The holiday season is here and that means that a lot of people will be traveling. After all of the traveling and shopping is finally done, people will come together and celebrate what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. However, one group is using this religious time of the year to call attention to one forgotten group, atheists.

Just recently, advertisements paid for by the American Humanist Association, which is an organization of non believers, have been popping up on TV, billboards and radios across the United States. The organization has spent more than $200,000 to get their campaign out into the public this season. They hope that it will encourage atheists across the country to step out of the closet.

This campaign approaches the topic from a variety of angles. One of the TV ads highlights passages from the Bible that indicate women should be subservient to men. They go on to say that atheists believe in gender equality.

One of the ads says that the Bible says a woman should learn in quietness and full submission. It goes on to say that it does not permit a woman to teach authority over a man, she must be silent. The ad then says that the rights of men and women should be equal and sacred.

The group has even launched a billboard campaign. One billboard simply reads, “Yes Virginia, there is no god.” This is playing on the line from the 1897 editorial that said “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

So why now? The group said that they have chosen this time to launch the ad to help counter the religious overtones of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah.