Atheist billboard sparks Christian ire

INDIANAPOLIS, I.N. (CNN) - A battle of the billboards is brewing in Indianapolis, and it's pitting Christians against an secular group that's headquartered in Amherst.

The billboards went up around Indianapolis last month. The signs were put up by the Center for Inquiry, an secular group taking part in a national campaign to tell people they don't need God.

Center for Inquiry Executive Director Reba Boyd Wooden said, "We get people who come here who say, 'We wish we would have found you sooner, because we feel so isolated.' It's an effort to reach out to those people, not to people who want to stay religious."

>> Learn more about their campaign here

The billboard caught the eye of many believers, like Pastor Bill Jenkins of the Church of Acts. The sign above the entrance to their sanctuary gives an immediate clue that the group's message wouldn't sit well. It didn't.

"They really do need God. In the times that we're going through, the financial problems, with all of the mess that's going on in and around our city, we need God more than ever," said Rev. Jenkins.

So the church members mobilized. Before they began preparing the Easter baskets they'll give away later this month, during a recent Sunday service, they passed around the collection basket to pay for a billboard of their own.

Rev. Jenkins said, "If they can get a billboard, we can get a billboard and let the people know there is a need for God in this society more than ever before."

The billboard can be seen heading into Indianapolis from the south side, along I-65 just North of Southport Road, literally raising the religious debate on the interstate.

"We're gonna plant a seed, we're gonna get the message out. You can look in the universe, you can look up in the sky, you can see around us every day that there is something greater than we know as human beings that created this universe," said Rev. Jenkins.

You can at least look up to see their sign.