Last weekend, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had to send an email to his supporters to ask, six times, “Does America need more God?”That pressing question arrived in inboxes just days before Johnson not-so-humbly accepted the American Patriot Award for Christian Honor and Courage at a gala for the National Association of Christian Lawmakers…
For the second year in a row, Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that had the support of American Atheists and both houses of the New York legislature.This year’s decision was announced quietly — cowardly — just before Thanksgiving, in an (apparently successful) effort to avoid a repeat of the outrage and bad press that…
It was a good week for atheists in America. In case you missed it: On Wednesday, we announced a momentous win in the federal civil rights lawsuit American Atheists brought against the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (WVDCR). Later that same day came news of another big victory in a Colorado case from…
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 you,…
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 small part…
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 election…
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 served…
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 Rep. Mike…
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 the broader…
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.But…