That’s right folks, now YOU can OWN the actual vinyl billboard that was featured on the news in 7 countries (at least), Saturday Night Live, CNN, FOX News, the Colbert Report, and a host of other shows.

The billboard will be at the convention in Des Moines, and it will be signed by myself, several other boards members, and some of our speakers. Take it home or have it shipped to you — it’s yours if you’re the highest bidder.

This is your chance to own an epic piece of atheist history. Remote bids will be accepted!

American Atheists began posting status updates on Facebook for each of the 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. This was a huge success and allowed people within those areas to network and a lot of new groups have already been formed out of those new networking connections!

We wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to network and continue to do so. Below are the permalinks to each of those status updates. Find someone in your state and your local area. Begin networking and know that you are NOT alone! And if there is a need for a group in your area and at least a few of you there, then commit to at least meet and look at the possibility of starting a group in your area.

In addition, we added an “International” (at the bottom of the list) for our international supporters and fans or Americans living outside the states that want to connect.

We hope you’ll utilize this asset and connect and know that you are definitely not alone out there!

State Permalinks

Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | District of Columbia | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hapshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Puerto Rico | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virgin Islands | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming | International

American Atheists, Inc. wishes to clearly state and put on the record our statement of intent to support and attend the Rock Beyond Belief festival at Fort Bragg. The Rock Beyond Belief festival has the full support of American Atheists, Inc., which includes assistance with advertising and sending Blair Scott, our Communications Director to the event to speak. American Atheists, Inc. is proud to be part of already extensive schedule of crowd-drawing atheists, activists, and bands.

It is unfortunate that this event is now canceled due to seeming discriminatory behavior on the part of the chain of command at Fort Bragg. The unwavering support (especially financial) of the previous Christian event and now the removing of funding from the atheist event (for less money than the Christian event) is disheartening, at best. Changing the rules of the game at the last minute is a common tactic that American Atheists, Inc. has seen in the past as a way to prevent atheist organizations and groups from holding events or participating in public events. It is clearly an unethical way to engage in religious discrimination.

Kathleen Johnson, Military Director for American Atheists, Inc. stated, “The 2009 ARIS poll indicated that 21% of the military is non-religious. Fort Bragg just discriminated against 21% of its soldiers. As an Army veteran, I am greatly disappointed in this behavior.”

Blair Scott, Communications Director said, “I was incredibly enthusiastic about attending this event and seeing so many atheists in one location supporting our atheists in foxholes and DOD civilian employees. The excitement over this event on Facebook and other media outlets was, to put it mildly, abuzz with excitement. As a military veteran and former foxhole atheist who faced discrimination when I was in the service, it is incredibly frustrating to see this behavior still a part of the chain of command.”

“American Atheists, Inc. fully supports the efforts to bring Rock Beyond Belief back to Fort Bragg and make this event happen,” said Dave Silverman, President of American Atheists, Inc. “If this discrimination goes to court, it will have our direct involvement.”

American Atheists has received several emails asking if we are doing anything or coordinating any efforts to help the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. While our hearts ache for everyone affected by this horrible natural tragedy, American Atheists is not a charity organization: our concentration is on the separation of church and state and civil rights for non-theists of all stripes.

That being said, we certainly want to make sure that our fellow heretics, infidels, and kafirs know where to go to help without giving their money to a religious charity.

Our friend and colleague Richard Dawkins has setup a page for direct contributions toward the Japanese relief effort.

GlobalGiving is a secular organization that helps connect people with their causes and acts as the middle man without the fees normally associated with middle men. You can donate online or text JAPAN to 50555 to give $10.

International Medical Corps is a non-sectarian organization dedicated to saving lives by bringing health care training, relief and development into areas that need it. You can donate online.

For the animal lovers among us, the American Humane Society is sending personnel over to help rescue pets and animals hurt or separated in the disaster. You can donate to them to help fund those rescue efforts online.

We cannot post this information without calling to the table the religious buffoons who have said that the earthquake and tsunami are their god’s punishment against Japan. If that is your god, you can keep him all to yourself: we don’t want him.

Do you know of another secular organization or specifically atheistic organization that is coordinating or running charitable donations specifically for the Japanese relief efforts? Please post a link!

The organizers of the upcoming Rock Beyond Belief concert at Fort Bragg, NC have been forced to cancel the event because the authorities there have withdrawn their promised support for the event. Rock Beyond Belief was organized in response to Fort Bragg’s overwhelming sponsorship, endorsement, and support of a Christian evangelical event called Rock the Fort. When atheists and secularists around the country protested the government’s support of this event and requested it be canceled, officials at Fort Bragg stated that the same level of support would be provided to anyone who organized a similar event. That has now proven to be untrue, as demonstrated by the actions of Fort Bragg officials.

The actions Fort Bragg officials took against Rock Beyond Belief included denying the use of an outdoor venue, denying financial support, and demanding that any advertisement or sponsorship clearly state that Fort Bragg did no support or endorse the event. However, Fort Bragg previously provided Rock the Fort the requested outside venue, provided thousands of dollars in financial support, and freely promoted the event.

Direct from SGT Justin Griffith, Organizer, Rock Beyond Belief:

I am SGT Justin Griffith, the Foxhole Atheist stationed at Fort Bragg who is spear-heading the hot-button Rock Beyond Belief secular festival. As you are probably aware, we have just been given last-minute crippling restrictions by the Garrison Commander, Colonel Stephen Sicinski. He was the very last stop on our extremely lengthy approval process, and he decided to go against the advice of his own legal staff. Our event is/was %99.999 approved, with all of the major review processes giving us the green light and assuring us that we were getting everything we asked for. All the commander had to do was sign a letter. Instead he chose to implement a 100% reduction in funding (forcing us to cancel), an unexplained venue change to a tiny theater (Richard Dawkins in a room the size of a grade school gymnasium? Really?) It gets worse, he placed all of these restrictions so late in the game that we are completely unable to do much about it on our own.

However, I do not intend to go down without a fight. I have compiled a list of things that *anyone* can help us with. I am calling on each of you to please put out an alert, raid your user database, post whatever sort of blog/newsletter/news release/Facebook update/or whatever you can to help us put public pressure on the situation. Please make whatever phone call you are willing and able to make, and/or forward this to your ‘communications director’ if applicable. The more media, government, and overall visibility this discrimination gets, the better our chances at making a I have worked closely with many of you for advice and support in the past. Many of you I haven’t worked with, and I apologize for barging in like this. I wouldn’t have done this if it wasn’t extremely important. It is the only option left for the foxhole atheists at Fort Bragg.”

For more details concerning the amount of support Rock the Fort received, see here:
FFRF: FOIA documents Army’s ‘Rock the Fort’ subsidy

For more information on the event and cancellation:
Rock Beyond Belief Canceled – US Army Being Sued In Federal Court

Posted by Kathleen Johnson