ABOUT THE ATHEIST ALLIANCE:
Atheist Alliance International (AAI) is an organization of independent religion-free groups and individuals in the United States and around the world. Our primary goals are to help democratic, atheistic societies become established and grow and to work in coalition with like-minded groups to advance rational thinking through educational processes. Virtually all income goes to these causes. We have little paid staff. Our members make all the decisions and do almost all of the work.
The Alliance sponsors annual conventions, publishes Secular Nation magazine, a quarterly magazine of interest to atheists, and The Freethought Directory, an attempt to list all freethought organizations in the world, and the Journal of Higher Criticism, a respected scholarly publication of Biblical study. We sponsor Objectivity, Accuracy, and Balance in Teaching About Religion (OABITAR), a resource for teachers. We maintain a web site that hosts member societies' web sites free of charge.
Applications for Alliance membership from democratic local, regional, or international atheist organizations are always welcome. Member societies pay no dues but contribute to the grassroots organizing work of Atheist Alliance. Each member society has its own representative on the AAI board.
Individual members are also welcome. They do pay dues
(See http://www.atheistalliance.org/aai/membership.html, under the Individual Memberships section) and receive Secular Nation as a benefit of membership. They also have a representative on
the AAI board, with the representative being selected at an individual members' group meeting during the annual AAI convention. The Individual Members Group maintains contact through an online chat group and Secular Nation magazine.
An entirely internet-based connection to AAI for individuals is also available through the Atheist Internet Outreach member society. Its role is to use online services to connect isolated atheists with atheist and freethought issues, and to support the programs, policies and activities of the Alliance.
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Who We Are
1) Atheism is living one's life without the supernatural.
2) Every human being is entitled to freedom of conscience, which requires absolute state neutrality towards religion and nonreligion and governmental maintenance of inviolate human rights. Thus, we oppose any law requiring or forbidding the personal observance of religion.
3) Scientific inquiry has proved the best process for improving the physical welfare of humankind and should be pursued with vigor and without compromise throughout the world.
4) Human compassion and empathy are crucial to improving the human condition.
5) Reason and cooperation are essential to meeting the challenges that confront humankind.
6) We are responsible for humane interaction with other animals and for the preservation of our habitable planet.
7) Humanistic atheists eschew concepts that fragment humanity into conflicting groups; rather, we work toward fostering cooperative diversity.
In essence, we work in different ways throughout the world, owing to each other an allegiance to these tenets for living our lives with this perspective and in this manner, making the world a better place.
We Are Not
An atheist is anyone who has no belief in any god, whether the god is called Jehovah, Satan, Vishnu, Allah, Loki, Zeus, or any other name. Therefore, atheists hold many varieties of social and political philosophies. There is no atheist dogma, and the Atheist Alliance International has no catechism. However, most of us are atheists because we are rationalists. That means we look for the best evidence in deciding what to believe. Of course, we don’t believe in such ideas as miracles, “intelligent” design, and “scientific” creationism. There are also popular notions which are secular and which a few vocal atheists may believe, but which have no supporting evidence. They are extremely unpopular among the great majority of atheists-rationalists. They include:
- The appearance of “ghosts” or other spirits of the dead.
- Reincarnation of human “souls.”
- The denial of established historical events, such as the Nazi mass murder of Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies, and atheists during World War II.
- Astrology of any origin.
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| An application for organizational membership is available in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf) for any group interested in joining the Atheist Alliance. Adobe Acrobat Reader is available for free download by clicking on the Adobe link to the right. |
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Blind religious mania is a rising threat to society. It seeks to repeal the advances made in establishing civil rights and civil liberties for all citizens. It seeks to abolish our First Amendment right to freedom of and from religion. It encourages a global population explosion that is destroying the environment and creating immense human suffering. It is, through a heavily funded political machine, making a major effort to get organized prayers and religious observances into public schools and other public venues, and creationist doctrines into science classes. Schemes abound to acquire taxpayer funding for parochial schools. Religious zealots, not content with self-regulation, seek to censor the reading and viewing choices of all of us. An Inquisitional spirit infects everything from politics to the Boy Scouts -- and sometimes even the workplace.
Because of these and other assaults on our civil liberties, there is an urgent need for a concerted rational atheist influence on society -- the application of reason and common sense to solving our problems.
Authoritarian religion, aided by the apathy of the voting public, threatens to envelope us in ignorance, intolerance and tyranny. Atheism, with a human centered vision and a reality-based approach to problem solving, can lead us away from this regressive trap and back toward intellectual growth, personal freedom, and social, environmental and scientific progress. But to achieve these goals, there must be unified atheist action on a national scale. Atheists have a powerful independent streak, and atheist organizations must reflect this trait through freedom to develop and experiment, unhindered by a controlling centralized "moral" power structure. |
The Alliance focuses the power of these diverse independent groups to facilitate common purposes and give atheism a growing voice in public affairs. With a nationwide united effort, the Alliance can persuade legislators and educate the public to recognize the threats to freedom from basing laws and policies on religious doctrines.
The goal of the Alliance is to establish strong, democratic atheist organizations in every state, and indeed, worldwide. The Alliance facilitates the formation of independent atheist groups by locating atheists in a particular area and providing information on how to set up a group, including standard articles of incorporation and forms to apply for IRS nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax exemption. The Alliance provides brochures on atheism and issues of concern to atheists, and may also provide seed money for organizational development if needed.
For individuals -- those affiliated with a member society as well as those who have no democratic atheist group in their area -- the Alliance publishes Secular Nation (a national quarterly magazine), and maintains computer contact with all interested parties through the Internet. It also holds a national convention every year so atheists can gather to exchange information, participate in stimulating programs and enjoy the company of a large number of unbelievers from around the country.
Through the Alliance, members share information and cooperate in activities with a national scope, such as overcoming the religious-based bigotry of the Boy Scouts of America, which refuses to admit atheists to membership and holds that one cannot be a good citizen without a belief in their particular god. |
Atheist education begins with our own members learning about the struggle of courageous men and women who defied the superstitions of their day and advanced the culture of reason and science. The Alliance seeks to reclaim our heritage and provide the largely misunderstood facts of our history to the public in order to dispel ignorance about atheist contributions to civilization. Most atheists, entangled as we are in a religious culture, are only vaguely aware of its impact -- as when we are made to feel impolite for expressing doubt about the supernatural. Most atheists have never studied atheist history or learned the importance of atheism to science and social progress. Atheism is left out of discussions in schools. Even the Encyclopedia Britannica has, since the Eleventh Edition, been censored and pressured by the clergy to give a negative spin toward atheism.
For all these reasons, the Alliance is affiliated with OABITAR (Objectivity And Balance In Teaching About Religion), which publishes Freethought Across the Centuries, by Gerald A. Larue (Humanist Press). This is an objective history of unbelief for use in public school classes that teach about religion. The Alliance makes books such as this available to individual members. |
Join a member society...
If there is no society near you, contact the Alliance for more information. We may be able to connect you with other atheists in your area. Small informal groups can enjoy meeting socially and perhaps in time become large enough to organize formally.
Subscribe to the Alliance publication... Secular Nation.
Volunteer a little bit of your time... There's so much to do, and surprisingly few people willing to help. Whether you can lend a hand only occasionally, or more... whether it's book reviews or keeping up with the news, we can use all the help we can get to keep the Web Center vibrant, informative, and timely... click here to find out how you can help.
Provide financial support for our projects...
Send your donations to the P.O. Box 234, Pocopson, PA 19366 |
If you need to contact someone within the Atheist Alliance, whether on the national level, or within a specific organization, this is the page you've been looking for... CLICK HERE!
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