Alex Gabriel has a list of 100 Irish and British atheists who don’t fit the stereotyped image of what an atheist is. It’s a great list. I know a few of them, know of many of them, am pleased to learn of the ones I don’t know of.
25. Jane Donnelly is Atheist Ireland’s Education Policy Officer, and has spoken widely on the need for secular education. Recently, at Empowering Women Through Secularism, she also gave a presentation on secularism and human rights. You can find her writing and updates on AI’s dedicated Teach Don’t Preach site. [Email her] [Tweet her]
44. Yemisi Ilesnami – proudly feminist, proudly bisexual, proudly atheist – can be found at FreethoughtBlogs since joining them this May. She’s also Nigerian, now resident in the UK. Beyond her blog Yemmynisting and her book Freedom to Love for All: Homosexuality is Not Un-African, she has a law degree, works occasionally as a plus-size model and has worked in the past for the Nigerian Labour Party and the International Trade Union Congress. Recently she spoke on the ‘Atheism is not enough’ panel at FTBcon, and her YouTube vlog focuses on atheist identity and LGB issues. [Message her] [Tweet her]
49. Sinéad Kennedy spoke at Empowering Women Through Secularism on politics and acampaigner; she teaches English and Media Studies at NUI Maynooth, and campaigns for access to abortion with Action on X and Ireland’s Abortion Rights Campaign. She drew some people’s ire bycrediting her secularism and feminism to her Marxism, but personally, I’m glad she did. [Email her] [Tweet her]
Well, that is very nice of course, especially since the stereotyped image of a British atheist has got to be just about anyone considering what a large proportion of the population are atheists.
There are atheists and Atheists, i.e. movement atheists. Large numbers of atheists in Britain are fluffy, “not particularly religious but” atheists and generally not very invested in the relevant issues. Also, the fact that such high numbers of people routinely describe themselves as Christian despite little to no religious observance or devotion, and the fact that many of them interpret being a Christian primarily as “trying to be a good person”, suggests to me religiosity (and Christianity) is still ascribed a status it doesn’t deserve.