The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit watchdog on separation of church and state issues, has launched a campaign aimed at calling attention to the growing political voice of nonreligious Americans.

This effort, which will launch officially on Saturday (Sept. 17) to honor the 235th...

Ten years ago, thousands of atheists, humanists, and skeptics descended by the busload upon the National Mall in Washington to attend the Reason Rally, the largest-ever gathering of nonbelievers. “We’re here, we’re godless, get used to it,” chanted the crowd, estimated to have between 10,000 and 30,000 people. For America’s growing non-religious movement, it was a jubilant coming-out-of-the-...

Members of minority faith and belief communities had mixed reactions after the recent Supreme Court ruling that said the Constitution protected a high school football coach in Washington who prayed on the field after games.

Some worried the high court’s ruling isn’t necessarily...

When Anne Klaeysen first applied to be the humanist chaplain at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, in 2002, the deans interviewing her went straight to the point: “The other chaplains want to know,” they said, “if you’re a religion-hating atheist.”

Klaeysen readily assured them that no, she didn’t hate religion, but wasn’t surprised by the assumption. At the time, humanist chaplains on American campuses were practically unheard of, and those who had heard of them were usually puzzled by a chaplain who didn’t believe in God.

Klaeysen, who served at Adelphi...

A draft opinion suggesting the Supreme Court will vote to strike down Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision guaranteeing federal protection for abortion rights in the United States, was published Monday night (May 2) by Politico.

The Supreme Court ...

Atheists in the U.S. are more likely to hide their beliefs if they are women, Republicans, if they live in the South or if they’ve previously been religious, according to new research by Rice and West Virginia universities.

“If someone is already in a marginalized group — like women — or are members of a group that is heavily religious — such as Republicans or Southern Americans — it stands to reason they are less likely to take on the additional stigma of being an ‘out’ atheist,” said Jacqui Frost, a postdoctoral research fellow in sociology and the Religion and Public Life...

 Tom Flynn, former executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism and editor of Free Inquiry magazine, has died.

He was 66.

Flynn’s death was announced Monday (Aug. 23) by the Center for Inquiry, a nonprofit that strives to “foster a secular society based on reason,...

Walter Plywaski’s death earlier this year from complications related to COVID-19 went largely unnoticed by national media.

Only an invitation by his family to donate to the civil liberties group ACLU in Plywaski’s memory gave hint to his legacy in the fight for religious freedom. Almost 70 years ago, Plywaski fought for the right of atheists to become U.S. citizens – and won.

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(RNS) — Atheist and humanist groups are suing Mississippi over the state’s “In God We Trust” license plate, calling it unconstitutional and seeking alternatives that don’t require additional fees for Mississippi drivers.

In a federal complaint filed Tuesday (June 22) in Mississippi U.S. district court, American Atheists, the Mississippi Humanist Association and three nonreligious Mississippi residents claim the state’s license plate violates nonreligious people’s freedom of speech by forcing them to display the religious message on their vehicles.

“The phrase ‘IN...

A majority of adults in the United States favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. However, views about the death penalty vary by religion – with atheists and agnostics opposing this form of punishment at about the same rate as Americans overall support it.

Atheists oppose the death penalty about as strongly as Protestants favor it
Roughly two-thirds of atheists (65%) and six-in-ten agnostics (57%) either “strongly” or “somewhat” oppose the death penalty for people convicted of murder. Atheists and agnostics...

D. Anthony Alvarez ’21, a member of the Harvard Latter-day Saints Student Association, has attended religious services at the same congregation off campus since he arrived at Harvard as a freshman.

This semester, Alvarez said he still attends services at that same congregation. Amid Covid-19, though, he must sign up to attend ahead of time, don a mask, and eschew singing, which can spread infectious particles.

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Roy Speckhardt announced Friday (Feb. 5) he is stepping down from his position as executive director of the American Humanist Association.

Speckhardt said that after 15 years at the top of the organization, it was time for him to “step down and make room for new leadership,” noting that the most prominent organizations representing atheists and freethinkers have never had non-white leadership.

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Darrin Johnson would like nothing better than to rid the Black community of organized religion.

 The way Johnson sees it, Black people “don’t need outside beliefs or higher powers.”

“We have power,” Johnson said. “We are powerful entities. We just need to use that power.”

As an organizer with his local Black Lives Matter chapter, Johnson, an atheist, has sometimes felt a bit uneasy meeting in churches and working alongside pastors, who, like him, are calling for Black liberation.

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A new group is launching an effort to court nonreligious voters for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, hoping to mobilize a fast-growing — and deeply liberal — community to benefit Democrats in November.

The “Humanists for Biden” group, a project of the Secular Democrats of America, unveiled its plans on Monday (Sept. 28). The group is chaired by Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Rep. Rashida Tlaib, one of the first Muslim women in Congress, has joined the Congressional Freethought Caucus.

Launched in 2018, the caucus seeks to promote secular government, separation of church and state, freedom of conscience and policy “based on reason, science, and moral values,” and to oppose discrimination against nonreligious people, or the so-called nones.

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