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    A war between billboards and beliefs is waging in Rhea County and environs.
    A billboard erected several weeks ago on Highway 27 North near the Rhea County/Hamilton County line celebrates Darwin, the late English scientist famous for his theories on evolution and natural selection.
    The billboard states, "Praise Darwin, evolve beyond belief," and advertises the Web site for the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF).
    The billboard was reportedly installed in honor of Darwin's 200th birthday, which was Thursday.
    Dayton resident and activist June Griffin responded in kind.
    On Thursday night, a billboard funded by Griffin's organization, the Tennessee Minute Women, and a group of private donors, "Defenders of the Faith," was installed in the 4600 block of Rhea County Highway.
    The billboard, which pronounces, "Evolutionists come from monkeys" faces north and is located near the Huddle House restaurant in Dayton.
    Griffin said another billboard has been leased between Dayton and Evensville on Rhea County Highway and should be installed this weekend.
    "We're answering these atheists," she said Friday.
    Griffin expressed her dislike for groups such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation and said when she heard of their billboard south of Dayton she decided to act publicly to defend Christianity and her creationist beliefs.
    "These groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation, they're used to Christian people kind of rolling over and just saying Jesus loves you, well I'm more of the warrior type."
    Citing Proverbs 31, Griffin said God calls on women to be virtuous. Virtue translates in Hebrew to be warlike, she explained.
    "Virtuous is power ... it's aggressive, not passive," she said. "I'm going to defend my Savior."
    Dennis Tumlin, who owns the billboards Griffin rented along with his wife Angela, said the FFRF approached him some time ago and asked to rent a billboard that sets close to the intersection of Highway 30 and Rhea County Highway, near the entrance to Bryan College.
    "They were very adamant that that's the spot they wanted," he said. "I did not appreciate that and saw it as a slam on Bryan College."
    Additionally, Tumlin said the billboard's message goes against his values and beliefs.
    "The message did not correspond with my morals, so I walked away from it (the business)," he said.
    Dr. Richard Cornelius, a Dayton resident who has been deeply involved in the Scopes Trial Museum, said he is amused by the irony of the FFRF billboard. They say they're against religion, but they set up this new religion, he said.
    "It's another world view, another philosophy ... and they're using religious terms, such as 'Praise,'" he said.
    The real irony, according to Cornelius, is that the 1925 Scopes Trial, which put the instruction of evolution in public classrooms on trial, was really just a fabricated publicity stunt to economically rescue the town of Dayton and the Cumberland Coal and Iron Company.
    "It fooled the world, in a sense," he said.