More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Jeffrey L. Falick

In June, I wrote a piece for AlterNet, titled 8 Awesome Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. The gist: When a media outlet decides that atheism is important, they all too often turn to Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. Then, when Dawkins or Harris puts their foot in their mouth about race or gender — again — the reporter cries out, “Atheism needs better leadership! Why doesn’t atheism have better leaders?” Atheism does have better leaders — so I profiled eight of them, to bring just a small fragment of the range and variety of atheist leadership to more people’s attention.

At the end of that piece, I wrote, “And these eight are the tip of the iceberg… I could write a new profile of a different atheist leader every week, and still be at it ten years from now.”

So I decided: Why not do that?

I don’t know if I’ll do it for ten years. But for at least a while, once a week I’ll be profiling and interviewing a different leader in organized atheism.

This week’s profile: Jeffrey L. Falick.

GC: Tell me briefly what your organization does and what you do for them. (If you’re in a leadership position with more than one atheist organization, feel free to tell me about more than one.)

Jeffrey Falick 200
JF: My professional leadership position is to serve as the Secular Humanistic rabbi of the Birmingham Temple Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Michigan. (The name “Birmingham Temple” is an historic holdover from the days when it was a more conventional liberal Jewish synagogue.)

Humanistic Judaism — which began in my community — combines an adherence to the philosophy of Secular Humanism with a celebration of Jewish culture. We are basically secular Jews who choose to adapt the forms and functions of Jewish customs in ways that serve our needs as non-theists. This is no “theist-lite” brand of Judaism. I am an outspoken atheist. Rather, it is a way to enjoy our cultural heritage in a manner that conforms to our commitment to Secular Humanistic principles. Whatever cannot conform or adapt does not survive!

My day-to-day functions are pretty similar to many members of the “clergy” (a word I don’t use) but without the dogma, doctrines, authoritarianism or loyalty to tradition that characterize everything that they do. So while the functions are similar, the mindset is completely different. The best comparison might be to the (sadly diminishing) UU Humanistic clergy. I visit the sick, I provide Humanistic resources for people in crisis, I lead Humanistic life cycle ceremonies, I teach (about Humanism and the historical and contemporary Jewish experience), and I coordinate speakers and cultural programs. I also serve as a kind of liaison to the greater Humanistic community.

In addition to my professional position, I’m also on the executive committee of our North American body, the Society for Humanistic Judaism, and active in the American Humanist Association. I am president and co-founder of the local AHA chapter, Humanists of Southeast Michigan.

Tell me about a specific project or projects your organization is working on.

Because this is a thriving congregation of Secular Humanists, there are always a dozen or more things happening here. One of my biggest projects has been to open our doors to the larger non-theistic community. We are fortunate to have a building and there are simply not very many Humanistic spaces like ours in the world. We now host the local Sunday Assembly, frequent programs of the Center for Inquiry and the Humanists of Southeast Michigan, just to name a few.

The Humanists of Southeast Michigan is a very new group that has really taken off. We have thirty members and we have just decided that our biggest project going forward is to support women’s reproductive rights. We have a huge problem in our state with Catholic hospitals taking over formerly secular ones and imposing their religious restrictions, mainly on women. And, of course, we want to do everything we can to support Planned Parenthood during their current crisis.

Where would you like to see organized atheism go in the next 10 to 20 years?
What do you think are the main challenges facing organized atheism now?

I’m not really sure how I feel about “movement atheism.” On one hand, I think it’s fantastic to see all of us getting together at a Reason Rally and in other venues. But then I read or listen to some public atheists and I’m appalled at the ways that they think. Something that really surprised me when I “came out” as an atheist is the misogyny and backward thinking about race. On the other hand, I do believe that the vast majority of us agree on probably 95% of the really important issues even if we have different “styles.” In that sense I support the notion of “movement atheism.”

Jeffrey Falick at rally
I think one of our greatest challenges is to provide enough variety so that we have something to offer non-theists with different needs. Those who love the good things that religion had to offer – community, celebration, ties to heritage – can have their Sunday Assemblies, UU Humanistic fellowships, Ethical Culture groups and Secular Humanistic synagogues. Those seeking other forms of organized community – political activism, recovery from religion, atheist advocacy – need to be able to find something for themselves, too. And we all need to cooperate. In the largest sense we are one community even if we have many subdivisions.

I am convinced that atheism will one day become the default position in our society. I know that this will not happen in ten to twenty years, but we are moving slowly in that direction. The atheist organizers of today are pioneers. The more outlets that we create for living outside of a theistic framework, the better we will be prepared to welcome the atheists of the future!

Do you consider yourself a “new atheist”? Why or why not?

I’m just a regular atheist with a commitment to a life of reason and compassion. My preferred “label” is Secular Humanist (I capitalize these words to draw attention to their legitimacy parallel to the ways that religions capitalize their titles).

I tend to think of the “new atheists” as a group of writers more than anything else. I agree with some of what they write and I disagree with some of it too. It depends on the writer and the topic! I think the most gratifying part of the “new atheist” movement (if it is one) is the visibility that it provided. It’s terribly important for a put-upon group to have people brave enough to point the way to others seeking to leave their closets. When I was a conventional rabbi I lived in an “atheist” closet. For professional and personal reasons I was frightened to admit to myself that I was, indeed, an atheist. Some of their books helped to nudge me out.

Any questions you wish I’d asked, or anything else you’d like to add?

One of the things that I love about being out as an atheist and conducting my life as a Secular Humanistic is that my beliefs are entirely consistent with my behavior. This plays out in really interesting ways in my professional life, too.

Just this past week I met with a member of my community who is coming out as a bisexual. He and his wife are trying to negotiate how to have an ethical open relationship.

After we talked, I reflected on how it would have gone if I were still a conventional rabbi, committed to traditional values. I could not possibly have helped him to think through the ethical dimensions of this change in his relationship because I would have been antagonistic to the very idea.

But today, as a Secular Humanist, tradition has no claim on my values. This is liberating. It enabled me to openly embrace this couple’s journey, to lend a willing ear and to refer him to some resources to explore the ethical way to take that journey. Even the most progressive of conventional theistic rabbis can’t do this. They remain loyal to a tradition that idealizes monogamy.

This is an incredible gift of Secular Humanism and one that I would never have experienced had I not embraced my atheism.

Comforting Thoughts book cover oblong 100 JPG
Coming Out Atheist
Bending
why are you atheists so angry
Greta Christina is author of four books: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Jeffrey L. Falick
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More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Bakari Chavanu

In June, I wrote a piece for AlterNet, titled 8 Awesome Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. The gist: When a media outlet decides that atheism is important, they all too often turn to Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. Then, when Dawkins or Harris puts their foot in their mouth about race or gender — again — the reporter cries out, “Atheism needs better leadership! Why doesn’t atheism have better leaders?” Atheism does have better leaders — so I profiled eight of them, to bring just a small fragment of the range and variety of atheist leadership to more people’s attention.

At the end of that piece, I wrote, “And these eight are the tip of the iceberg… I could write a new profile of a different atheist leader every week, and still be at it ten years from now.”

So I decided: Why not do that?

I don’t know if I’ll do it for ten years. But for at least a while, once a week I’ll be profiling and interviewing a different leader in organized atheism.

This week’s profile: Bakari Chavanu.

GC: Tell me briefly what your organization does and what you do for them. (If you’re in a leadership position with more than one atheist organization, feel free to tell me about more than one.)

Bakari Chavanu 200
BC: The purpose of the Black Humanists and Non-Believers of Sacramento is to specifically outreach to people of African descent who are either atheists or are thinking in that direction. Since we formed the group back in October of 2015 2014, we have mainly hosted tables at predominantly African American events in Sacramento, such as the Martin Luther King Jr. Expo, the Black Book Faire, and Juneteenth, as well as the annual Freethought Day.

We think it’s important to engage people at these events about atheism, theism, and humanism. Using Meetup.com, we also plan and hold social activities, including a monthly breakfast and book club. By having a presence on Meetup, several African Americans have joined our group, specifically because it is a Black atheist and humanist group which they felt more comfortable joining. [Note from GC: The group also has a Facebook page.]

Mashariki [co-organizer of Black Humanists and Non-Believers of Sacramento] and I are also board members of the Reason Center, which is a non-profit community center of atheist affiliated groups. Though we’re a Black atheist group, we also try to network with other atheist groups in the area and beyond.

Tell me about a specific project or projects your organization is working on.

In the coming months we plan to organize workshops around related issues, and I personally would like to see us hold formal debates with representatives of the Black theist community. There simply has not been enough public debates about religion in Black communities, though there certainly lots of discussions about religious and theistic issues.

Where would you like to see organized atheism go in the next 10 to 20 years?

I would like see a lot more outreach to young people because I think it’s critical that they hear both sides of the theist-atheist debate. I also would like to connect with atheists who support social and economic justice, because for me atheism is about what you don’t believe in, but humanism is what you do believe in. I would like to see humanism as a political ideology for shaping political, social, and economic policies.

What do you think are the main challenges facing organized atheism now?

Bakari Chavanu co-hosting table at Martin Luther King Jr Expo in Sacramento
The challenge I think is being able to reach out and engage people about the problems and even dangers of religious beliefs. Unfortunately, too many public and political institutions and social relationships in the US and around the world are still largely shaped by religious beliefs, practices, and discrimination. Though more and more young people are leaving the church, there are still large numbers of people who don’t get the opportunity to engage critically about what they are told to believe. Our role as atheist activists is to humbly reach out to those folks.

Do you consider yourself a “new atheist”? Why or why not?

No I don’t think I’m a “new atheist,” at least not in terms of how the media as seemed to frame term. Typically “new atheist” refers to the so-called four horsemen: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Bennet. Of course I am not one of them, though I read and respect their work and their contributions to helping build and spread the atheist movement.

I consider myself a humanist, and an advocate of modern socialism, because I think these ideologies could make the world better, by transforming humanity out of the destructive aspirations of economic competition, greed, and exploitation of resources — motivated by obscene wealth accumulation. My view of humanism is that it must encompass a struggle against racism and White supremacy, sexism, and the environmental destruction of the planet. The term “new atheist” doesn’t tie together atheism with issues of social and economic justice, so I can’t say the term applies to me.

Comforting Thoughts book cover oblong 100 JPG
Coming Out Atheist
Bending
why are you atheists so angry
Greta Christina is author of four books: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Bakari Chavanu

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Jenn Ramirez

In June, I wrote a piece for AlterNet, titled 8 Awesome Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. The gist: When a media outlet decides that atheism is important, they all too often turn to Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. Then, when Dawkins or Harris puts their foot in their mouth about race or gender — again — the reporter cries out, “Atheism needs better leadership! Why doesn’t atheism have better leaders?” Atheism does have better leaders — so I profiled eight of them, to bring just a small fragment of the range and variety of atheist leadership to more people’s attention.

At the end of that piece, I wrote, “And these eight are the tip of the iceberg… I could write a new profile of a different atheist leader every week, and still be at it ten years from now.”

So I decided: Why not do that?

I don’t know if I’ll do it for ten years. But for at least a while, once a week I’ll be profiling and interviewing a different leader in organized atheism.

This week’s profile: Jenn Ramirez.

GC: Tell me briefly what your organization does and what you do for them. (If you’re in a leadership position with more than one atheist organization, feel free to tell me about more than one.)

Jenn Ramirez with watermark 200
JR: I am an organizer for the Riverside Atheists and Free Thinkers, also known as RAFT. We are a grassroots organization dedicated to building community for non-believers in the Inland Empire of Southern California. We hold various events such as dinners, pub nights, chess nights, family picnics, charity events, as well as our very popular monthly speaker series. Additionally, we are staunch advocates for the separation of church and state, and you will often find us engaging in various outreach activities and demonstrating when necessary.

Tell me about a specific project or projects your organization is working on.

RAFT is currently working on our Charity Beyond Belief 2015: Winter Survival Packs for the Homeless campaign. From October to December, members of RAFT (or anyone) can come to any meetup and either provide a monetary donation or a specific item from a list provided. We will then come together in November and build these special packs containing blankets, sweaters, lotion, chapstick and other necessities to survive the winter. In December, we will go out as a group to one of our local parks and distribute them. As of right now, we already have one member who is committed to donating over a dozen blankets and sweaters for this cause and have already received some amazing donations. This event was very successful last year and I anticipate that RAFT will be able to contribute more this year.

Where would you like to see organized atheism go in the next 10 to 20 years?

I hope we continue to build more organizations and communities that advocate for non-believers and the separation of church and state. I also hope we can continue to work together to break down the misconceptions about non-believers. But one of the biggest things I’d like to see is more diversity in the movement. It’s important to see more women, the LGBTQIA community, and people of color stepping up in leadership roles. I think that is going to have a big impact in our movement overall.

What do you think are the main challenges facing organized atheism now?

I think like any group that gets organized, one of our biggest problems is infighting. We see it a lot in the atheist community and we have to remember that we have goals in mind. And we can’t reach these goals if we can’t work together. For smaller groups like mine, money is definitely an issue. So many organizers pay for the groups out of pocket to make the events successful. It would be nice to see that change one day.

Do you consider yourself a “new atheist”? Why or why not?

I consider myself many things and I imagine I fall along the line of a “new atheist” because I am so outspoken. I am a feminist atheist focused on building community for non-believers while addressing social justice issues.

Any questions you wish I’d asked, or anything else you’d like to add?

RAFT group at restaurant
I’d like to reach out to anyone who is thinking of joining a local atheist group and say, DO IT. Get out there, meet other like minded individuals, be prepared to be challenged, but most of all know how important community really is. So many of us have lost so much due to our non-belief and we need a safe place to be ourselves. Get active, be supportive, and know that it can be absolutely worth it. Here are a few links to our group:

Our meetup: http://www.meetup.com/Riverside-Atheists-and-FreeThinkers/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RiversideAtheistsAndFreeThinkers/
Website: http://riversideatheists.com/#/

I also want to give a big shout out to my RAFT crew! I am so grateful to each and every one of you for all of your hard work, dedication and support. Thank you!

Comforting Thoughts book cover oblong 100 JPG
Coming Out Atheist
Bending
why are you atheists so angry
Greta Christina is author of four books: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Jenn Ramirez

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Amy Davis Roth

In June, I wrote a piece for AlterNet, titled 8 Awesome Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. The gist: When a media outlet decides that atheism is important, they all too often turn to Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. Then, when Dawkins or Harris puts their foot in their mouth about race or gender — again — the reporter cries out, “Atheism needs better leadership! Why doesn’t atheism have better leaders?” Atheism does have better leaders — so I profiled eight of them, to bring just a small fragment of the range and variety of atheist leadership to more people’s attention.

At the end of that piece, I wrote, “And these eight are the tip of the iceberg… I could write a new profile of a different atheist leader every week, and still be at it ten years from now.”

So I decided: Why not do that?

I don’t know if I’ll do it for ten years. But for at least a while, once a week I’ll be profiling and interviewing a different leader in organized atheism.

This week’s profile: Amy Davis Roth.

GC: Tell me briefly what your organization does and what you do for them. (If you’re in a leadership position with more than one atheist organization, feel free to tell me about more than one.)

Amy Davis Roth
ADR: I am the founder and organizing leader of the Los Angeles Women’s Atheist and Agnostic Group. LAWAAG for short. http://lawaag.com LAWAAG is a group that was created to foster friendship and support amongst women who are either atheist or agnostic or in the process of leaving religion. It was created during a time when atheist women online were the main target of online harassment (prior to the gamergate fiasco) and my group was intended, and still is, a safe space for people who primarily identify as women who don’t have a church to go to. I feel that often churches provide really fabulous social and support groups for women but that the atheist community doesn’t much offer that same sort of space specifically for women to find friendship when they feel isolated. I wanted to create something like that for the women in my area. There are a lot of atheist groups in Los Angeles but there was nothing out there specifically for fostering friendship where women’s voices and specific concerns could be focused upon. The group sometimes has speakers come and give talks and when we do we open the group up to all genders and generally have the event at CFI Los Angeles or a public library, but recently we have shifted to doing more directly empowering and culturally educational events that allows us to get together and spend more time getting to know one another, learn a thing or two about the women who visit, and have food and build friendships. For example, we recently started a book club where we read books primarily written by women and then we have an afternoon potluck at my art studio to share our feelings on the literature. We have food and we listen to music and we talk and laugh. Last month we read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Nora Neale Hurston and next up is Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Allison Bechdel. We are also starting Movie Nights in the Fall that will be similar to the book club. You can find these meetups and the others we plan by either joining our meetup page: http://www.meetup.com/LAWAAG/ or our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/lawaag/ I don’t want LAWAAG to be just another atheist group where people complain about religion. I want to move past that and pay attention to things that matter to actual people going forward, when atheism is no longer a novelty, like social support, friendship, art and education.

I am also a longtime contributor to the blog Skepchick (skepchick.org), a blog about skepticism, feminism and atheism that is primarily focused on women’s issues. I am also the managing editor of Mad Art Lab (madartab.com), a blog on the Skepchick network that is about the intersection of art, science, skepticism and geek culture.

In recent years Skepchick has become more focused on issues surrounding feminism for good reason, but this month I am starting a series called Skepticism 101. It will be a series of posts that brings the site back to its roots of being a site that explains skepticism and is skeptical of claims made about and directed at women. My series will be a very basic overview of the theory of skepticism and critical thinking meant to help new people who aren’t necessarily familiar with the basic concepts. As we get older and become more educated I think we forget that there are younger versions of us out there in the world that could use a little help understanding concepts that to us are obvious, but could really help someone who doesn’t yet understand.

Tell me about a specific project or projects your organization is working on.

Answered above.

Where would you like to see organized atheism go in the next 10 to 20 years?

I would hope that organized atheism becomes more inclusive of people of color, women and other oppressed groups. Right now the culture of atheism puts forward a very white and very cis male face. Atheism often seems to be a white man’s game of arguing until he feels he is right without regard to the ramifications that brings or who he crushes below him. A lot of us saw this play out with the “Elevatorgate” controversy. I want atheism to be something that is not shocking and not needing be constantly argued so that we can move past that and build community, social structure and government that is based on rationality and compassion with science-based information at its core instead of the current mythologies. I want women and those whose voices are often unfairly silenced to matter in this scenario and to be respected equally.

What do you think are the main challenges facing organized atheism now?

I think atheism looks like an uncaring male-centric game right now. Not only do religious people consider it an affront to all they hold sacred but some of us who are living secular lifestyles do not want to align themselves with many of the current leaders, like Dawkins and Sam Harris. I know a lot of women who, in the past few years, walked away from organized atheism because they found it literally terrifying online, exclusionary at events and basically rotten from the core. In my eyes, atheism as a political movement has a huge PR problem and needs to be more inclusive and representative of society as a whole. In order to be that way, it needs to fix its women and bigotry problems first.

Do you consider yourself a “new atheist”? Why or why not?

I am not a new atheist if that means in any way that I want to fight with people online or debate religion through anger or while toting or quoting The God Delusion. I was raised without religion and I don’t hold any anger towards the religious people around me. I think religion is based only on myth and certainly does harm, but I do not fault people who search out the support and safety it brings for many. There are more reasons that religions are popular in our society than simply what is taught in the pages of holy books. I obviously don’t condone any racist, violent or misogynistic aspects of religion but I think education is the way to end the hold of this mythology on our culture and not by militant anger.

Any questions you wish I’d asked, or anything else you’d like to add?

This is what an atheist looks like Surly Amy necklace
I am an artist who makes a living through my art and that is what enables me to continue doing all the work I do for free like writing for the blogs and running my women’s atheist group. If you can find even a dollar a month to support my Patreon, that is an ongoing art project inspired by science and peer reviewed by actual scientists, I would forever be grateful. Here is the link to that: https://www.patreon.com/SurlyAmy I am also the creator of Surly-Ramics. You can find out more about my handmade jewelry that is inspired by science and nature by going here: http://surlyramics.com

Image of Surly Amy necklace published with permission from the artist.

Comforting Thoughts book cover oblong 100 JPG
Coming Out Atheist
Bending
why are you atheists so angry
Greta Christina is author of four books: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Amy Davis Roth

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Annie Laurie Gaylor

In June, I wrote a piece for AlterNet, titled 8 Awesome Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. The gist: When a media outlet decides that atheism is important, they all too often turn to Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. Then, when Dawkins or Harris puts their foot in their mouth about race or gender — again — the reporter cries out, “Atheism needs better leadership! Why doesn’t atheism have better leaders?” Atheism does have better leaders — so I profiled eight of them, to bring just a small fragment of the range and variety of atheist leadership to more people’s attention.

At the end of that piece, I wrote, “And these eight are the tip of the iceberg… I could write a new profile of a different atheist leader every week, and still be at it ten years from now.”

So I decided: Why not do that?

I don’t know if I’ll do it for ten years. But for at least a while, once a week I’ll be profiling and interviewing a different leader in organized atheism.

This week’s profile: Annie Laurie Gaylor.

GC: Tell me briefly what your organization does and what you do for them. (If you’re in a leadership position with more than one atheist organization, feel free to tell me about more than one.)

annie laurie gaylor 01
ALG: My mother Anne Nicol Gaylor and I cofounded the Freedom From Religion Foundation back in 1976, when she was a feminist volunteer and I was a college student. My mother had been an early abortion rights activist. Our eyes were opened to the dangers of dogma in government (with me trailing around after my mother when I was in junior high school and high school). We clearly saw the only organized opposition to legalizing abortion is exclusively religious. She wrote about this in an essay, “Freedom From Religion”:

“In working for women’s rights I fought in a battle that would never end, because the root cause of the denial of those rights was religion and its control over government. Unless religion is kept in its place, all personal rights will be in jeopardy. This is the battle that needs to be fought.”

Anne was asked to take FFRF national in 1978, and that’s when it was incorporated. FFRF has two purposes: to educate the public about nontheism, and to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state. We started with just two of us and have grown to over 23,000 members in North America, so FFRF is the largest freethought (atheist, agnostic) membership group in the United States. We wanted to start a group that Thomas Paine could have joined, so we have no “litmus test” that a member must call themselves atheist per se. We like to joke that we don’t care what our members may call themselves — atheists, agnostics, skeptics, secularists, humanists, rationalists, etc. — but we all disbelieve in the same gods. About 75% of our members typically identify as atheist and the rest prefer appellations such as agnostic or freethinker.

FFRF has taken over 70 lawsuits, winning many important victories for state/church separation. Our goal is to end violations through education and persuasion, but when that doesn’t work, we litigate if the circumstances are promising. We now have a legal team of five staff attorneys, plus interns and two legal fellows, and a staff of about 13-14 right now. FFRF publishes a newspaper, Freethought Today, 10 times a year, has an annual convention, a weekly radio show, runs billboard, TV and bus sign campaigns, our “out of the closet campaign,” and also promotes the use of reason in public policy. We point out that the U.S. Constitution is a godless document whose only references to religion are exclusionary, such as that there shall be no religious test for public office.

I was a volunteer for many years associated with FFRF. I joined the staff in 1985 as editor of Freethought Today. In 2004, Dan Barker and I (we are married) became co-presidents, serving as FFRF’s executive directors.

Tell me about a specific project or projects your organization is working on.

FFRF just became the sole member of a new secular charity, Nonbelief Relief, to distribute funds from atheists and agnostics under the freethought banner, but also, we hope to help nonbelievers endangered by blasphemy and theocratic laws.

We are running TV and newspaper ads during the pope’s visit to call attention to the dangers of inviting a religious leader to address a joint session of Congress.

With the Dawkins Foundation, we’re about to issue an ‘atheist’ alternative badge for Boy Scouts!

Our staff attorneys responded last year to thousands of requests to help end state/church violations, writing over 1,000 formal letters (and countless follow-ups) and ending over 250 violations last year alone.

We just won a federal lawsuit in Pennsylvania to remove a ten commandments marker from a junior high school! We just filed a lawsuit with the ACLU and Americans United in Florida seeking to ensure that a nonreligous citizen can give an invocation to a city council. We are planning to refile some litigation against religious privileging by the IRS and have about 8 other ongoing lawsuits at the moment.

We have just completed a major building expansion, adding an addition and quadrupling our office space in downtown Madison, Wis., including adding an auditorium for local events, expanding our library and building a radio and TV studio. In 2016, adding a regular TV show will be our focus.

Where would you like to see organized atheism go in the next 10 to 20 years?

annie laurie gaylor 02
In terms of FFRF’s goals, we would like to see FFRF double its membership in the next 5 years (but 10 would be acceptable) so that we can speak with a more powerful voice to represent the views of nontheists.

I would like to see public officials catch up with the changing demographics in our country.
I would like to see candidates courting the secular vote, and speaking up, as candidate JFK did, for “an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.”
I would like to see public officials identify regularly [as] atheists and agnostics, and see those poll numbers go down drastically that show Americans would be least likely to vote for an atheist president or vice president, and most distrust nonbelievers.
I would like to see changes to civil rights acts to extend protections to atheists and other non theists around the country. The city of Madison, Wis., became the first city to pass such legislation, thanks to Ald. Anita Weier, who will be receiving a Freethought Heroine award at our upcoming national convention.
I would like to see campaigns to balance the so-called “Good News” after-school clubs in our public schools.
I would like to secure reproductive and LGBTQ rights from the Religious Right campaigns seeking to deny civil rights.
I would like to see pro-Establishment Clause justices added to the Supreme Court. 🙂

What do you think are the main challenges facing organized atheism now?

The same as always: the myth that you cannot be moral unless you believe in a god (the root of much discrimination against atheists and nonbelievers), and the myth that the U.S. is a ‘Christian nation founded on God.’ Debunking these myths is the main challenge in the United States. Worldwide, it is the war against secularism — the imposition of religion by government (Islamic is the current threat) and by terrorists, of course.

Anti-intellectualism in the United States is another challenge — with believers positively bragging that they don’t want or need evidence for what they believe.

And of course, as a feminist atheist, the reproductive war against women is one of our biggest challenges. FFRF began right after Roe v. Wade, and we’ve lost so much ground since then.

I like to say that it’s the best of times to be a freethinker or atheist in the United States — there have never been more of us, particularly young people. But it’s the worst of times to be in the courts, because we have a 5-4 bloc largely against us right now on the Supreme Court, and that has a chilling effect. But we are holding firm on the law against religious indoctrination in the public schools.

Do you consider yourself a “new atheist”? Why or why not?

I was born an atheist, identified as an agnostic as a preteen, and have called myself an atheist since high school. So I guess that doesn’t make me a “new” atheist. I was very fortunate to grow up in a freethought home, with parents who despised the idea of indoctrinating young minds in the horrors of religion, and who let us decide for ourselves when we were old enough to understand religious claims. I like to say I was a secular Pippa – god wasn’t in his heaven and all was right with my world.

“New” or “old” atheists — I’m for them both!

Any questions you wish I’d asked, or anything else you’d like to add?

Maybe some highlights?

I’m very proud, still, of stopping a 122-year abuse of commencement prayer at a top Ten university as a college sophomore in the 1970s. That was fun, and one of the easiest victories I ever had!
Being part of the challenge overturning Good Friday as a state holiday was very satisfying — I went to the library on the afternoon of Good Friday for the first time after FFRF won that federal lawsuit. It’s also been satisfying to be a plaintiff in many FFRF cases as well as overseeing them.
Getting Bill O’Reilly to admit that there’s no god in the Constitution (I was on his show after Gore picked Lieberman and this came up in the debate and the next day he admitted, basically, that I was right.)
Meeting Dan on the Oprah Winfrey talk show (AM Chicago back then) – we met right before the show (my mother and I had suggested him as a guest to Oprah, since he had a cool story of leaving the ministry and evangelism).
Helping to recall Judge Archie Simonson in 1977 for calling rape a “normal reaction” here in Dane Co. My mother made the formal call for his recall and wrote the formal petition. I called the first picket. It became an enormous community action, with the local feminist bookstore serving as the hub. He was recalled (he was highly religious) and a woman judge replaced him. Moria Krueger, that judge, now retired, actually presided at Dan’s and my wedding (wearing purple shoes under her robes).
Editing the first anthology of women freethinkers, and reclaiming their contributions to feminism and freethought.

Comforting Thoughts book cover oblong 100 JPG
Coming Out Atheist
Bending
why are you atheists so angry
Greta Christina is author of four books: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Annie Laurie Gaylor

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: James Croft

In June, I wrote a piece for AlterNet, titled 8 Awesome Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. The gist: When a media outlet decides that atheism is important, they all too often turn to Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. Then, when Dawkins or Harris puts their foot in their mouth about race or gender — again — the reporter cries out, “Atheism needs better leadership! Why doesn’t atheism have better leaders?” Atheism does have better leaders — so I profiled eight of them, to bring just a small fragment of the range and variety of atheist leadership to more people’s attention.

At the end of that piece, I wrote, “And these eight are the tip of the iceberg… I could write a new profile of a different atheist leader every week, and still be at it ten years from now.”

So I decided: Why not do that?

I don’t know if I’ll do it for ten years. But for at least a while, once a week I’ll be profiling and interviewing a different leader in organized atheism.

This week’s profile: James Croft.

GC: Tell me briefly what your organization does and what you do for them. (If you’re in a leadership position with more than one atheist organization, feel free to tell me about more than one.)

James Croft
JC: Assuming all the immigration papers come through (still waiting on my work visa) I will soon be the Outreach Director for the Ethical Society of St. Louis (ethicalstl.org), a large Humanist congregation in St. Louis. This means I will be working as a Leader at the Society alongside Kate Lovelady, our current Leader, and will have particular responsibility for promoting the work of the Society and encouraging people to check us out. “Leader” is our term for the professionals who play a role equivalent to clergy: we speak on Sundays, see to the pastoral needs of our members, and represent the Society in the wider world. The Ethical Society of St. Louis is a member of the American Ethical Union (aeu.org), which is a network of Humanist congregations in the USA. We have around 400 members, and are looking to grow further – hence the desire to bring on a new Outreach Director. The Society provides a welcoming home for Humanists in the St. Louis area who want a sense of community, togetherness, and fellowship in life without traditional religion. We seek to inspire ethical living in our members and in society – to this end we provide educational talks and workshops, engage in service work, and are active in many social justice causes.

Tell me about a specific project or projects your organization is working on.

Right now we have projects which affect mainly our own members, and ones which seek to affect the wider world. As far as our members are concerned, we’ve been reevaluating how we structure our Sunday meetings, working to ensure that we have strong annual and monthly themes which guide people through investigation of the big questions we like to encourage people to think about. This coming year our annual theme is Our Core Values, and we intend to use each month to explore a value central to the Ethical Society and to the Ethical Humanist perspective on the world. In September, for instance, we will have a month of presentations on the topic “Every Person is Important and Unique”, a central value of our community. We’ve also been working to redesign our festivals – special occasions which mark important moments of the year. We think festivals like these are important to give a sense of the progression of life, and to help people make meaning of their transition through the year, but we think we could create some new rituals which would be more powerful than the ones we currently use. We want to make all our programming intentional, and not do anything just because it’s always been done that way. As an institution with a long history (130 years!) we sometimes need to refresh our thinking.

Over the past year we’ve been engaged in two major outward-facing projects. We have been part of a large environmental coalition helping promote a Clean Energy Plan in Missouri, and have worked with numerous organizations on issues of racial justice in the aftermath of the killing of Mike Brown. Our commitment to the environment is one of our Core Values, and is central to our understanding of the Humanist worldview. Without a healthy environment we cannot have healthy people, and safeguarding this precious planet for the coming generations is an urgent priority. Our commitment to the dignity of all people is our central value – we exist to uphold human dignity above all – and the manifest injustices in our criminal “justice” system must be addressed. We have been present on the streets in protest, we’ve held vigils outside our building in solidarity, and we’ve walked the halls of government as a lobbying body. We have addressed racial justice in numerous events and presentations throughout the year. We also allow our building to be used by local activists as a hangout and a place to discuss their experience and plan more actions. This is one of the most important things we’re doing right now.

Where would you like to see organized atheism go in the next 10 to 20 years?

Personally, I define myself primarily as a Humanist. I am absolutely an atheist, and I support atheist visibility efforts and all attempts to remove the stigma of atheism from American society – atheists should be proud members of society and should be able to fully participate in every sphere of life without facing discrimination. At the same time, I would like organized atheism to embrace a more explicit Humanism. I think we have the opportunity to create a values-based nonreligious movement with the power to rival the religious right, and I’d like movement atheists to be a big part of that. Over the next 20 years, I think we’ll see a surge of younger people who are more interested in issues of social justice, environmentalism, economic justice, service etc. who happen to be atheists, but for whom their atheism isn’t a huge driver of their identity. The challenge for established organizations which have built their power base on very ardent atheists (like me!) is to welcome this new energy and facilitate a shift in focus. Once we are speaking passionately on a wide range of issues from an atheist perspective, I think we’ll find people will have a lot more sympathy for our current pet causes. We should be the ones on the cutting edge of social justice, encouraging people to look beyond the moral horizon.

Ethical Society of St Louis Black Lives Matter rally 300
My dream Humanist movement would be championing death with dignity; criminal justice reform (an end to for-profit prisons, de-militarization of the police, civilian oversight as standard, restorative justice as the norm, no more punitive prison sentences); full federal equality for LGBTQ people; decriminalization of sex work and drugs; a proper welfare state which guarantees every citizen healthcare and a living wage; decent treatment for migrants, including an amnesty and total reform of the system; reinforcement of international governmental organizations; massive global redistribution of resources; a genuine attempt to control climate change; and a shift in social attitudes so that cultural oppression of all marginalized peoples is lessened – for a start ;).

What do you think are the main challenges facing organized atheism now?

I think the main challenge is a question of narrative: what story do we, as an organized movement, want to tell about ourselves? Who do we want to be seen to be by the public? I think tussles over the narrative of organized atheism – is it just about atheism? Is skepticism just about the paranormal, or does it include skepticism of social structures and forces? Is it OK to court extreme conservatives whose views are objectionable on so many issues if we think they might be nice to atheists? – get in the way of crafting a really powerful movement. There’s no reason why every atheist organization needs to present the same narrative, but each has to have a confident narrative, and right now our more Humanist organizations are struggling a bit to present themselves in a way which captures the attention of a new generation of activists. I think the big danger for explicitly atheist and Humanist organizations is that people will increasingly think of themselves as “simply not religious”, and will bypass organized atheism entirely. We already see that happening, I think. As religion wanes in power the perceived need for organized atheism declines. Our groups need to demonstrate their relevance to the big questions of the day.

Do you consider yourself a “new atheist”? Why or why not?

Yes and No. When the Four Horsemen released their books, I was in a different stage of my life and I found them terribly exciting. “At last!”, I thought, “Someone is telling the truth about the dangers posed by religious faith!” Since then, though, most of those figures have shown themselves to be rather poor champions for a modern movement, and my concerns and priorities have shifted. I’ve realized the importance of community in people’s lives (and in my own); I’ve reassessed the extent to which religion as a phenomenon is really responsible for a lot of social problems which, I now think, have other primary causes; I’ve become much more aware of how oppressive some of the New Atheist discourse can be toward religious minorities; I strongly object to the dehumanization of religious people as part of a critique of oppressive religious practices and beliefs, and I saw a lot of that in self-described New Atheist circles. So the part of New Atheism which I still identify with is the part which says “Religion is an appropriate target of scrutiny and critique. Let’s burst the bubble of privilege around religion and recognize that it can be and has been extraordinarily harmful, and let’s work against those harms.” The part I’ve moved away from is the part which says “Religion poisons everything! Religion is the root of most of the problems in the world!” It’s hard to maintain that perspective when you see tens of clergy storming corrupt police departments while being pelted with rubber bullets and teargas, being arrested and dragged through the streets, because their faith gives them the courage to fight injustice. religion doesn’t poison everything.

Any questions you wish I’d asked, or anything else you’d like to add?

If you’d like to visit the Ethical Society of St. Louis, find us at ethicalstl.org. All are welcome. If you’d like to read my writing, I blog at the dreaded Patheos network: find me at templeofthefuture.net. I’m open to requests to speak, debate, or give workshops – contact me through my website or the SSA, AHA, or CfI Speakers Bureaus.

Thanks Greta – that was fun!

Comforting Thoughts book cover oblong 100 JPG
Coming Out Atheist
Bending
why are you atheists so angry
Greta Christina is author of four books: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: James Croft

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: James Croft

In June, I wrote a piece for AlterNet, titled 8 Awesome Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. The gist: When a media outlet decides that atheism is important, they all too often turn to Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. Then, when Dawkins or Harris puts their foot in their mouth about race or gender — again — the reporter cries out, “Atheism needs better leadership! Why doesn’t atheism have better leaders?” Atheism does have better leaders — so I profiled eight of them, to bring just a small fragment of the range and variety of atheist leadership to more people’s attention.

At the end of that piece, I wrote, “And these eight are the tip of the iceberg… I could write a new profile of a different atheist leader every week, and still be at it ten years from now.”

So I decided: Why not do that?

I don’t know if I’ll do it for ten years. But for at least a while, once a week I’ll be profiling and interviewing a different leader in organized atheism.

This week’s profile: James Croft.

GC: Tell me briefly what your organization does and what you do for them. (If you’re in a leadership position with more than one atheist organization, feel free to tell me about more than one.)

James Croft
JC: Assuming all the immigration papers come through (still waiting on my work visa) I will soon be the Outreach Director for the Ethical Society of St. Louis (ethicalstl.org), a large Humanist congregation in St. Louis. This means I will be working as a Leader at the Society alongside Kate Lovelady, our current Leader, and will have particular responsibility for promoting the work of the Society and encouraging people to check us out. “Leader” is our term for the professionals who play a role equivalent to clergy: we speak on Sundays, see to the pastoral needs of our members, and represent the Society in the wider world. The Ethical Society of St. Louis is a member of the American Ethical Union (aeu.org), which is a network of Humanist congregations in the USA. We have around 400 members, and are looking to grow further – hence the desire to bring on a new Outreach Director. The Society provides a welcoming home for Humanists in the St. Louis area who want a sense of community, togetherness, and fellowship in life without traditional religion. We seek to inspire ethical living in our members and in society – to this end we provide educational talks and workshops, engage in service work, and are active in many social justice causes.

Tell me about a specific project or projects your organization is working on.

Right now we have projects which affect mainly our own members, and ones which seek to affect the wider world. As far as our members are concerned, we’ve been reevaluating how we structure our Sunday meetings, working to ensure that we have strong annual and monthly themes which guide people through investigation of the big questions we like to encourage people to think about. This coming year our annual theme is Our Core Values, and we intend to use each month to explore a value central to the Ethical Society and to the Ethical Humanist perspective on the world. In September, for instance, we will have a month of presentations on the topic “Every Person is Important and Unique”, a central value of our community. We’ve also been working to redesign our festivals – special occasions which mark important moments of the year. We think festivals like these are important to give a sense of the progression of life, and to help people make meaning of their transition through the year, but we think we could create some new rituals which would be more powerful than the ones we currently use. We want to make all our programming intentional, and not do anything just because it’s always been done that way. As an institution with a long history (130 years!) we sometimes need to refresh our thinking.

Over the past year we’ve been engaged in two major outward-facing projects. We have been part of a large environmental coalition helping promote a Clean Energy Plan in Missouri, and have worked with numerous organizations on issues of racial justice in the aftermath of the killing of Mike Brown. Our commitment to the environment is one of our Core Values, and is central to our understanding of the Humanist worldview. Without a healthy environment we cannot have healthy people, and safeguarding this precious planet for the coming generations is an urgent priority. Our commitment to the dignity of all people is our central value – we exist to uphold human dignity above all – and the manifest injustices in our criminal “justice” system must be addressed. We have been present on the streets in protest, we’ve held vigils outside our building in solidarity, and we’ve walked the halls of government as a lobbying body. We have addressed racial justice in numerous events and presentations throughout the year. We also allow our building to be used by local activists as a hangout and a place to discuss their experience and plan more actions. This is one of the most important things we’re doing right now.

Where would you like to see organized atheism go in the next 10 to 20 years?

Personally, I define myself primarily as a Humanist. I am absolutely an atheist, and I support atheist visibility efforts and all attempts to remove the stigma of atheism from American society – atheists should be proud members of society and should be able to fully participate in every sphere of life without facing discrimination. At the same time, I would like organized atheism to embrace a more explicit Humanism. I think we have the opportunity to create a values-based nonreligious movement with the power to rival the religious right, and I’d like movement atheists to be a big part of that. Over the next 20 years, I think we’ll see a surge of younger people who are more interested in issues of social justice, environmentalism, economic justice, service etc. who happen to be atheists, but for whom their atheism isn’t a huge driver of their identity. The challenge for established organizations which have built their power base on very ardent atheists (like me!) is to welcome this new energy and facilitate a shift in focus. Once we are speaking passionately on a wide range of issues from an atheist perspective, I think we’ll find people will have a lot more sympathy for our current pet causes. We should be the ones on the cutting edge of social justice, encouraging people to look beyond the moral horizon.

Ethical Society of St Louis Black Lives Matter rally 300
My dream Humanist movement would be championing death with dignity; criminal justice reform (an end to for-profit prisons, de-militarization of the police, civilian oversight as standard, restorative justice as the norm, no more punitive prison sentences); full federal equality for LGBTQ people; decriminalization of sex work and drugs; a proper welfare state which guarantees every citizen healthcare and a living wage; decent treatment for migrants, including an amnesty and total reform of the system; reinforcement of international governmental organizations; massive global redistribution of resources; a genuine attempt to control climate change; and a shift in social attitudes so that cultural oppression of all marginalized peoples is lessened – for a start ;).

What do you think are the main challenges facing organized atheism now?

I think the main challenge is a question of narrative: what story do we, as an organized movement, want to tell about ourselves? Who do we want to be seen to be by the public? I think tussles over the narrative of organized atheism – is it just about atheism? Is skepticism just about the paranormal, or does it include skepticism of social structures and forces? Is it OK to court extreme conservatives whose views are objectionable on so many issues if we think they might be nice to atheists? – get in the way of crafting a really powerful movement. There’s no reason why every atheist organization needs to present the same narrative, but each has to have a confident narrative, and right now our more Humanist organizations are struggling a bit to present themselves in a way which captures the attention of a new generation of activists. I think the big danger for explicitly atheist and Humanist organizations is that people will increasingly think of themselves as “simply not religious”, and will bypass organized atheism entirely. We already see that happening, I think. As religion wanes in power the perceived need for organized atheism declines. Our groups need to demonstrate their relevance to the big questions of the day.

Do you consider yourself a “new atheist”? Why or why not?

Yes and No. When the Four Horsemen released their books, I was in a different stage of my life and I found them terribly exciting. “At last!”, I thought, “Someone is telling the truth about the dangers posed by religious faith!” Since then, though, most of those figures have shown themselves to be rather poor champions for a modern movement, and my concerns and priorities have shifted. I’ve realized the importance of community in people’s lives (and in my own); I’ve reassessed the extent to which religion as a phenomenon is really responsible for a lot of social problems which, I now think, have other primary causes; I’ve become much more aware of how oppressive some of the New Atheist discourse can be toward religious minorities; I strongly object to the dehumanization of religious people as part of a critique of oppressive religious practices and beliefs, and I saw a lot of that in self-described New Atheist circles. So the part of New Atheism which I still identify with is the part which says “Religion is an appropriate target of scrutiny and critique. Let’s burst the bubble of privilege around religion and recognize that it can be and has been extraordinarily harmful, and let’s work against those harms.” The part I’ve moved away from is the part which says “Religion poisons everything! Religion is the root of most of the problems in the world!” It’s hard to maintain that perspective when you see tens of clergy storming corrupt police departments while being pelted with rubber bullets and teargas, being arrested and dragged through the streets, because their faith gives them the courage to fight injustice. religion doesn’t poison everything.

Any questions you wish I’d asked, or anything else you’d like to add?

If you’d like to visit the Ethical Society of St. Louis, find us at ethicalstl.org. All are welcome. If you’d like to read my writing, I blog at the dreaded Patheos network: find me at templeofthefuture.net. I’m open to requests to speak, debate, or give workshops – contact me through my website or the SSA, AHA, or CfI Speakers Bureaus.

Thanks Greta – that was fun!

Comforting Thoughts book cover oblong 100 JPG
Coming Out Atheist
Bending
why are you atheists so angry
Greta Christina is author of four books: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: James Croft

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: David Ince

In June, I wrote a piece for AlterNet, titled 8 Awesome Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. The gist: When a media outlet decides that atheism is important, they all too often turn to Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. Then, when Dawkins or Harris puts their foot in their mouth about race or gender — again — the reporter cries out, “Atheism needs better leadership! Why doesn’t atheism have better leaders?” Atheism does have better leaders — so I profiled eight of them, to bring just a small fragment of the range and variety of atheist leadership to more people’s attention.

At the end of that piece, I wrote, “And these eight are the tip of the iceberg… I could write a new profile of a different atheist leader every week, and still be at it ten years from now.”

So I decided: Why not do that?

I don’t know if I’ll do it for ten years. But for at least a while, once a week I’ll be profiling and interviewing a different leader in organized atheism.

This week’s profile: David Ince.

GC: Tell me briefly what your organization does and what you do for them. (If you’re in a leadership position with more than one atheist organization, feel free to tell me about more than one.)

David Ince 1 200
DI: I am developer and cohost of the podcast Freethinking Island, and have a personal atheist blog, No Religion Know Reason.

Both the blog and the podcast are aimed at making people in the Caribbean more aware of atheism, secularism and humanism and showing that it is possible to exist and lead a productive life without the belief in a ‘higher power’. The second aspect of these initiatives is to encourage people to question and think more critically. This begins with religious ideas but should extend to all other facets of life.

The podcast in particular is aimed at building a community. ‘Freethinking Island’ allows for listeners to hear atheist and non-believer voices from across the Caribbean. The show, which I cohost with Joy Holloway d‘Avilar, brings these voices to the fore to highlight the great work in promoting secularism that such individuals are already doing in the Caribbean and for the Caribbean. Many of them share their deconversion stories with us, and this helps other listeners that are non believers, or are doubting their religion, realize that they are not alone. Often when these listeners recognize they are part of a wider community, it encourages them to become more vocal about their atheism as well. That is how our community becomes stronger.

On ‘Freethinking Island’ we also feature prominent international atheists who have an interest in seeing critical thinking and skepticism embraced more widely all over the world. So we get to have a good mix of ‘visitors’ to the island and that has been very positive.

All in all, this growing community of atheists and secularists in the Caribbean that we have seen has led to the emergence of more activists, not only in atheism but in related areas such as LGBT rights. Other blogs and podcasts have also come to the fore recently. Among them is ‘Yardie Skeptics’ which has been developed with a focus on skepticism for the Jamaican audience.

Tell me about a specific project or projects your organization is working on.

Through the podcast we have built up a great community among the Caribbean people, through ongoing links with persons who have been formerly guests on the show. I have also had the privilege of meeting other atheist and secularists while travelling the Caribbean for work or study and they have also been happy to lend support. With the combined efforts of so many people, we now have a number of online discussion groups representing the wider Caribbean and some active groups coming to the fore in individual islands.

All this is good, but we still lack the consolidation among the activities and groups that is ideal, if we are to be an effective unified voice promoting critical thinking and opposing faith and superstition in the region. So the next step for us is to develop an umbrella group which we have called the Caribbean Secular Alliance (CSA), to play a role of linking the various activities and groups that we have going. We think that such an organisation will help to give the needed support to all the individuals and groups that are already doing great things. It’s exciting to think of what we could achieve if we could all work together. We launched the CSA during the Blackout Secular Rally in New York in 2013, but we still have to build on it to make our growing network of Caribbean secularists more effective.

Through the CSA we would like to see more education materials encouraging the scientific method and critical thinking available to children throughout the Caribbean. We also want to have greater influence in the mainstream media. Religious ideas are often put forward without a voice of opposition in the Caribbean. So we hope to do more work in getting ourselves more visible and also have hopes of hosting a conference for atheists in the Caribbean in the near future. Continue reading “More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: David Ince”

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: David Ince

Does Atheism Need Leaders — and What Does Atheist Leadership Even Mean? (Updated)

leadership motivational poster 200
(This piece has been updated: updates are noted as such.)

When we call someone an atheist leader — what does that mean?

Ever since I wrote my AlterNet piece on 8 Awesome Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris, and started my weekly series profiling leaders in organized atheism who deserve more attention, I’ve gotten pushback from atheists who resist the very idea of atheist leaders. I’ve heard from atheists who insist that they don’t have leaders, that atheism shouldn’t or doesn’t have any leaders, that nobody is going to tell them how to atheist. On Twitter and other social media, in comments on my blog, in the comments on the original AlterNet piece, I heard atheists say that “I have never recognized anyone as my leader”; that “i dont recognize them as leaders never have never will” and “in that light i will and do oppose them if needed when they advocate something i dont accept”; that atheism is “a rejection of any organization of dictated belief system”; that “The notion that atheists need leaders or spokespeople seems counterintuitive to me… It all seems so dogmatic, approaching a level of evangelical atheism”; that “We neither need nor want a Pope”; that “If you so desperately need a leader Greta, I suggest you join a religious order. Atheists don’t need leaders”; that “I’ve never needed anyone to tell what not to believe. In fact, it goes against the individuality of an atheist’s position. I don’t think atheists need leaders.”

So I thought I should take a moment to explain what, exactly, I mean by “leader.”

I’d thought this would be obvious, but perhaps it’s not: When I say “leader,” I don’t mean “person you never oppose.” I don’t mean “person who tells you what to believe.” I don’t mean “enforcer of a dictated belief system.” I don’t mean “dictator”; I don’t mean “demagogue”; I don’t mean “pope.”

I mean — well, what exactly do I mean?

To a great extent, when I talk about atheist leaders, I mean “organizers.” There are communities and organizations created to advocate for atheists’ rights, to create greater visibility for atheists and push back against the bigotry about us, to provide social and practical support for atheists. Some of these organizations exist because atheists have specific needs that aren’t being met elsewhere. (Grief Beyond Belief, for instance, exists because most other grief support is heavily laced with religion, and many atheists find this unhelpful at best and alienating at worst.) Some exist because there’s hostility and discrimination specifically aimed at atheists, and this needs to be fought. (Freedom From Religion Foundation, among many other things, does legal advocacy for atheists experiencing discrimination.) Some exist because atheists have been cut off from the social and practical support they once got from organized religion, and human beings are social animals who need social and practical support. (Local atheist communities are the classic example of this.) Some (like the Foundation Beyond Belief) exist so atheists can do philanthropic giving in a way that’s more co-ordinated and more effective. I could go on at some length: if you want an idea of the wide variety of work that atheist organizations and communities do, check out this resource guide, reprinted from my book Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why.

Filipino Freethinkers celebrating RH Law being declared constitutional
These organizations and communities do not just happen by themselves. They do not spontaneously generate themselves into existence, and their work isn’t driven by some sort of perpetual motion machine. They’re organized by… well, by organizers. They’re organized by people who reserve meeting places, issue press releases, moderate discussion groups, reserve billboards, argue with billboard companies who don’t want to rent billboard space to atheists, file lawsuits, hire speakers, make Facebook announcements about events, raise money, do bookkeeping, communicate with organizers of other atheist groups and other social change movements, give interviews to media articulating the positions of their group, find out what the hell happened when the website crashed — and so very much more. They are organized by people who listen to the members of their organizations and communities, pay attention to what they need and want, and co-ordinate efforts to make it happen.

But leaders can do more than just organize. Continue reading “Does Atheism Need Leaders — and What Does Atheist Leadership Even Mean? (Updated)”

Does Atheism Need Leaders — and What Does Atheist Leadership Even Mean? (Updated)

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Red Tani

In June, I wrote a piece for AlterNet, titled 8 Awesome Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. The gist: When a media outlet decides that atheism is important, they all too often turn to Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris. Then, when Dawkins or Harris puts their foot in their mouth about race or gender — again — the reporter cries out, “Atheism needs better leadership! Why doesn’t atheism have better leaders?” Atheism does have better leaders — so I profiled eight of them, to bring just a small fragment of the range and variety of atheist leadership to more people’s attention.

At the end of that piece, I wrote, “And these eight are the tip of the iceberg… I could write a new profile of a different atheist leader every week, and still be at it ten years from now.”

So I decided: Why not do that?

I don’t know if I’ll do it for ten years. But for at least a while, once a week I’ll be profiling and interviewing a different leader in organized atheism.

This week’s profile: Red Tani.

GC: Tell me briefly what your organization does and what you do for them. (If you’re in a leadership position with more than one atheist organization, feel free to tell me about more than one.)

Red Tani 200
RT: I’m the founder and president of Filipino Freethinkers, a group of individuals with different religious affiliations but have reason, science, and secularism as shared values. Although most of our members are atheists (including me), our goal is not to promote atheism but to foster the kind of society that is accepting of atheists and is able to question not only religion but ideas that are held religiously (that is, without any skepticism or critical thinking.)

We organize online and offline activities for our members, such as meetups and online discussions. Beyond that, we are advocates and activists for various causes: sexual and reproductive health and rights, LGBT rights, freedom of speech, among others.

Tell me about a specific project or projects your organization is working on.

Filipino Freethinkers celebrating RH Law being declared constitutional
Now that we finally have an RH (reproductive health) law, the advocates who fought for it are working on implementation, which is still a difficult task given that the anti-choice movement is trying to fight us at every turn. What we’ve been doing is helping spread awareness about the RH Law online. We’ve been going to different places teaching RH advocates how to use social media in RH advocacy. We’ve also been involved in the development of several websites dedicated to monitoring and reporting the progress of RH implementation.

One RH-related project we’ve been working on and are launching soon is one that focuses on the issue of abortion, which is currently illegal in the Philippines. We want to start a discussion on this taboo topic to dispel the myths and misconceptions surrounding something that affects many: despite being illegal, there were over 500,000 abortions in 2008. We’re aiming for decriminalization first, but eventually, legalization in some cases (currently, there is no exception even to save the life of the mother).

Where would you like to see organized atheism go in the next 10 to 20 years?

I would like organized atheism to be more and more diverse, something that I’m already seeing. It started with most groups wanting to promote atheism itself. I’m now seeing atheist groups care about social justice issues, politics, poverty, and so on. I want there to be more of that in terms of scale: the number of groups, the size of these groups, and the effectiveness of their actions.

What do you think are the main challenges facing organized atheism now?

The main challenge still lies in the stigma our predominantly religious society has placed on atheism. There are many misconceptions that can easily be cleared with some discussion. Sadly, those discussions do not happen because of prejudice. The “militant” or argumentative style that many atheists use when talking to religious people does not help.

Do you consider yourself a “new atheist”? Why or why not?

I don’t consider myself a new atheist because I was reading Robert Ingersoll and Bertrand Russell before Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins became popular. I don’t find anything particularly new about what these new atheist writers had to say or even how they said it.

Any questions you wish I’d asked, or anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you very much for this interview, and sorry I took a while to send this back to you 🙂

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Greta Christina is author of four books: Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.

More Atheist Leaders Who Aren’t Dawkins or Harris: Red Tani