Our director of activism, Joshua Stewart, was invited down to Springfield, along with JT Eberhard, to debate the question of whether or not belief in Christianity is reasonable. The Springfield Freethinkers have a video of the debate available on YouTube for your viewing pleasure:
Activism Director Featured in Article on Atheist Underrepresentation
Our director of activism, Joshua Stewart, was recently featured in a Kansas City Star article tackling the problem of underrepresentation of atheists in religiously-relevant surveys:
Josh Stewart differs from most atheists. He’ll tell you there is no God.
But when he gets together with other faithless folks in the Kansas City Atheist Coalition, they color code their name tags. One hue for those who are proudly public about their beliefs, another for whom photographers are asked to avoid.
You can read the full article
The work – both charitable and activism – of KCAC and its sister organization, Kansas City Oasis, was featured in a new article titled “Faith in Kansas City”:
At the Kansas City Atheist Coalition, President Joshua Hyde said the group, which is focused on advancing atheism, also volunteers with Micah Ministry, a nonprofit that helps homeless pets get adopted (KC Pet Project), a community food network (Harvesters), a domestic violence shelter (Hope House) and more. The work is a way to give back but also dispel myths and stigmas about what it means to be an atheist. It also allows atheists to feel more comfortable coming out in their community, philanthropies or jobs.
You can read the full article here. The Religion News Service sent out a journalist to cover our recent hosting of the Satanic Temple and the work they’ve been doing, and the article has been published!
Introducing Greaves to about 80 people gathered for the event, atheist coalition president Joshua Hyde sought to put that issue to rest quickly, saying he first wanted to address “the elephant in the room.” Since announcing the event, Hyde said, he had received several inquiries questioning the relationship between the two organizations. “Our mission is to cultivate a positive secular community and to work with organizations toward a common goal,” he explained. Although the groups have fundamental differences, he added, “they share a common goal: the nonpreferential treatment of citizens by our government regardless of what they do or do not believe.”
You can read more of it over at the RNS site. Did you miss the talk at Kansas City Oasis by our director of activism, Joshua Stewart? You can catch it on the Oasis Network SoundCloud account here: Our director of community, Helen Stringer, was featured on the local show “It’s Our Community” to speak about the community program Kansas City Oasis: Our director of community, Helen Stringer, contributed a post on the WWJTD blog, called “KC Oasis: One Year Strong”, reflecting on the past year at KC Oasis:
One year ago, almost to the day, we launched Kansas City Oasis out of the Kansas City Atheist Coalition (KCAC). It was the culmination of six months of intense planning, fund-raising, blood, sweat, tears, elbow grease, fast food, and late night meetings. It was worth it. All of it was worth it.
You can read the whole blog post here. The American Family Association, known for its active promotion of religious and anti-LGBT governmental and social values, has produced a map of organizations in the United States “that openly display bigotry toward the Christian faith” – including KCAC: As Hemant writes on the Friendly Atheist: The American Family Association has long argued that the list is unfair to certain Christian groups, so they’ve now created their own version of a hate group list. The AFA Bigotry Map identifies “groups and organizations that openly display bigotry toward the Christian faith.” Who’s on the list? Basically every atheist and pro-LGBT-rights group out there, including local and college groups. That’s not a joke: They’ve listed a number of groups whose members’ worst crime is disagreeing with Christianity and creating a safe space for atheists to discuss their doubts. We can only speculate which of our positions that we, as an organization, promote landed us on this map, but we’d like to at least raise an objection to the idea that we’re anti-Christian. We’re content to disagree on the existence of a god and the divinity of Jesus and leave it at that, instead choosing to work with people of all stripes and faiths to promote common values and causes: LGBT equality, elimination of racial inequality, wealth inequality, and even freedom of religious practice. That’s not anti-Christian, and there are some who say it even makes us more Christian than the AFA. As the saying goes: “haters gonna hate“ Our director of community, Helen Stringer, has contributed a post to the blog “WWJTD” titled, “Raising My Kids Without Religion”:
I often explain that my kids will follow the example of the adults around them, like I did growing up. We also raise them to be critical thinkers and to consider how their actions may influence another human being. We don’t tell them that someone is monitoring their thoughts and lives 24/7 and keeping score. We tell them the truth, that actions have consequences, and good actions have good consequences. Compelling your children to behave by threat is not teaching them moral values, it’s controlling them with edicts.
You can read the full post here. Tune in this Saturday to 90.1 FM to hear our director of community, Helen Stringer, along with Oasis director Brian Carreno, speak about Kansas City Oasis on The Tenth Voice. The show starts at 1pm and they are scheduled to speak at 1:30pm.KCAC Featured in Article: “Faith in Kansas City”
After School Satan: An RNS Appearance
“The Bible is Not a Fairy Tale” Available on SoundCloud
Helen Stringer Featured on “It’s Our Community”
Blog Post: “KC Oasis: One Year Strong”
American Family Association Maps “Bigotry” – Including KCAC
WWJTD Contribution: “Raising My Kids Without Religion”
KKFI Appearance: Helen Stringer