Earlier this week, Nick sent out an email announcing a new approach to Giving Tuesday fundraising: to not raise funds on Giving Tuesday. To give you a glimpse behind the scenes: he and I discussed this and decided that sitting out the manic scramble on Giving Tuesday would be good for us, and good for…
It’s official: We’ve won! In April, we filed a lawsuit in West Virginia on behalf of Andrew Miller, an atheist and secular humanist who was forced to participate in a religious substance use recovery program as a condition of his parole. We are excited to announce that Andrew has officially been released thanks in no…
It can be a real challenge to find feel-good news these days. Our newsfeeds and television screens provide a steady stream of distressing headlines: a global climate catastrophe, devastating wars and humanitarian crises raging abroad, gun violence and a white Christian nationalist culture war at home. In the midst of all that strife, this week’s…
My name is Melina Cohen, and I am honored to join American Atheists as the organization’s new Communications Director. I first learned about American Atheists as a teenager in rural Iowa, where I was bullied for my secular views by a local youth pastor who worked at my public school. Those awful and alienating experiences…
You’ve heard me talk a lot about white Christian nationalism and the threat it poses to our democracy. And you’d be forgiven for sometimes thinking that it’s hyperbole to say that extremists are at the helm of many of our civic institutions. But this week showed that our worries were justified. With the election of…
This week, we read some fascinating news about changing religious demographics — and the decline of religious observance. First, a new report from the Pew Research Center found that the number of Asian Americans who are religiously unaffiliated is up from 26% in 2012 to 32% in 2023. While these numbers are in line with…
Next week, October 1-7, is Banned Books Week, an annual event celebrating literature and the free and open access to information. It feels especially pertinent this year, as so many of us are witnessing a concerted effort to censor books and curricula in classrooms and libraries by authoritarian “parents’ rights” groups like Moms for Liberty….
This week, I, along with other members of the American Atheists team, had the opportunity to attend an event at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The center has a direct view of Independence Hall. Surrounded by our nation’s rich history, we participated in the National First Amendment Summit and heard from speakers like Salman…
I have a favor to ask of you. No, it’s not money (although you are more than welcome to donate here or mail a check to our address below). Today, I want to encourage you to be a part of our strategic planning process. We are very deliberate about this effort, and it will probably…
Last month, I had the honor of representing you, the members of American Atheists, at the World Humanist Congress in Copenhagen, in front of hundreds of international attendees. I spoke about the terrifying rise of white Christian nationalism in the United States, how it affects policy and culture, and how these movements spread their tentacles…