“Freethought Heroine” Awardee
Katherine Stewart convention speech: Understanding Christian nationalism
This is an edited version of the speech given by Katherine Stewart at FFRF’s national convention in Denver on Sept. 28. She was introduced by FFRF Member and artist Kelly Houle, who created the beautiful Freethought Heroine Award. (This speech was given a month before the 2024 election, so some references may be dated.)
Kelly Houle: It has been my honor to create the Freethought Heroine Award for the Freedom From Religion Foundation — first for Kate Cohen, who received the award last year, and now for Katherine Stewart.
The design of the award was inspired by the Art Nouveau movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s. With whiplash curves and broken frames, Art Nouveau celebrated the power of strong women at the turn of the century and again in the 1960s and ’70s on music posters and album covers during the sexual revolution, times when women were breaking free from cultural norms, using their voices to defend women’s rights.
I illustrated the award with a few symbolic items — pansies and apples.
Pansies are a recognized symbol of freethought. Their name shares a root with the French word “pensée,” meaning “thought” or “remembrance.” The pansy is a larval host plant for the blue pansy butterfly, which I included in honor of Butterfly McQueen, the first recipient of the Freethought Heroine Award in 1989.
Apples are a symbol of the fruit from the tree of knowledge in the bible, but also as a gift for the teacher.
This is an edited version of the speech given by Katherine Stewart at FFRF’s national convention in Denver on Sept. 28. She was introduced by FFRF Member and artist Kelly Houle, who created the beautiful Freethought Heroine Award. (This speech was given a month before the 2024 election, so some references may be dated.)
