Madison's Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist and agnostic group, is sending a 48-foot warning to believers in organized religion to "Beware of Dogma." On Oct. 2 the foundation erected an anti-religion billboard in Madison, Wis. that resembles a stained glass window and reads "Beware of Dogma" with the FFRF's Web site and name across the bottom.

According to the FFRF's Web site another billboard is in the making.

The Web site also said the second billboard would be erected this announcing the foundation's annual convention. This billboard will be on West Johnson Street in Madison, and it will bear the same warning with the addition of the phrase "Imagine No Religion."

The members of the FFRF said they consider it the largest atheist and agnostic group in the country, and they feel it is their duty to "reach the masses" Dan Barker, foundation co-president said on FFRF's Web site.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the foundation, said 14 percent of the population is non-religious and the fastest growing religious affiliation in the country.

Gaylor said the billboards are needed because you can travel the country and see religious billboards and crosses all over, but this is an unrealistic portrayal of our country. The 14 percent of atheists and agnostics in the United States are not represented on roadside signs, and Gaylor said it gives the impression that everyone in our country is religious. She said she feels there is a great need to take the free thought of her organization to the masses.

Gaylor said she has insured the billboard is not directly aimed at the Roman Catholic Church.

In the most recent edition of The Madison Catholic Herald newspaper Bishop of the Madison Diocese, Robert C. Morlino wrote, ".in a special way this billboard seems directed against Catholicism in particular. After all, the word dogma finds a home most commonly in Catholic usage, and most of the other churches or ecclesial communities would rarely use that term."

Furthermore, a news article on the FFRF's Web site stated the spokesman for the FFRF informed a local newspaper, 'We don't go to Mass but we're going to the masses'- again the use of the term Mass to designate the liturgy, by in large, finds it's home in the Catholic Church." Bishop Morlino also said he sees this billboard as "particularly offensive."

When asked to comment about the billboard William Yallaly, associate director of communications at the Catholic Diocese of Madison, said the FFRF is operating under the notion that the Catholic Church imposes on people's free will. Yallaly said the Catholic Church is adamantly opposed to taking away free will in matters of faith, and he said, Bishop Morlino makes it very clear in his column the church does not force dogma, or any other sort of beliefs, down people's throats.

When asked his feelings on these anti-religion billboards Carlson, a theology professor in the College of Arts & Sciences and an American Baptist minister, said, "Being critical in regards to religion without being specific can be compared to name calling."

Carlson said he also believes it is fair for the FFRF to put up the billboard, and he is right.

Scott Idleman, a professor in the Law School at Marquette, stated the Free Speech Clause puts these billboards well within the rights of the foundation.