P.O. Box 1544

Shasta Lake City, CA 96019

(530) 246-3539

Steve Preszler, Chair

Mike Crutchfield, Vice-Chair

Tillie Smith, Secretary

Jim Kennedy, Treasurer

The purposes of SAF are: (1) to promote Atheism as a socially acceptable outlook; (2) to educate the general public and other Atheists about the natures of Atheism and religion; (3) to promote the absolute separation of religion and government; and (4) to provide a setting where atheists may freely gather to socialize, exchange ideas, and advance their cause.

Our meetings our held the third Sunday of every month at 1 pm and are located at the Heritage Plaza Recreation Hall, 1895 Benton Drive, Redding, CA. The general format of the meetings is that we take care of association business for the first hour and then at 2 pm we have a program. The program portion of the meeting generally is a discussion of current issues or an invited guest comes and speaks on a topic pertinent to Atheism. We try and encourage participation by everyone present and attempt to promote a free exchange of ideas.

SAF is a recent incarnation of a group that has been loosely in existence in the Redding area for many years and has at times been referred to as Redding Atheists. In December of 1997, the group was more formally organized and became a democratic organization of dues paying members with bylaws, elected officers, and a bi-monthly newsletter.

To date, our main focus has been trying to promote the acceptance of Atheism and Freethought in a community inundated with fundamentalist christianity. One of our early efforts has brought attention to situation where Shasta County board meetings are opened with a prayer given by a local member of the clergy (almost always Christian). During the open comment period of the Board Meetings we have addressed the issue and stated our reasons on why we feel that this is a violation of state and church separation.