The Honorable Barack Obama
Barack Obama for President
233 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 1720
Chicago, IL 60601

Dear Senator Obama:

Currently standing in Denver, Colorado, is a billboard proclaiming, "Imagine no Religion," a disturbing message from the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF). I wish I could say that the FFRF was simply an atheist organization. It isn't. The message of the FFRF is intolerance and divisiveness. In one of many examples, FFRF President Dan Barker stated, "Christianity is an enemy to humanity, and the antithesis of freedom." It pains me that such a chilling portrait of any faith, in this case Christianity, is being left unanswered.

In 2006, you stated, "Our [American] law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition." While you may understand this truth, the FFRF clearly does not. The FFRF doesn't see the religious principles so present in American laws, nor do they respect the religious heritages that so guided leaders from Martin Luther King Jr. to Ghandi to Pope John Paul II.

By placing their billboard in Denver, the FFRF hopes to ride your coattails to the Democratic National Convention and claim your success somehow validates their anti-religious views. The presence of this hate-filled message in a prominent location in the city where you will be nominated in just a few weeks has already garnered much media attention. Its message damages the Democratic Party's image with the 92% of Americans who believe in God. I urge you to publicly reject the stance of the FFRF. Failing to publicly denounce this attack on religion will permanently damage your message of hope and inclusion with the American people. Your silence will only show Americans that attacks on their beliefs will go unchallenged in an Obama administration.

In my work with the In God We Trust organization, I continually remind Americans of our nation's rich religious heritage, which goes all the way back to our founders. Our board of directors come from different faiths and is not simply made up of Christians. The more than 70,000 members of In God We Trust do not seek to promote a certain faith, but rather to defend faith's role in America's policies and history. I promise you that I will pass along your formal response to the billboard to our 70,000 members.

Please publicly reject the message of the FFRF, stand with your fellow believers, and state that you won't imagine the world described by this billboard. You put it best when you said, "Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square." They are wrong. Our national government was not set up to keep faith out, but rather to embrace religious people and religious principles as essential to the American dream.

I can't imagine our nation without religion. I hope you can't either.

Very sincerely,

The Rt. Rev. Council Nedd II
Chairman, In God We Trust

Cc: David Plouffe, Campaign Manager
Jim Margolis, Senior Adviser
David Axelrod, Senior Consultant
Joshua DuBois, National Director of Religious Affairs