You may have seen those “Jesus Saves” signs on your local highway or street corner, especially if you live in America. Most Christians despise them, as they push their religion onto everyone around them. These signs can be small or large, zip-tied to a stop sign or traffic pole. However, no matter what they are stuck to, they are designed to be distracting and attention-grabbing, but worst of all… their purpose in the first place.
It is important to remember their purpose, which is to keep people in the religion from thinking for themselves. These signs, like billboards, send a message that is loud and clear to those considering leaving the religion. The reason propaganda works is because it is constant and always running, shifting your reality and causing you to believe it more. This is why right-wing radio and pro-Trump social media accounts rant and post non-stop. When a member of a strict religion is quietly driving on a highway, with nothing playing, they have the ability to think for themselves for a short period of time, since nothing is distracting them from their thoughts. In order to prevent this, movements like “Jesus Saves Signs” will place distracting black and yellow signs on speed limit signs, telephone poles, and on walking trails to keep those who are thinking about leaving scared of what could happen if they do.
Thankfully, you can remove them. They are not even legal to put up in many places, as they are never approved by the city, especially since they often clash with other traffic signs. You also do not need a license to rip them down, or a position at any traffic agency to rip them down. All you need to do is safely pull to the side and rip them down. Though sometimes you may need a long telescopic pole, since some groups place them 8 feet high to make them a pain to remove.
Religious people should be allowed to practice their beliefs and discuss their religion, though this practice of placing illegal signs on our highways and public property is a risk to everyone around them, which is when practicing goes too far. Ripping down these signs is not just making your area cleaner, but it is fighting back against hateful religious movements, preventing them from threatening those who may consider leaving said movements. No matter what religion or cult tries to trash the highway with their propaganda, safely rip them down if you feel like doing so.