# Religious billboards in Arkansas: what's the deal? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 30, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064 "2008-11-30T17:00:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/1 "2008-11-30T17:00:06Z")
I just completed a move from Cleveland to Austin, which took me on a cross-section through Arkansas. While, the further south one drives, there’s an increasing amount of roadside evangelism in the form of crosses and handmade signs, the messages leaped to over-the-top in Arkansas. There were numerous large signs through the state bearing fire-and-brimstone messages; not the “Jesus Loves You”-type messages seen when I drove through other Southern states, but rather “you’re going to hell” screeds. One large billboard read: EMPLOY THE ROD WITH FORCE AND SPARE YOUR CHILD HELLFIRE Basically, beat your kids. Once I was past Texarkana, the fire-and-brimstone messages came to a halt. So, what’s in the water in Arkansas? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/2 "2008-11-30T17:11:39Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > So, what’s in the water in Arkansas? Confederite.–A glowing, radioactive mineral formed when the Confederacy exploded. Next question. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/3 "2008-11-30T17:45:26Z")
I haven’t seen such billboards, but it’s a large state and I don’t get around much. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/4 "2008-11-30T17:51:52Z")
It’s not restricted to the south. I see similar in Wisconsin. Heck, last night we drove past a Marathon gas station, and on its billboard, it listed the gas prices, along with the admonition: “Obey God”. Granted, no hellfire there, but that may be due to state laws requiring hellfire to be kept at least 50 yards from gas stations. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/5 "2008-11-30T17:52:22Z")
Churches with more $$ than sense? Desperate billboard salesmen? Hard shell Baptist with bad kids? I know a lot of kids that need beating, don’t you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/6 "2008-11-30T17:57:52Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Heck, last night we drove past a Marathon gas station, and on its billboard, it listed the gas prices, along with the admonition: “Obey God”. God told me I can have free gas and free cans of Red Bull, so hand 'em over. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/7 "2008-12-01T00:58:21Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > It’s not restricted to the south. I see similar in Wisconsin. Maybe, but it’s just that they seemed to get far more frequent and far more damnation-and-hellfire oriented through Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/8 "2008-12-01T16:20:43Z")
They’re not unheard of in other parts of the country, for sure. While driving along I-81 north of Harrisburg a year or two back, there was a sign proclaiming something to the effect that if you allow your kids to believe in Santa Claus, you (or they) would surely go to hell. My favorite though was north of Richmond, along I-95. It read THE ANTICHRIST is among us find out who it is 1-800-REAL-HOT (no, I’m not making that number up, it was that or something very similar). **Typo Knig** was also in the car. I don’t know what it says about us that my first though, and his as well, was “Oh, is that a new roller coaster at King’s Dominion?” (for those not from the mid-Atlantic, King’s Dominion is a major theme park just north of Richmond). I’ve always regretted that we didn’t call the number to find out who it was! ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/9 "2008-12-01T16:56:56Z")
LOL–I don’t know if they are still there, but in Alabama, near the little town of Gordo (yes–_Gordo_–there were 3 or 4 of those signs. I wished I had thought to take a picture. We still laugh to this day. One said “Make your path straight”. Another said, “Even so, come lord jesus–the day is evil!”. I can’t remember the other ones. This was about 15 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/10 "2008-12-01T17:13:00Z")
Florida for some reason has a monopoly on graphic hellfire abortion billboards, I’ve noticed. Never been to Arkansas. (Arkansas, Arkansas, I just love old Arkansas! Love my ma, love my pa, but I just love old Arkansas!) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/11 "2008-12-01T18:00:23Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > (Arkansas, Arkansas, I just love old Arkansas! Love my ma, love my pa, but I just love old Arkansas!) And I love your barbecue. Are you dissing the state of my birth? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/12 "2008-12-01T18:39:24Z")
Just expressing my love of Roger Miller. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/13 "2008-12-01T19:21:09Z")
My favorite is the billboards in lots adjacent to adult video stores in Farmington, NM, that say, “God is watching you!” Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/14 "2008-12-01T19:26:59Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Florida for some reason has a monopoly on graphic hellfire abortion billboards, I’ve noticed. Never been to Arkansas.) Nah, they have a lot of them in South Dakota. It’s not surprising to me that SD the state that keeps trying to ban abortion. Given the billboard situation there, I’m only amazed that citizens keep voting it down. ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/15 "2010-05-23T00:13:06Z")
A few weeks ago in Minneapolis: “Crouch without the ouch. Introducing our new Ballroom Jeans.” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-billboards-in-arkansas-whats-the-deal/475064/16 "2010-05-23T00:52:58Z")
> [@KSO](#): > > A few weeks ago in Minneapolis: “Crouch without the ouch. Introducing our new Ballroom Jeans.” I"m so totally not sure what this has to with the OP, which was a thread from 2008. This one’s closed. Please—do NOT open old threads unless you have something pertinent to the question raised by the OP. And, you didn’t. **samclem** Moderator, General Questions.