their right to free speech, and make new enemies out of people who did not take sides before now then please, proceed with this stupid pointless bullshit that will probably not gain one convert to your side.