Name: Judi Jacobs.
Where I live: On a hilltop outside Sun Prairie, Wis., with my husband and five cats.
Where and when I was born: Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Aug 1. I spent 12 miserable years in Catholic schools, which is why I am no longer religious.
Family: My husband Tom, also a freethinker, twin daughters Jennifer and Rachel, and my mother (who is still Catholic).
Education: Iowa State University in Ames. Madison Area Technical College. I also did some teaching and spent a summer in Russia (when it was the USSR).
My day job is/was: A medical coder for UW Medical Foundation. I have also been a veterinary technician and worked in retail. I raised my children myself until they were teenagers.
Why I volunteer for FFRF: I like FFRF. It is a nice place to be, and I felt that this was something intellectual I could do.
What I do as a volunteer: I read and evaluate student essays. It has been interesting to learn how other people think.
What I like best about it: See above statement. I also LOVE being in the FFRF library and skimming all the interesting books!
Something funny that’s happened at FFRF: I did trade a joke with Dan Barker about him and a guest going to different schools together. I enjoy the radio program so much. I think atheists are funnier than religious people.
These three words sum me up: Creative, artistic, intelligent.
My freethought heroes are: Thomas Jefferson, and Anne Gaylor for her leadership in helping women to make reproductive choices.
Things I like: My granddaughter, cats and all other animals, beads, books, fellow progressives, Barack Obama.
Things I smite: Cruelty to animals, children or any innocent person; anti-abortionists who concentrate on other people’s pregnancies and don’t care about any other “life” issues; the oil industry and Republican politicians who spread lies about our president and others. I smite a lot of other things too numerous to mention.
How did I become a freethinker? I never much liked going to church. I always thought it was very convenient that the things they celebrated and and tried to teach us took place a long, long time ago, and not even in this country! In high school, I realized that we had our stories, but all other cultures had their stories, and their stories are just as true and sacred to them as ours are to us. I did raise my children as Methodists. I do have fond memories of the churches and people I met, but finally decided religion was just not necessary.
