United Methodist Church buys billboard space that hosted Proud Boys sign

BREESE, Ill. — In response to the uproar over a Proud Boys message displayed on a billboard near Central Community High School, the United Methodist Church has a simple message: “Hate Divides, Love Unites.”

The church purchased billboard space in the same location as the Proud Boys sign, which was removed this week. It paid $2,100 for the next four months.

“It’s part of our ministry,” said Paul Black, director of communication ministries for the Springfield-based Illinois Great Rivers Conference, which represents 650 United Methodist congregations and about 100,000 members across central and southern Illinois. “One of the focuses for the denomination is eradicating racism, and when you read about this group, there’s no doubt there’s cause for concern.”

A picture of how the billboard will look, as seen on a similar sign in Salem, Missouri. (Provided by United Methodist Church)

The Proud Boys sign, which went up late last week and came down Tuesday, stood along Old U.S. Route 50 and St. Rose Road, about 1,000 feet from the school’s entrance. It appeared to be a recruiting tool for the group, listing a local phone number that went to a full voicemail and featuring its logo alongside the slogan: “Faith, Family, Freedom, Brotherhood.”

The Proud Boys have been designated a hate or extremist group by organizations including the Southern Poverty Law Center and were tied to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Lamar Advertising, which manages the billboard’s ad space, declined to say who purchased the Proud Boys message. The company removed it after a Clinton County Board meeting Monday night where dozens of residents spoke against the sign, and the board unanimously passed a non-binding resolution denouncing hate.

Bucky Miller, of Aviston, who helped organize community turnout for the board meeting, said he was relieved to hear about the Methodist sign. He and his wife, Laura Thoman, are raising two children, ages 6 and 4, and they were particularly disturbed by the sign’s placement near a school.

The new message, he said, “embodies what our community and Clinton County as a whole is all about.”

Black said the design for the new billboard comes from a campaign first launched by the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church. The campaign began after a private citizen erected a similar sign near a Confederate flag flying along a busy road at the Lake of the Ozarks. The church eventually took over funding for that billboard and has since expanded the effort, putting up signs in several locations throughout the state.

Kim Jenne, director of connectional ministries for the Missouri Conference, said other Methodist conferences across the country, including in Ohio and North Carolina, have also adopted the “Hate Divides, Love Unites” message in places where local communities have reported extremist activity, though she was not aware of any other Proud Boys billboards.

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Molly Parker

Molly joined Capitol News Illinois in July 2023. Most recently, she worked as a reporter for Lee Enterprises, on its Midwest Public Service Journalism team and for The Southern Illinoisan in Carbondale. In that role, Molly exposed poor living conditions and mismanagement of a housing authority in Cairo, Illinois, that resulted in a federal takeover and the relocation of about 400 people. In 2022, Molly and Capitol News Illinois Reporter Beth Hundsdorfer won the domestic print award in the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights journalism contest for a series of stories exposing patient abuse inside a state-run developmental center. Molly is also an assistant professor of journalism at Southern Illinois University and a distinguished fellow with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network.