In an irreverent TV commercial for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Ron Reagan quips that he is "an unabashed atheist, not afraid of burning in hell." Today "nones" (the nonreligious) are 24 percent of the U.S. population and the third-largest group worldwide. Join FFRF in declaring your independence from religion (and its empty threats), using FFRF's brand-new social media app.
It's fun, it's easy and takes less than a minute to complete! Once your cyberboard is approved by FFRF, you may post and tweet it or use it as your Facebook or Twitter image. We even size it for use as your Facebook or Twitter image or banner.
If your billboard is chosen as a staff “pick of the week,” FFRF will feature your billboard on Facebook and Twitter, and mail your prize — FFRF’s popular “Unabashed Atheist - Not Afraid of Burning in Hell” T-shirt! (Only U.S. residents eligible.)
SORRY - THIS APP HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED. WE HOPE TO HAVE A NEW VERSION SOON! - FFRF IT DEPARTMENT 3/29/2022
The school board at my child’s school is praying before school board meetings. Is that legal?
No.
Are religious clubs/groups in public schools legal? What about freethought/atheist clubs?
Declare and share your nonbelief! The nonreligious — including at least one in four U.S. citizens — is a significant segment of the world population. But many Americans have never knowingly met a nonbeliever. Dispel myths, educate and promote reason by adding your voice, face and message to FFRF's "friendly neighborhood freethinker" campaign. Proclaim you're a freethinker and why. It's working for the gay rights movement. Now it's time for atheists and agnostics to come out of our closet. Many faces make Enlightenment work.
It's fun, it's easy and takes less than a minute to complete! Once your cyberboard is approved by FFRF, you may post and tweet it. Our app lets you use it as your Facebook or Twitter image or even as your Facebook and Twitter banners. If your billboard is chosen as a staff “pick of the week,” FFRF will feature your billboard on Facebook and Twitter, and mail your prize — FFRF’s popular “Out of the Closet Atheist” cap (available in washed black denim or maroon)! (Only U.S. residents eligible.)
Until your cyberboard is approved by FFRF, any use of these images or the design used for these billboards is prohibited. You will receive express permission if and when your submission is approved.
Watch for FFRF's "Out of the Closet Atheist", "Unabashed Atheist", and "I'm Secular and I Vote" Cyber Billboard Apps - coming in the Spring of 2024!
Name: Charles D. Hoornstra.
Where I live: Madison, Wis.
Where I was born: Mount Pleasant, Mich.
Family: My wife and two daughters — one with two children, a girl age 13 and a boy age 11.
Why I volunteer for FFRF: Like Madison and Jefferson, I believe strongly in the separation of church and state. For me, as a nonbeliever, FFRF is a home for like-minded people who insist on intellectually honest thinking.
What I do as a volunteer: So far, I have graded student essays.
What I like best about it: I am very impressed with the quality of the young people. They are resolute in their independent reasoning. They don’t let myths or false assumptions get in the way. Plus, many of them are outstanding writers with compelling personal stories to tell.
Something funny that’s happened at work: Being retired, I have no current work story to tell. But I must confess the other day I stupidly emailed my water bill payment to Madison, Ala., instead of to Madison, Wis.
Education: Madison West High School, 1959; B.A. and M.A. in philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1963, 1965; J.D., UW-Madison Law School, 1967.
My day job is/was/will eventually be: I am a retired Wisconsin assistant attorney general. I worked in a variety of areas in my 36 years, including positions in state government and at the University of Wisconsin. I taught business law courses at UW-Platteville and UW-Madison. For many years I served the Law School in an ad hoc capacity, teaching the practicum courses. I still help out with the moot court programs.
Education: Undergraduate, graduate and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
These three words sum me up: According to my grandchildren, I am awesome, funny and fair. But of course, they are the least objective people in the world on that question.
My freethought heroes are: David Hume, John Stuart Mill and Bertrand Russell.
Things I like: Sports, history and being a grandfather.
Things I smite: Confirmation bias (starting with a desired conclusion, rejecting conflicting facts and cherry-picking supportive facts).
Why did I closet my atheism so long? Because I did not want to tarnish my father’s community legacy. He was an effective and popular local pastor.
With the emergence of the Islamic State (aka ISIS), crank mailers have a new suggested location for us to move to, along with Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Cuba and France. A small sample of the many hundreds of emails FFRF received recently, printed as received.
To FFRF Ideas: Ïve met allot of pricks in my day but this group is a fucking cactus. May god bless you. — Steven Haley
first amendment: I hope all your members’ nipples fall off and grow back on their foreheads and they all start lactating at the same time. That’s also part of that first amendment thing. Freedom of speech and of religion doesn’t seem to be on your fascist radar. I’m sure you guys and Hitler would have gotten along fine. I mean you guys look at people that believe in God the same way he did the Jewish population. — Russ Walker, Colorado Springs
Your Children: All of your children need a bullet right between their eyes. — Elmo Sippy, Ellijay, Ga. [Editor’s note: This was reported to police.]
The Scumbag Mooslims in Minnesota: You prevent chaplains in FLA from saying a prayer before games, but you don’t say a word when the goat fuckers want to build a Mosque, aka recruiting ground, in Minnesota? You just want to eviscerate Christians, you GOD less cocksuckers. FUCK OFF AND DIE. — Connecticut
We have enough babies in America: I think you are right up there with ISIS. Virtually the same thing only based in America. We dont gripe about you driving your foreign cars do we as Christians? No, because we dont care. We’ll look the other way when yoi drive by in your Toyota. YOU ARE A BUNCH OF SELF ABSORBED WORTHLESS SELFISH CHILDREN THAT PROBABLY GOT BEAT UP ALL THE TIME IN SCHOOL. SO PUT YOUR CRAYONS AWAY AND YOUR COLORED PAPER AND PENCILS AND LOOK AT THE REAL THREAT TO OUR COUNTRY. — Jameson Mayer, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Crosses: How do I go about removing your foundation from the United States? I am a war veteran and your foundation offends me. — James Kimble
P.S. Hey did you know there is a cross on my computer keyboard.
religion: are,t there better things to worry about like bulling in schools drugs weapons getting a education that,s what really should matter. — teresa low, connersville, indiana
Religion: You guys are a bunch of dumbass fucktards. How can you be offended by something you don’t believe in? Assholes! — Mr. Jesus, Heaven, Illinois
Plaques at schools: As a non-practicing Jew myself I just want to say that you are a bunch of idiots. You have so little faith in your faithlessness that you feel intimidated by crosses and plaques on public lands. This country was built on a Judeo-Christian ideal. I just wish that our idiot judges would wake up and throw your lawsuits, and you, out on your butts. — Stephen Lubin, New York
Freedom of religion: For an orginazation that doesn’t want religon sure does act like it is carrying on a crusade of religous porportion. I should sue you on behalf of tax payers for the continued law suites that fail. I am also contacting congress and senate to enact a law that if a law suite is brough forward and is considered frivilous that who ever brought the law suite should be charged any and all cost associated with the law suite and a fine of $250. — Troy Cummings, Virginia
Suggestion: Madison, Wi., one of the known marxist cities in the USA! It is a sad thing to witness the USA sinking into an ABYSS of touchy-feely diversity, ultaliberalism, political correctness, socialism, and Saul Alinsky Marxism. — Doc H
Attacking Christiananity: You Bastards, I hope God has mercy on your souls. — Robert Guccione
Your thought process: Your belief in nothing is still a belief. I find your organization pushing your agenda is upsetting to me and I do not like it. I will now be a minority voice trying to desolve your organization. — Leo Bauer
Seminole High football team: I am a supporter of the constitution. And I agree that there should be no establishment by government. But to build bridges, you have to have humidity, and be able to say, “I was wrong”. — Courtney Campbell
Thoughts on freedom from all religion: What about the muslim that prays out in public, or in state parks. What about the Jews who wear a yamaka? Is it that you only attack Christianity because you think that Christians are meek? If that’s what you think then clearly you need to brush up on your history. — Joe Craig, Branson, Mo.
Quit Your Sniveling: I would bet that the overwhelming majority of your members are new to being atheists. I’m sure they were unaware of what it even meant until they heard about it, while standing in line waiting to vote for Obama. They couldn’t wait to get home and try it for themselves. So, they sent you $5.00 and left for work the next day wearing a T-shirt proclaiming themselves an atheist. The problem with these people, is that in 12 months when all their fake facebook friends start saying Christianity is the new trend, they will rush out of their homes to beat the door down at their local church to donate $5.00 and get their “I’m a Christian” T-shirt. At which point your “foundation” will crumble and you’ll have to go find a real job. — James Briskey, San Antonio
satan’s immisary’s: I see you morons are conspiring against church’s with the gestapo gov’t agency? will hell be hot enough for you kretins? I pity your soul’s on judgment day! — aaarocket37
Your So Called Victories: What you call significant legal victories are nothing but effective blackmail techniques. Your fear mongering and threats in my mind seem very similar to those of Nazi Germany. All employees of my company pray before each and every day - that will not end. If an employee doesn’t like it - they know where the door is. — Michael Moran
ass holes: The pendulum will swing back the other way ass holes and i hope it will take you`r heads off when it dose. Try to tell me what i can and can not do and see how long you breath! — Carl Thurston, Texas
IRS Lawsuit: You want the IRS one or the most corrupt govt. ageencies to spy on churches. I am 68 years old and the older I get the more I fear for My Grand Children. Shame on you. The American is getting Pissed WATCH OUT. — Thomas Kimble, West Palm Beach., Fla.
It is freedom OF religion: Our assigned technicians have breached your email accounts. Our investigators have identified your family members. Our firm is a GSA contractor of the US Federal Government (GSA 6HNDN4) and have published the identities of your recorded conditions and the identities of your immediate family members, including all relevant personal data including addresses, social security numbers, and related family members above the age of 13. Good luck with that! — Jonathan Hawfield, Houston
Kali received a $500 scholarship from FFRF.
By Kali Richardson
“I took the [road] less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” — Robert Frost
Do you remember the first time you took the less-traveled road? You started asking questions that didn’t have answers, around age 8 for Catholic kids. “How do we know God is real?”
Wednesday night youth groups suddenly turned dark, because an inquisitive, skeptical child is not welcome around adults who have devoted their lives to delusion. Do you remember when your mom had to write you a note just so you could check out Harry Potter from the elementary library? Even as a 6-year-old, you thought that was ridiculous.
Perhaps it was just the Catholics who didn’t have answers; somewhere inside of you a hope grew that maybe you were wrong, and maybe there was an omnipotent Father out there to save you from the monsters under your bed.
So off you went at age 11 to a multitude of Baptist summer camps that were thrilled to have saved a child from what they saw as a competing religion. Your mother was not pleased. But hey, this is Arkansas. This is Baptist country. (You thought, if it were about saving your soul, wouldn’t she be OK with belonging to any religion?)
A year later you were in sixth grade, going through that emo phase that all of your generation participated in at one point or another, and everything changed. You came out in more than one way, and didn’t know which was worse in that small town — to be gay, or to be an atheist?
At that point the road wasn’t just less traveled by; it had thorns and chiggers and every once in a while, snakes. You didn’t believe in the small town or its religion and it didn’t believe in you.
“It’s just a phase,” they said.
But it wasn’t just a phase, and in sophomore year you stopped standing up for the pledge. The verbal feedback was amazing. “Do you hate the people who died for our country?” When the words “under God” were discovered to be the cause, it got worse. “Do you hate religion? Are you an atheist?”
Some of your classmates in sophomore biology decided to shout the pledge as if to prove the subtle point that you cannot escape. Your teacher started your unit on evolution with the words, “I know most of us don’t believe we came from monkeys, but the school requires me to teach this, so . . .”
Do you remember weighing the pros and cons of challenging that ignorant statement in your head? Social scorn for a few days, or making what is right known? You were tired of being hated, but corrected the teacher regardless.
Do you remember when someone challenged the Friday night pre-football “prayer over the loudspeaker” tradition? There had already been a Supreme Court ruling, but you didn’t know that. Your school, knowing full well how illegal their activities were, stopped the prayers. The entire school thought it was ridiculous and unfair, but you were secretly happy to not have to pretend to pray.
You pointed out a few times that it was, technically, state-funded religion, but no one else viewed it as that. Everyone seemed to say, “It’s a tradition. It’s our life. Who are you to try to change that?”
You have taken the road less traveled, and it has made all the difference. It gave you the fuel to move to another state your senior year. Being isolated all those years for being an atheist makes leaving pretty easy, doesn’t it? It piqued your interest in stem cells, which led to your pursuit of a science major.
And while you will always cringe when someone invites you to a youth group, you’ll be more than thankful that it’s happening in a different sphere of society than your school. Don’t give up, and always be a skeptic. It’s gotten you to where you are.
Kali writes: “I am 18. My hometown is Batesville, Ark., but I moved after my life was turned upside down during junior year. My parents divorced, I developed a major blood clot while attending the Naval Academy Summer Seminar 2013 and my mother remarried. I now live with her in Tucson, Ariz. I will be attending the University of Arizona in the fall and plan to major in biology with an emphasis in biomedical sciences.”
Harrison received a $750 scholarship from FFRF.
By Harrison Horwitz
This is the story of how I became a devoted atheist, an impassioned heretic and an optimistic realist.
My first encounter with religion came in early childhood. I was born to a single mother of Jewish heritage who was very proud of her faith and traditions. She was murdered when I was 5.
As a young boy, I was told that God worked for the greater good of humankind. In my innocence and naiveté, I could not conceive why God would take everything I had from me and leave me with absolutely nothing. It was then that I first had the notion that there is no higher power driving humanity toward good. Rather, we are truly left to our own devices.
I looked into the heart of religion and witnessed its dark, repressive side. Shortly after my mother’s death, I was adopted by my great uncle and moved to a rural, impoverished and devoutly religious town in central California. Caliente was a town of Republicans, guns and the good Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: the holy trinity.
What Caliente residents lacked in education, they made up for in their unchallenged faith in God and Jesus. Their clergy encouraged them to loathe homosexuals, look down on blacks and immigrants and treat women like personal property.
While my adoptive parents did not force religion on me, they certainly believed in a divine being. All great things that occurred were because “He made it so.” As I became more aware of the small-minded mentality of Caliente, I pieced together parts of the puzzle. I witnessed sleazy politicians using fear-based religious platforms to win elections, while ignorant and misguided people followed them as though they were The Second Coming.
When I moved back to Los Angeles, I saw the movie “Jesus Camp” in my sociology class. Most of the students were shocked to see religion being shoved down the throats of the young and impressionable, but I had already been through my own version of “Jesus Camp.”
My high school years put everything I encountered in my early life into perspective. In pursuit of a better education with a focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields, I pegged religion for what it is: a tool for oppression that has controlled people for thousands of years.
Leaders who have the right mix of charisma, power and ego use religion to manipulate most of the population. That may sound harsh, but the suppression of hard truths has allowed the outdated institution of religion to run rampant.
I have questioned organized religion since middle school. Then, my resistance only went so far as to inquire, “How do you know there is a God?” or “How could that which goes against proven science be right?”
Even when spoken from a sixth-grader’s mouth, these are dangerous questions for religion. Since then, my knowledge and understanding of religion’s grasp on society has grown exponentially. Now, I actively debate the topic in and out of the classroom. Fact-based science and creationism are incongruent. Religion has no place in the educational system.
My intention is not to sound contentious or judgmental. My beef is not with the children of “Jesus Camp” who were born into religion. My issue is with the institution of religion, the camp and its leaders, that prey on ignorant and vulnerable people.
Education should be based on rational thought and supported by facts, not on fables and bedtime stories. I dream of a world in which people want to discover answers, not one in which people pretend to already have them.
Harrison was born Nov. 19, 1996, in Los Angeles. After seven years he moved to Caliente for four years and then back to L.A. He’s attending the University of California-Berkeley to major in biology and minor in political science.
Philip received $1,000 from FFRF for his winning essay.
By Philip Kaltman
Since I was a small child, religion was a large part of my life. I attended Sunday school and Hebrew school regularly. I went to Friday night services often, and I trusted that God had a plan and was everywhere.
I have lived in the bible belt my entire life, surrounded by both Judaism and Christianity, but natural science also played a large role in my childhood. Instead of playing baseball, I stood in the outfield watching insects in the grass. Before I could read, I could tell you which dinosaur a skull or tailbone belonged to. I watched “Land Before Time” cartoons and paleontology documentaries. Dinosaurs were my life.
So when my Sunday school teacher explained that Noah put two of every animal on his ark so they would survive, my 7-year-old brain was confused. Where were the dinosaurs? Why weren’t they on the ark? Obviously, they existed once, or we wouldn’t have their bones.
I got the classic answer, “Because Noah didn’t take them.” Who was this Noah, and why did he decide to deprive me of dinosaurs?
Later, a documentary showed me that dinosaurs’ extinction was due to a massive meteor impact, an answer that made sense. It wasn’t some old man’s capricious decision, it was a natural occurrence.
That was my first seed of doubt. My synagogue was no longer infallible. It was contradicted by smart scientists.
When I was stung by a bee several years later, it hurt horribly. My parents said the bee was trying to protect itself. So I asked, “Why did it need to protect itself? Didn’t God control everything? Wouldn’t he protect the bee and me equally?”
Then I learned about the theory of evolution, which led me to understand why animals that could hurt us existed, and to see that perhaps God didn’t control the bee and wouldn’t protect it and me. This was my first real crisis of faith. Did God exist at all?
The more I learned, the more I doubted, until in 10th grade, I declared in front of my entire synagogue that I did not believe in God. There were gasps, stares and weird looks, but I persevered. After the service, astoundingly, many people congratulated me on my speech and my willingness to share my lack of belief.
I learned that defending my freethought was not something to be nervous about, but instead could be accepted as a good thing. So I tried it more, this time at school.
Despite how secular we want our public schools to be, religion in many places permeates almost every aspect of them. I had to awkwardly explain to my football coach that I didn’t know the Lord’s Prayer. I repeatedly turned down the friend who invited me to his Fellowship of Christian Athletes prayer sessions.
To overcome this, I helped found my school’s first freethinker’s club, after jumping through myriad hoops and finding ways around constantly being told we couldn’t. We provided a safe haven for others who challenged the faith that is so deeply ingrained in our culture.
Recently, I attended a planning meeting for my Cobb County School District, where a woman demanded that creationist alternatives to evolution be taught in science classrooms. (Cobb County in Georgia became notorious about 10 years ago for putting labels on science textbooks that said “Evolution is a theory, not a fact.”)
I was quick to jump in and oppose her. I explained that I had interned in an evolutionary biology lab at Emory University and had seen evolution happen in front of my eyes.
The meeting’s leaders gave every attendee a sticker to put next to the viewpoint that they supported. I felt extremely proud as I counted line after line of stickers next to my suggestion that only evolution should be taught in schools, versus the single sticker next to my opponent’s.
Philip Kaltman, 17, Marietta, Ga., will attend the Georgia Institute of Technology and major in biology. He interned in an Emory University microbiology lab, researching evolutionary and genetic biology. He was an officer of the Science Honor Society and an officer of the Freethinker’s club at his magnet STEM high school.
Julianna received $2,000 from FFRF for her winning essay.
By Julianna Evans
In schools across the country, students like me are pressured to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance each morning. While I don’t see any problem with reciting such a pledge to our country and the values which we hold important, I do have a problem with two words in it: “under God.”
In a land of freedom of expression and protection of beliefs, those two words violate the ideals and laws we value. As a nonbeliever, I think I can speak for many people — nonbelievers and members of non-Christian religions — in saying that “under God” is overtly Judeo-Christian and has no place in American public schools or government.
I have never believed in a higher power, and I have always tried to be open-minded and a critical thinker. Although my mother took me to a Lutheran church to expose me to religion, I never felt any sort of religious connection. Both of my parents are nonreligious and have been very supportive of my nonbelief, but my school experiences have shown me that many people won’t accept those who don’t share their beliefs.
Last year my humanities teacher required students to write a speech about a controversial topic we felt strongly about. I chose the Pledge of Allegiance and focused on why we should remove “under God” from it.
I targeted the issue in an objective way and presented it in a factual and logical manner. I did not make provocative remarks against Christianity, but focused on the viewpoint that religion has no place in public institutions. The response I received from my classmates was astonishing to me. I experienced hostile looks, eye-rolling, muttering and scoffing, primarily from classmates who were heavily involved with their church’s youth group.
That my speech was so rudely received was very hurtful to me. Due to this experience, I was less willing to express my views on religion, though I am now returning to the mindset that my nonbelief is part of who I am, and no amount of religious discrimination should prevent me from expressing myself. I would gladly present my speech again and again to advocate for separation of church and state.
I have also been directly influenced by the enforcement of the Pledge of Allegiance in my school. Every morning I am asked to stand with my classmates and recite it with my hand placed over my heart. It has become routine for me to skip the “under God” or to simply not say the pledge at all.
It is uncomfortable for me to be participating in a tradition that, through the addition of two words, goes against my beliefs. But if I were to not participate, I would be ridiculed and regarded as unpatriotic. I love my country just as much as any other American. It’s wrong to associate a pledge and the freedom and justice the flag stands for to something as unrelated as religion.
Many people may wonder why this such an important issue for me, when seemingly it’s a such a small issue. But we must remember that it’s not just the large violations of rights which are important. If we submit to small violations, we run the risk of accepting larger and larger violations.
In issues such as these, we must adopt a “zero tolerance” policy regarding the entanglement of religion and government. With a firewall between church and state, we will then progress in our goal of freedom of and from religion, and of being a nation “with liberty and justice for all.”
Julianna writes: “I am 18 and attended Fauquier High School in Warrenton, Va.. and Mountain Vista Governor’s School for Science and Technology in Warrenton. I will be attending Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University to pursue a degree in aerospace engineering. I was heavily involved in my school’s marching band program and was Math Club secretary and a Secular Student Alliance member. I won a Gold Medal award for innovation in computer science in March at James Madison University’s Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.”
Editor’s note: In 1943, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court ruled that students and all others have a constitutional right not to be forced to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance. From FFRF’s State-Church FAQ:
“Nor should a student be singled out, rebuked, told they must stand, or otherwise be penalized for following their freedom of conscience. Nor should students who participate in the pledge, or who volunteer to lead the class in the pledge or to recite it over the intercom, be rewarded or favored over students who don’t participate.”
ffrf.org/faq/state-church (scroll down to Pledge of Allegiance).
Delaney received $3,000 from FFRF for her winning essay.
By Delaney Gold-Diamond
The evolution of the human species has not culminated in a perfect society. It holds on to the vestigial structures of the past, such as religious orthodoxy. Yet humankind continues to grow, change and evolve.
Sometimes mutations randomly occur and our evolution begins to take a different course. We are moving forward and progressing into a society of freethinkers. And, just like evolution, it is a journey that will never end.
My personal evolution as a freethinker mirrors this process. I did not have a sudden jolt of realization during young adulthood, like many freethinkers. I have grown and changed, taken some steps forward and some backward on this journey. But I can say that my atheist worldview has emerged as naturally and organically as the evolution of our species.
When I was 5, my dad and I were driving past the Catholic church in the center of my small town. It was a Sunday, and many well-dressed people were milling around in front. My dad has told me the story of what happened that day many times. Our conversation went like this:
“Daddy, what is that building?”
“That is a church.”
“What is a church?”
“A church is where people pray to God.”
“What is God?”
“Some people believe there is an all-powerful being who created the universe and all living things. They pray to this being they call God to ask for good things to happen and for bad things not to happen.”
After several seconds of awkward silence, my tiny voice piped up from the back seat, “Daddy, do you believe in God?” He said no, and with a huge sigh of relief I replied,
“Good, because that is the dumbest thing I ever heard.”
As with philosopher John Locke’s “tabula rasa,” I was a blank slate. No one had ever taught me to question the existence of a supreme being, nor had I ever had any kind of religious experience. While many seem to think that it is naturally human to believe in a higher power, my experience proves that logic and reason are instinctual. Because I never had any religious indoctrination, I was born a freethinker.
Many of my peers were not so fortunate. While I was allowed to develop my own moral guidelines from reason and rationality, their families subjected them to religious indoctrination.
In first grade, I got into a fight with a boy during recess. He told me I was going to hell because I did not believe in God. I told him that I could not go to hell because it was an imaginary place. He ran off crying, and I knew I had won that debate.
In fact, debate became my passion. Once in high school, for my first foray into the world of competitive public speaking, I chose (perhaps naively) a controversial topic, advocating for a constitutional amendment to remove the words “In God We Trust” from coins and currency. I still remember the stunned looks on the judges’ faces. I may not have won many tournaments that season, but that was a matter of secondary importance. I believed in my cause.
Ever since, I have been a devil’s advocate (pun intended) in every English, history and government class I have taken, standing up for freethought whenever necessary. I religiously cross out “In God We Trust” on every dollar bill that passes through my hands and refuse to say those two very particular, unconstitutional words in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Evolution is ongoing, never a finished process. I will continue to evolve as a freethinker, just as society will continue to evolve and become more enlightened. I believe in our nation and one day I hope to run for office as an out-of-the-closet atheist, dedicated to the separation of church and state, as our founders intended.
My achievements prove that religion and spirituality are not necessary to lead a successful, moral life. My childhood demonstrates that atheism and freethought are as natural as evolution itself.
Delaney writes: “I’m 18 and I’ve lived my entire life in Sonoma, Calif. This fall I will be moving 2,000 miles away to attend the University of Chicago to pursue a major in law, letters and society or political science. I plan on attending law school after I obtain my undergraduate degree. While at Sonoma Valley High School, I served as captain of the speech and debate and mock trial teams. I’m a “special distinction” member of the National Forensics League and a member of the Secular Student Alliance.”
Karen Abbe, 54, Sacramento, Calif., died of cancer at home May 30, 2014.
She was born Sept. 3, 1959, in Sunnyvale and graduated from Encina High School in 1977 and earned an associate’s degree from American River College in 1981 in parks administration. Her career with the state of California from 1980-2012 included the Attorney General’s Office, the Board of Pharmacy and Victims of Crime program.
Karen loved to travel in her motor home and took her dog Katie and two cats across the country, from Victoria Island to Niagara Falls.
Survivors include her parents, John and Carol Abbe; a sister, Sandra Abbe; a niece, MaryAnn Estes; and a nephew, Larry Averitt. A private memorial gathering was held in July.
FFRF offers its sincerest condolences to Karen’s family.
Elizabeth June (Gerrard) Blackwelder, 93, La Cañada Flintridge, Calif., died at home of natural causes Jan. 15, 2014. She was born June 17, 1920, in Evanston, Ill., and grew up in Atherton, Calif. She studied biology at Stanford University and during World War II was a member of the WAVES division of the Navy, assigned to the Naval Medical Research Institute, where she worked on the development of emergency life raft rations, among other projects. After the war, she returned to college at UCLA, earning a bachelor’s degree in zoology.
In 1950 she married Spencer Blackwelder, a real estate broker. She managed the insurance arm of the business.
FFRF only recently learned of her death, said Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Elizabeth and Spencer joined FFRF in 1978 and were among our earliest members. Freethought Today published articles by Spencer in its early editions. I enjoyed corresponding with them. They were always stalwart supporters of freethought and secularism.”
A Los Angeles Times obituary noted Elizabeth’s love of horses and her ride aboard Chungo across the nation in 1976 to observe American’s bicentennial. Her horseback ride as part of a wagon train took six months from California to Valley Forge, Pa.
She was preceded in death by her husband in 1996. Survivors include three sons, Steven of Dana Point, Robert of La Cañada Flintridge and Clyde of San Juan Capistrano; a daughter, Lenora of Glendale; and two grandchildren.
“I remember Liz’s warm hospitality when she invited me to stay in her home during a speaking tour in southern California,” said Dan Barker, FFRF co-president. “Our thoughts go out to her family and friends.”
The man who coined the famous phrase “Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings” died Aug. 25. Longtime FFRF member and prominent atheist Victor J. Stenger died at age 79 of an aneurysm near the heart at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu while vacationing with his wife Phylliss in Hawaii. He was also an FFRF honorary director.
He was born Jan. 29, 1935, in Bayonne, N.J., and earned a degree in electrical engineering and advanced degrees in physics. In his last major research project, before retiring in Colorado in 2000, Stenger collaborated on a project in Japan that demonstrated for the first time that the neutrino has mass. The project’s head researcher won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2002.
In addition to numerous and influential peer-reviewed articles, he wrote 12 books, including the 2007 New York Times best-seller God: The Failed Hypothesis and the new God and the Multiverse.
That book and subsequent ones placed Stenger in the ranks of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens, the so-called “four horsemen” of New Atheism. The Salt Lake Tribune dubbed him “the fifth horseman” in its obituary.
He was a member of the Department of Physics at the University of Hawaii from 1963 to 2000 and after retiring was adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado.
“We were headed out for a pleasant dinner when he lost his balance on some steps outside our vacation rental and fell against me,” Phylliss wrote. “I unfortunately fell against a beam, suffered a skull fracture and concussion and was taken to the emergency room by ambulance. While there, Vic complained about not feeling well and in spite of having a team of neurologists and trauma surgeons, he died within 20 minutes.”
The Stengers were married in 1962 and have two children. He was cremated, followed by a memorial Aug. 31 in Honolulu.
“We will miss this great freethinker,” said Dan Barker, FFRF co-president. “He gave us so much to ponder and wonder about.”
“Our sincerest condolences go to Phylliss and the family,” added Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Vic gave a lot of himself to so many worthy causes and was such a preeminent scientist and skeptic. He will be missed greatly.”
To hear a clip from one of his three interviews with Freethought Radio, go to ffrf.org/news/radio and click on the Sept. 6, 2014, podcast.
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