Written by Tanya Smith | 16 August 2011

This article was published on richarddawkins.net here.

“Religion provides support and comfort to people.” You’ve heard this one before. It’s a common refrain when the damage and suffering caused by religion is highlighted. It’s a common refrain even from people who aren’t particularly religious, which is a tribute to the effectiveness of religious marketing.

Atheism doesn’t offer a similar emotional support network. Accepting that the universe is uninterested in your well-being is not necessarily a source of comfort when things go wrong. While there are many (and, happily, a growing number of) atheist/freethought/humanist/rationalist/skeptic/etc. groups around the world, they are unlikely to have the infrastructure and funding of religious groups any time soon. The amorphous mass of individuals that is sometimes referred to as the “atheist (etc.) community” can be hard to rally for a specific issue.

When an atheist takes a stand on a religious/secular issue they often do so not knowing what the personal consequences will be or what, if any, support they will receive. They just know that the opposition will have a lot of support. 

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Written by Tanya Smith | 13 August 2011

I represented Atheist Alliance International at the launch of the International Association of Freethought (IAFT) in Oslo on 10 August.  It was a good opportunity to meet others who are active in the international atheist and freethought community and hear about their campaigns and issues.   The IAFT has identified separation of church and state, the use of public money to fund religion and exposure and denunciation of the crimes committed by religions against humans as their areas of focus, and Atheist Alliance International looks forward to working with the IAFT on campaigns of common interest. 

My speech from the launch is below.

Atheism in the 21st Century

To sum up atheism in the 21^st century in one word – atheism is “active”.  We are active because we need to be.  We are active because the modern world has given us the tools we need.

The simple idea of atheists being active is sometimes questioned.  People compare atheists to those who don’t collect stamps and say “well, non-stamp collectors don’t need groups or conventions”.  Michael Nugent of Atheist Ireland gave a fantastic response to this point at the Dublin Convention this year.  If you haven’t seen it – you can look it up on YouTube.

To paraphrase Michael.....if we lived in a world where most people collected stamps, where people thought that the post office created the universe, where people consulted their stamp collections before creating laws – then there would be groups of non-stamp collectors (the aphilatelists) and there would be conventions about not collecting stamps.

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Written by Tanya Smith | 03 August 2011

I’m going to Oslo for the launch of the International Association of Freethought next week.  With others, I’ll be speaking under the topic “Atheism in the 21^st Century”.  I’m looking forward to being with hundreds of rational people and hearing their thoughts. But “Oslo” has a terrible resonance in people’s minds at the moment, because approximately 76 people were killed by Behring Breivik in Oslo on 22 July.

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Written by Tanya Smith | 07 June 2011

I'm just back from the World Atheist Convention and congratulations to Atheist Ireland for putting on a fantastic event!  Excellent speakers, interesting panel discussions, great audience participation and the wonderful feeling of being in the company of hundreds of rational, like-minded people.  Michael Nugent, Chair of Atheist Ireland opened the convention noting that atheism is "the arrogant belief that the entire universe was not created for our benefit".  Love it!  The keynote speech by Maryam Namazie from the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain was a highlight of the weekend and received a well-deserved standing ovation.  Make sure you are there for the next convention!

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