Street Pirate Art Exhibit
Display #1
Nemesis Above The Garden Grove
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The pedestrian bridge above the Garden Grove freeway has seen an ongoing exchange of fire between religious scallywags and Atheist Street Pirates. At least once a month since August 2022 an unknown nemesis has illegally placed religious signs, of varying messages, in both directions above the highway. One such posting even included a recycled security sign, hinting at surveillance of our pirates as a form of intimidation.
Undeterred, a fearless Pirate set sail after each fresh spotting. In just 8 months our crew has pillaged 18 signs. An April installment has yet to be spotted but rest assured a Pirate is standing by.
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Display #2
Hawthorne Pedestrian Bridge over I-105
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Back in September 2021, while driving eastbound on the I-105 highway in Hawthorne, an Atheist Street Pirate spotted a scurvy sign reading “Jesus Gives Eternal Life” on the outer fence of a pedestrian footbridge. With few Pirates in the region, the sign stood untouched for months.
In March 2022, a crew of Pirates set sail with the intent to plunder. Their mission sadly ended in failure. The city had chain-locked all entrances to the footbridge, making the sign inaccessible to law-abiding sailors. (Arrrgh!)
Undeterred, our crew submitted a formal clean-up request to the city of Hawthorne and CalTrans. In March 2023 (almost 2 years since the sign was originally spotted) CalTrans reported that the sign had been addressed and closed the case.
Research by our Map Master into the history of this bridge shows over a dozen unique sign sightings spanning over 8 years.
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Display #3
Jesus Saves Gang
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The “Jesus Saves Sign Ministry” is a full-time street evangelism project organized by born-again-Christian Brent Farley from Charlotte, NC. Inspired by the popular “Thank You Jesus” yard signs, Farley “felt called” to popularize a “Jesus Saves” message and began traveling the country to promote his ministry with a now iconic yellow sign. He and his followers are called the “Jesus Saves Gang” and are responsible for over 600 known illegal signs across the United States.
In 2022, NPR reported on the Atheist Street Pirates in Los Angeles and chose to interview Farley. He said, “To take one of these signs down that Jesus saves … to take that hope away of eternity with our Creator … you're actually taking their hope away from their life, so they have nothing to live for, and that can't be tolerated.”
By carefully studying the Jesus Saves Gang social media posts, Atheist Street Pirates have been able to locate and map over 250 of his illegal signs, and pillage over a dozen.
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Display #4
A Christian Insurrection
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“Christian nationalism” is a political and cultural ideology that seeks to merge American and Christian identities and enshrine Christian supremacy into law. Supporters of Christian nationalism contend that America has been and should always be a distinctly Christian nation. One of the most famous examples of Christian nationalist organizing was the January 6 Insurrection.
Abundant examples of Christian nationalist iconography were documented by reporters on January 6, 2021, including but not limited to: The Christian Flag, “An Appeal to Heaven” flags, “Faith Over Fear” flags, “Jesus is my Savior, Trump is my President” flags, an American flag with “Make America Godly Again” added, “JESUS 2020” banners, 8ft wooden crosses, and messages like “God Bless the USA” hand-written on the wooden gallows set up outside the Capitol steps. Yellow “Jesus Saves” signs, designed and promoted by street evangelist Brent Farley, could be prominently seen throughout the Capitol siege.
During testimony given to the House Select Committee, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges testified to a House Select Committee, “It was clear the terrorists perceived themselves to be Christians.”
Display #5
Wreckage at Sea
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When looting illegal signs it’s inevitable that some will not survive the journey. Whether aged by the sun, torn by the wind, smashed by a pirate, or mangled by the Kraken, some signs now exist only as wreckage.
Unlike the religious crusaders who placed these signs, our crew took great care to leave no debris in our wake. The interactive shrine before you is a celebration of the Pirates who took no survivors.
Display #6
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
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This “Jesus Saves from Hell” sign, spotted in October 2022 by a sharp-eyed lookout, was attached to a palm tree along the southbound side of the 101 freeway in Hollywood. When investigated by a team of street pirates on a group hunt in December 2022, it was quickly discovered that the sign would be uniquely challenging to remove.
Using a 20 ft ladder, on a sloped hill against a highway sound wall, the pirates worked together to safely reach the scurvy sign hung well over 30ft in the air. A “crucifixer” (a metal extending pole adopted by pirates to remove signs) was needed to finally break the sign free.
When later researching the plundered booty, our team discovered the sign was spotted on Google Street View as far back as July 2016. This means the sign hung untouched for over 6 years before the Atheist Street Pirates took action.
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Display #7
When Jesus Comes…
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According to a 2010 Pew Research Center survey, roughly half (48%) of Christians in the U.S. say they believe that Christ will definitely (27%) or probably (20%) return to earth in the next 40 years. This belief is often called the “Second Coming” and signifies Jesus returning to, “set up his kingdom, judge his enemies, and reward the faithful.”
Early Christians believed the Second Coming to be imminent, and most Christian theologians since then have told followers the visible appearance of Jesus may occur at any moment and that Christians should be ever ready for it. In Los Angeles, this belief has inspired dozens of “Jesus is coming” signs that have been found illegally placed on highway overpasses, pedestrian bridges, and telephone poles.
Atheist Street Pirates LOVE hunting these signs. Unlike most booty, a “Jesus is coming” sign brings with it a delightful level of sexual innuendo. As one pirate recently noted, “After two millennia of edging, Jesus finally seems ready to come!”
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Display #8
Atheist Street Pirates History
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The Atheist Street Pirates were founded in Los Angeles, California in 2021 by Atheists United’s Executive Director, Evan Clark. While waiting in line to pick up Chinese food on Christmas day in 2020, Evan spotted and removed his first illegal religious sign. Stapled to a palm tree just outside the restaurant entrance was a hand-made “Repent or Hell” sign designed to target Jewish and Atheist customers on Christmas.
Filled with a fiery rage by the realization that this was an anti-Semitic and anti-atheist act, Evan began to recruit local volunteers for a new program designed to track and clean up illegal religious propaganda around LA. The “Atheist Religious Rubbish Removal” team (ARRR) quickly evolved into the “Atheist Street Pirates,” and a virtual map was designed to track the team’s progress.
In just two years, the Atheist Street Pirates program has exploded into a sprawling network of volunteers across eight states and has recorded over 1,000 illegal religious sign sightings. Join our crew and become a Pirate today!
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Display #9
Theistnormativity
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Theistnormativity is the systematic preferencing and normalization of theism in our society. The term was coined in 2020 by Dr. Kristina M. Lee and described the phenomenon of religious identity, history, and power being preferenced without question.
“[Theistnormative] language encourages the public to view themselves as a theistic collective and nontheists as outsiders. Nontheists are regularly pressured to perform theism and hide their atheistic beliefs and identities,“ writes Lee. “Theistnormativity is ingrained in U.S. culture. Additionally, theistnormativity’s relationship to Christonormativity can help shed light on how Christian nationalists mask their agenda while scapegoating atheists in political and cultural discussions.”
The use of illegal religious signs to bombard the general public with religious messaging, and the complacency by government officials to clean them up, leads to the continued othering and discrimination of nontheists. Atheist Street Pirates set sail to directly challenge this form of theistnormativity and fight to uphold the secular land laws protecting the separation of ship and state.
Display #10
Pirates in the Media
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There she blows! The Atheist Street Pirates are in the media again!
In an effort to recruit more crewmates and spotlight the scourge of scallywag signs littering the seas, our Pirates have bravely set sail in the media’s murky waters. Univision, Religion News Service, Spectrum News, NPR, OnlySky, and more have shared tales of our exploits, with some so brave as to join us for a hunt.
The high seas of publicity can be treacherous waters though. Media vessels are often enchanted by the Kraken’s “false balance bias” and give equal weight to two opposing sides, regardless of the evidence or facts. This gives safe passage to religious scallywags while they intentionally try to steer us into the rocks. We must stay ever vigilant me hearties!
Display #11
Banners
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If you regularly drive any of LA's infamous highways you’ve likely seen one of our plundered banners. Usually zip-tied to the fence on a highway overpass or pedestrian footbridge, these signs can enjoy up to a million views per week.
As you can see, religious scallywags use a variety of designs to target drivers. Some are professionally designed and mass-printed, like many of the yellow banners above, while others are clearly hand-made and would have benefited from a proofreader (see: “Jesus is King! Except it”).
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Display #12
Jesus the Way the Truth
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“Jesus The Way The Truth” signs have made up over 30% of all Atheist Street Pirate sightings and 40% of all plunders in Los Angeles. Since the program was founded in 2021, our team has removed over 130 signs and stickers matching this style.
While some signs are only stapled and can be easily removed by hand, most are placed 10-15 ft high on telephone poles using industrial roofing nails. A crowbar, ladder, and brute force are recommended for a clean extraction.
Look out for these signs near busy intersections, public parks, and highway off-ramps.
