Wendy and Arik Posner carry an FFRF banner at the 2010 Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington, D.C.
Name: Arik Posner.
Where I live: In the northern Virginia exurbs of the nation’s capital.
Where and when I was born: In 1968 in Wilster, a small town near the North Sea coast in northwestern Germany. My parents run a small massage therapy business in the area. After finishing my degree I got an offer and immigrated to the U.S. to pursue scientific interests. In 2008, I became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Family: My wife Wendy, a professional violinist and FFRF Lifer; and our children, Linus, 7, and Darwin, 5. My eldest son Kelvin, 16, lives in Germany with his mom. We see him as often as possible on both sides of the pond. On our cross-country road trip this summer, Kelvin and I swung through Madison and toured Freethought Hall.
One of our recent adventures was attending the Reason Rally together. We marched to it alongside Dan Barker and a few dozen other members, carrying an FFRF banner. At the rally, we encountered members of the Westboro Baptist Church. They had the audacity to remark to Wendy, “What a terrible way to raise your kids.” Ironically, one of the main speakers at the event was Nate Phelps, the Westboro founder’s estranged son, reporting on the terrible way he was raised.
Education: Diploma in physics from the University of Heidelberg and a doctoral degree in science from the University of Kiel.
Occupation: I work in science management for the nation’s space agency. It is exciting, fast-paced work. You never know what will come up the next day or even the next hour.
How I got where I am today: When I was growing up, I followed the reports and images from the Voyager mission uncovering the mysteries of the outer planets. I also watched the broadcast on German TV of the series “Cosmos” by Carl Sagan and his colleagues. All of this spurred my interest in science, which early on I decided would be my career choice.
Where I’m headed: Help the kids grow up well and inspire them and other young people about science as others inspired me. Isn’t it the greatest adventure there is? Maybe I’ll still have some time to find out new things in the years ahead.
Person in history I admire and why: The scientists we named our children after [Linus Pauling and Charles Darwin], and Christopher Hitchens. I admit to getting teary-eyed when I heard last December that he had died. His bravery and the way he was able to use words against all forms of tyranny could hardly be surpassed.
A quotation I like: “We would be 1,500 years ahead if it hadn’t been for the church dragging science back by its coattails and burning our best minds at the stake.” (Catherine Fahringer). We met her regularly at freethought (FACT) meetings while living in ultra-religious San Antonio. She is another person I admire greatly for her courage and outspokenness. I’m so happy that FFRF carries an award in her name.
These are a few of my favorite things: Chinese stamps (yes, I’m a boring philatelist); Scrabble (competing with Wendy is tough); Xiang Qi (Chinese chess); and an instrument on the Curiosity rover, RAD, that I originally designed. It measures radiation in preparation for the human explorers who will one day land on Mars.
These are not: In Germany: Church taxes. You become a member of a state-accredited church through baptism, which customarily happens before one has formed one’s opinion about it. I only became aware of this when I turned 18 and received my first paycheck, which was reduced by church taxes. I immediately went to the government office (where I was yelled at) in order to cancel my “membership.” My grandmother was not so lucky. At her most vulnerable, immediately following the loss of her husband, she was talked into a church burial by the pastor. A few months later, the church contacted her to inform her that she owed her husband’s “unpaid” back church taxes of several decades, which she was asked to pay on the spot. It turns out that my granddad never attended church himself. But he didn’t have much say in the matter anymore, as he was already dead. Since there was no evidence that he had ever renounced his church membership, my grandmother and my dad got stuck with a significant bill. The ruthlessness and shamelessness of church leaders victimizing a widow is astounding to me.
The other one is U.S. politicians — in particular, presidents of late, wearing faith on their sleeve. One reason I ultimately came to the U.S. was to become a (secular) voter and thus make a difference in the world. I admire John F. Kennedy for his insight. I hope that we will in the future have another president who respects the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
My doubts about religion started: I never fell for religion, although a classmate in public school, a son of missionaries, tried everything to lure me in. My school tried this as well during religion instruction, as to date there is no separation of state and church in Germany. (The German Constitution, which was drafted with American “help” after World War II, does not explicitly state anything about this question, but it contains the infamous Article 140, pointing to the relevant statutes of the pre-war Weimar Constitution that are still in place. These statutes are responsible for the ongoing entanglement.)
When I was about 15, I read Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, which has an atheist poem as a foreword. This was the moment I found out that I was not alone in my nonreligiosity. It is so important that this confirmation happen early in life, before one succumbs to self-doubt. I think FFRF has helped many young people in this important way.
Why I’m a freethinker: I firmly believe that education and scientific progress are good for humanity. Religion has stood in the way of progress, in a quite chaotic and random way, wherever new knowledge has contradicted its tenets, whether it be stem cell research, evolution, family planning and prevention of STDs. Even the lightning rod was opposed when it was introduced.
Most tragic is that women in theocratic countries are excluded from educational options and full participation in society. Just recently, Iran’s mullahs decided to ban women from pursuing degrees in science and engineering.
Ways I promote freethought: I wish I could do more. I participated in the Secular Coalition’s Lobby Day for Reason, stunning some congressional staffers who apparently had never talked to an atheist before. I enjoy publicly reading Freethought Today, in particular while commuting on the bus and metro. I wish there were more large-font, stirring captions on the back page to make it more visible.
I’ve already made friends on the bus (greetings, Woody!), and I had a Mormon hand me a pamphlet and immediately “run off” the bus at what I presume was his stop.
