The mission of the Secular Student Alliance is to organize, unite, educate, and serve students and student communities that promote the ideals of scientific and critical inquiry, democracy, secularism, and human-based ethics. We envision a future in which non-theistic students are respected voices in public discourse and vital partners in the secular movement’s charge against irrationality and dogma.
The Secular Student Alliance is a 501(c)3 educational nonprofit. We work to organize and empower nonreligious students around the country. Our primary goal is to foster successful grassroots campus groups which provide a welcoming community for secular students to discuss their views and promote their secular values.
Since 1963, American Atheists has been the premier organization laboring for the civil liberties of atheists and the total, absolute separation of government and religion. It was born out of a court case begun in 1959 by the Murray family which challenged prayer recitation in the public schools. That case, Murray v. Curlett, was a landmark in American jurisprudence on behalf of our FirstAmendment rights. It began:
“Your petitioners are atheists, and they define their lifestyle as follows. An atheist loves himself and his fellow man instead of a god. An atheist accepts that heaven is something for which we should work now – here on earth – for all men together to enjoy. An atheist accepts that he can get no help through prayer, but that he must find in himself the inner conviction and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue it and to enjoy it. An atheist accepts that only in a knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help lead to a life of fulfillment.”
Now in its fourth decade, American Atheists is dedicated to working for the civil rights of atheists, promoting separation of state and church, and providing information about atheism.
Camp Quest is the first residential summer camp in the history of the United States aimed at the children of Atheists, Freethinkers, Humanists, Brights, or whatever other terms might be applied to those who hold to a naturalistic, not supernatural world view.
The purpose of Camp Quest is to provide children of freethinking parents a residential summer camp dedicated to improving the human condition through rational inquiry, critical and creative thinking, scientific method, self-respect, ethics, competency, democracy, free speech, and the separation of religion and government.
Through our programs we seek to:
- Build a community for freethinking families
- Foster curiosity, questioning, and critical thinking
- Encourage reason and compassion as foundations of an ethical, productive and fulfilling life
- Raise awareness of positive contributions made by atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, and other nontheistic people to our society
- Promote an open dialogue about metaphysical questions that is marked by challenging each other’s ideas while at the same time treating each other with respect
- Demonstrate atheism and humanism as positive, family-friendly worldviews
The mission of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science is to support scientific education, critical thinking and evidence-based understanding of the natural world in the quest to overcome religious fundamentalism, superstition, intolerance and suffering.
KCAC’S mission is to advance atheism through activism, philanthropy, education, and by cultivating a positive secular community. We want to get out there in the community and let people know that atheists exist, educate them on what we believe, and explain why. We plan on doing this through events like “Ask an Atheist” and through charitable works as proud atheists. Of course, we also plan on having a whole lot of fun in the process!
Kansas City has a vibrant community of non-believers, but many are hesitant to come forward as atheists for fear that they will be isolated from their religious-minded friends and family. KCAC is building on the success of local social and education groups by taking the next steps to reach out to those closeted atheists. We’re here put a friendly face on atheism and let the local community know that atheists are among them, and that’s a good thing.
Inspired by the strides that local leaders have made in the community and with the encouragement of American Atheists leader, David Silverman, several leaders in the Kansas City atheist community decided to form a non-profit organization to encourage greater unity, outgoing activist efforts, and charitable outlets for members. Above all we want people to have a community of like minded people to look to and visible atheists for the public to learn from.
Foundation Beyond Belief is a charitable organization that provides a safe, easy way for secular humanists and atheists to donate to worthy charities. The main method of donation is the monthly giving program. Every quarter one charity is chosen in each of five cause areas: poverty and health, the natural world, education, human rights, and one non-proselytizing charity based in another worldview. Each charity is screened for fiscal responsibility, effectiveness of programs, and compatibility with humanist values. Members have full control over the distribution of their donations among the five areas.
Members are able to nominate and campaign for their favorite charities, manage their donation by choosing the percentage of their monthly donation to give to each cause area and by choosing the monthly level that works for them, from $5/month on up.
In addition, FBB has a crisis response program that highlights an area of the world that natural disaster or war has caused to be particularly needy. The beneficiaries of the crisis response program receive the same screening as the featured beneficiaries. Our current crisis is the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa.
Finally, there are two ways for atheist/humanist groups to get involved. The first is the partners program, which allows groups to give to our current beneficiaries and the second is our Volunteers Beyond Belief program, which entails groups pledging monthly volunteer service to either charities/organizations that the group is already aware of or groups that the VBB team has vetted and matched to the volunteer group.
AAA’s vision is to transform society into one that supports and respects a worldview based on the values of reason, empiricism and naturalism, and respects and protects the separation of religion and government. Our mission is to develop and provide educational, advocacy, and community-building programs for the atheist community that assist towards fulfilling the above vision.
If you are one of the many people who have determined that religion no longer has a place in their life, but are still dealing with the after-effects in some way or another, Recovering From Religion may be just the right spot for you. Many people come to a point that they no longer accept the supernatural explanations for the world around them, or they realize just how much conflict religious belief creates. It can be difficult to leave religion because family and culture put so much pressure on us to stay and pretend to believe the unbelievable. If this is you, we want to help you find your way out. Don’t let people convince you that you just didn’t have ‘enough’ faith, or that you just haven’t found the “right” religion. As Mark Twain famously said, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”
RR is made up of people who have all given religion our best shot, but we can’t bring ourselves to accept the unacceptable any longer. If you’ve ever questioned the archaic edicts and laws of holy books, the inconsistent morality and questionable motive of ancient teachings (along with their many modern interpretations); if you’ve raised an eyebrow to virgin births, or found the flaws in resurrections, bronze age “miracles” and the ridiculously misguided “power of prayer;” then Recovering From Religion is the place for you. We are recovering from every imaginable religion: Baptists, Mormons, Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hindus, Muslims, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Evangelicals, and many more. We are happy, we are healthy, and we warmly welcome you to a life free of the confines of faith.
Leaving religion is full of potential problems, both emotional and practical. How will I tell my parents and extended family? How will this effect my marriage? How do I break the news to my religious friends and what if it disrupts the friendship? How to deal with child rearing issues? Who can I talk to about my feelings without being told, “You just need more faith.” (as if the problem is simply that not being gullible enough.)
Recovering from Religion talks about all these and more. If getting out of religion is important to you, RR can help you navigate the new world of satisfied skepticism. Find a group or start one in your area to get connected to the many folks who, just like you, are embracing a life beyond faith.
The mission of the Center for Inquiry is to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values.
To oppose and supplant the mythological narratives of the past, and the dogmas of the present, the world needs an institution devoted to promoting science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values. The Center for Inquiry is that institution.
At the Center for Inquiry, we believe that evidence-based reasoning, in which humans work together to address common concerns, is critical for modern world civilization. Moreover, unlike many other institutions, we maintain that scientific methods and reasoning should be utilized in examining the claims of both pseudoscience and religion. We reject mysticism and blind faith. No topic should be placed off limits to scrutiny—certainly not fringe science and religion, which have an enormous influence on beliefs and conduct.
We also maintain that values are properly the subject of study and discussion as much as empirical claims. The Center for Inquiry studies and promotes human values based on a naturalistic outlook. Ideological doctrine and religious dogma have no more right to dictate our moral norms than they do to influence scientific research.
The Center for Inquiry supports research, but our mission activities go far beyond sound scholarship. The Center for Inquiry, and its affiliates, theCommittee for Skeptical Inquiry and the Council for Secular Humanism, also carry out their work through education, publishing, advocacy, and social services. The Center for Inquiry has established dozens of regional centers and communities, which provide a means of delivering educational programs and services on a local level and provide a venue for like-minded individuals to meet and share experiences. In addition, the Center for Inquiry has affiliates and sponsors programs in many different countries. A secular society ultimately should embrace all of humanity, not just selected countries.
In aiming to foster a secular society, we do not seek to abridge the rights of believers. We vigorously object to government support of religion and the use of religious dogma to justify public policy; we do not oppose the free exercise of religion. The secular society we are building is a community of reason and compassion in which the dignity and fundamental rights of all individuals are respected.
Fostering a secular society requires attention to many specific goals, but three goals in particular represent the focus of our activities:
- an end to the influence that religion and pseudoscience have on public policy
- an end to the privileged position that religion and pseudoscience continue to enjoy in many societies
- an end to the stigma attached to being a nonbeliever, whether the nonbeliever describes her/himself as an atheist, agnostic, humanist, freethinker or skeptic.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national membership organization with a Board of Directors selected by members and a governing Executive Council selected by the Board of Directors. The Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. Non-profit status under the Internal Revenue Code, Section 501(c)3, was recognized originally in 1978, with a final tax-exempt determination in 1980. Contributions are deductible under Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code for federal income tax purposes. Bequests, legacies, devises, transfers and gifts to or for the use of the Freedom From Religion Foundation are deductible for federal estate and gift tax purposes under the provisions of Sections 2055, 2106 and 2522 of the Code. The Foundation, a membership group open to the public, has been classified as an organization which is not a private foundation.
The Foundation is funded by membership dues and specific gifts. It holds an annual convention and membership meeting, publishes a monthly newspaper and broadcasts a weekly radio show. Detailed annual financial statements are provided to all members, and the tax-exempt Foundation files an annual 990 Form accounting for its expenditures. The Foundation engages in publishing books and pamphlets, in producing films and music, in awarding scholarships and in conducting court challenges of violations of the separation between church and state.
No Dinosaurs in Heaven is a film essay that examines the hijacking of science education by religious fundamentalists, threatening the separation of church and state and dangerously undermining scientific literacy. The documentary weaves together two strands: an examination of the problem posed by creationists who earn science education degrees only to advocate anti-scientific beliefs in the classroom; and a visually stunning raft trip down the Grand Canyon, led by Dr. Eugenie Scott, that debunks creationist explanations for its formation. These two strands expose the fallacies in the “debate,” manufactured by anti-science forces, that creationism is a valid scientific alternative to evolution.
Emmy Award-winning director (Before Stonewall, Paris Was a Woman) and science educator Greta Schiller uses her own experience — with a graduate school biology professor who refused to teach evolution — to expose the insidious effect that so-called “creationist science” has had on science education. Featuring NYC science teachers, No Dinosaurs in Heaven intelligently argues that public education must steadfastly resist the encroachment of religion in the form of anti-evolution creationism, and that science literacy is crucial to a healthy democracy.
“When science permeates everything from stem cell research to use of water, science education is crucial to a healthy democracy.” – The New York Times
