Controversial billboards to be seen in the east

GREENVILLE N.C. - Some billboards in the western part of our state are stirring up some controversy about how we say the pledge of allegiance.

By: Alex Freedman | Eyewitness News 9
Published: July 08, 2010

GREENVILLE N.C. - Some billboards in the western part of our state are stirring up some controversy about how we say the pledge of allegiance.

The organizations that posted them say the billboards will be making their way to the east.

“Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” Jennifer Lovejoy says the pledge hasn't always been like that.

"The original pledge was meant to be a message of unity that included everybody and when they added the words 'under God' in 1954, they started excluding a group of people," said Lovejoy with the NC Secular Association.

Lovejoy says they posted the "One nation, indivisible" billboards along I-40 to spread that message of unity, but it's received some mixed responses.

"Followers of Christ aren't going to get none-believers to believe in God by going and marking out billboards," said William Norrell, Greenville shopper.

"God should be kept in the Pledge of Allegiance. He is everything," said Camille Winstead, another Greenville shopper.

It’s a feeling held by the We Still Pray Organization in a battle of the billboards. The group posted billboards that include the phrase "under God."

"As we're looking at our national history and our religious heritage, putting those two elements together, when you see a billboard that states we're ‘one nation – indivisible,’ I think it's disingenuous at best," said Pastor Ralph Sexton, Jr., founder of We Still Pray.

"When you say God, you can think of anyone you believe in. It could be stated for anybody," said Meg Bianco, a Greenville shopper looking for a compromise between the two sides.

Though it might not be popular here in the east, busy intersections might start seeing the controversial billboard.

The North Carolina Secular Association says they plan to have them from the mountains to the coast.

Six billboards touting the "one nation, indivisible" pledge have been posted along state highways; while, six more billboards that include "under god" have also been posted by the We Still Pray Christian organization.

All twelve should be visible for the next month.