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Comments

Roke

Hey - can u add Siren Theatre Company? It is run by women of color and we work around women issues - across the glove.

Ian

Tarksheel is an Indian Rationalist Society with branches in at least the USA and Canada.

Greta Christina

Roke, is the Siren Theatre Company specifically geared towards atheist women of color? If so, then I'd be happy to include it in the list of organizations.

Mark O'Leary

Dan Barker is a person of color? OK, I guess beige is a color, but I had no idea the bar was being set that low. Am I wrong about this? He looks as white as Debby Boone to me.

Greta Christina

Mark O'Leary: Dan Barker is Native American. Specifically, he is a member of the Lenni Lenape (Delaware Indian) Tribe of Native Americans.

Anti-Intellect

Thank you for reaching out to me and including me in this groundbreaking blog post. The burgeoning atheist of color community truly has nowhere to go but up, and I am very proud to be apart of this movement. I looking forward to future dialogue with you and the many other atheists of color that I encounter.

Thanks again!

liz

so happy to see greydon square on your list! he's a fantastic artist! :)

EMR

Interesting to see a comment about Dan Barker's appearance being a gate to him not being sufficiently brown.

I think this is why Greta said you should (Pro Tip) actually read before posting.

Prefer not to identify

No offense, but many of these blogs don't seem to be of high enough prominence or quality to warrant being on this list.

The tricky part is that website traffic estimators need either the cooperation of the website-owner or for the website to be hosted at its own domain - so it's not clear one can easily make an evidenced based case on the matter.

But still the current selection of non-white atheist blogs strike me as arbitrary and unsustainable.

Greta Christina
No offense, but many of these blogs don't seem to be of high enough prominence or quality to warrant being on this list.

Arguably. But as I said: When in doubt, I'm erring on the side of inclusion. I'd rather make the "mistake" of including someone who some people feel isn't sufficiently prominent, than make the mistake of excluding someone who some people think ought to be included. And part of the point of this list is to help get more recognition to people who deserve it and don't (yet) have it.

However, as I also said: If you don't like my list, I encourage you to make/ publish/maintain one of your own, using your own criteria. If you do so, and send me a link, I'll include it in this post.

thewordofme

Hello Ms. Christina,

I have repeated your list on my blog. It may be found at thewordofme.wordpress.com

Thanks for taking so much time to compile the list. This is the kind of stuff needed to bring the atheist community (is there such a thing?)together. Keep up the good work you do.

Rieux

Good stuff! Now we just need to see more of these names (and the future additions to the list) on speakers' rosters at meetings and conventions.

Would a similar GLBTQ atheist list be meaningful and worthwhile? I suppose arguably the atheist community doesn't have the same problems with (i.e., levels of) straight privilege that we do male and white privilege. On the upside, if Greta compiled that one she wouldn't have to worry about playing the empowered-group-gatekeeper role.

Jamila Bey

I'm thankful to you for your work, and honored to be in such good company.

Jeanette

What a fantastic list! I don't recognize the majority of people on it, but those I do are completely deserving. I look forward to checking out some of the others. Props for doing this, Greta (and props for your contributions to the atheist community, members of this list!).

Timothy (TRiG)

"For this post and this post only, I am relinquishing copyright."

Please revise this. It is not actually possible to relinquish copyright in all countries. I would not be allowed, for example, to republish this list in Germany. Instead of "relinquishing copyright", please release this post under the WTFPL license or the CC0 license.

The WTFPL was designed for software, but works equally well for creative works or lists. CC0 was specifically designed for this sort of thing.

And then badger me into writing that article I keep meaning to write about the history and philosophy of free licensing.

TRiG.

Greta Christina

Changes to this list, as of 3/21/11:

The URL for Black Nonbelievers of Atlanta has been updated.
Maggie Ardiente's bio has been updated.
Ralph Dumain has been removed from the list, per his request.
Tarksheel Society (India) has been added to the list of organizations.
Caribatheist, the blogger behind No Religon Know Reason, has decided to go public with his name, and is now listed under David Ince, a.k.a. Caribatheist.

Greta Christina

TRiG: Can you please tell me (in, say, 100 words or less) what language I would have to use to release this post under the WTFPL license and/or the CC0 license, and how this would differ in any practical sense from relinquish copyright (other than it applying to all countries)? Would I have to do or say anything other than, "I release this post under the WTFPL license and the CC0 license"?

mattheath

I'm pretty sure Ariane Sherine's statement about not being "involved in atheist stuff" isn't saying she has stopped being an atheist, just that she's not working on atheist campaigns any more.

The full sentence is "Ariane is no longer involved in any atheist stuff and has gone back to writing comedy". With that context it's clearly about how she spends her time, not what she believes.

Karen Boyd

mattheath: I agree - I was one of the people who suggested Ariane. She is still a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association and I've not read anything to suggest that she has recanted her atheism. I think the disclaimer is largely because she was so prominent in the Atheist Bus Campaign that she still gets a lot of media requests about it that should more properly be going to the very capable team at the BHA.

However, Greta's list, Greta's rules, and I'm not going to bicker!

DSimon

Greta, I think by CCo he means "Creative Commons". You'd probably want the CC-Attribute-ShareAlike license, which means "Share it, and even improve it as you like, but do not remove my name or the license itself."

It’s better than relinquishing copyright (aka “public domain”) because it prevents others from pretending they created the list, and because it’ll work internationally. Also, CC is quickly becoming a big deal as part of a larger culture of knowledge sharing, i.e. it’s used by Wikipedia and recognized by search engines.

To use it, just paste some HTML code into your article.

100 words. :-)

Don Barbera

I drop past at least once a month and comment. Thank you for including me. I was going urge you to put Reginald Finley on, but I just overlooked him on the list. Thanks for the information.

Don Barbera

Rokkaku

Another Ugandan link:

http://freethoughtkampala.wordpress.com/

Famous local radio personality James Onen is the blogger. He's done a podcast before on why he's an atheist, which is great listening:

http://freethoughtkampala.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/why-i-am-an-atheist/

Onen is a heroic battler for freethought and atheism and has earned a place on any list.

Anonymous

#typo

It's Maryam Namazie.

She's an excellent speaker.

Not Suzuki

I'd be leery about Dr. Suzuki: http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/books.php?id=6614

Jolo5309

Is Dr. Suzuki an atheist?

"Almost ten years later, David Suzuki, in his book, The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature (1997),[6] makes the same urgent plea concerning the environment. Unlike Thomas Berry, however, who is a Catholic theologian, David Suzuki is a secular scientist. What is interesting in Suzuki's case is that he too devotes a chapter to the need for a spiritual dimension to further combat environmental degradation. Like Berry, Suzuki has come to the conclusion that scientific narratives and warnings of environmental decay alone are incapable of generating a change in human behaviour and orientation toward nature. Scientific pronouncements alone do not have the motive power to radically awake us from our autistic slumber in the midst of the earth's demise.[7] In this light, both Suzuki and Berry call for a re-visitation with wisdom traditions that honour spiritual values in nature. "

http://www.jesuits.ca/orientations/merton.htm

Peter

S.T.Joshi!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._T._Joshi
http://www.amazon.com/Atheism-Reader-S-T-Joshi/dp/1573928550
http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Defenders-What-Believe-Wrong/dp/1591020808/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_11

Asmita

The following two Indian websites : http://antisuperstition.org/
and
http://www.thoughtnaction.co.in/

belong to an organization called Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (translated as Superstition eradication committee). ANS is highly respected in western Indian states of Maharashtra and Goa. Dr. Narendra Dabholkar is an atheist who founded the organization.

Danny

Robin Quivers

Timothy (TRiG)

Greta,

Just stick one of the following at the bottom of the list, depending on which rights you want to relinquish:

1. CC0:

This article is available under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0 1.0)</a>

2. WTFPL:

This article is available under the <a href="http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/">Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License</a>

3. CC-BY-SA:

This article is available under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)</a>

***

The first two of these are very similar, and offer maximal freedom. They're essentially the same as releasing your work into the public domain.

The third option, CC-BY-SA 2.0 Generic, is perhaps better known (for example, Wikipedia uses this license for text content and for much, though by no means all, of its image content). It is a copyleft license, meaning that derivative works must be kept under the same license. If you license your list under CC-BY-SA, and someone else takes it and adds to it, you are free to take their additions and add them to your own version. If you license under CC0 or WTFPL, I can take your list and create a copyright derivative work which you can't have back. However, I don't think that's a danger you need to worry about much, so you may as well stick with CC0.

***

And here's a fourth option, inspired by the wording on many images on Wikipedia:

This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Greta Christina. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: Greta Christina grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

***

And that should be two uppercase Cs followed by a zero (0). I don't know why Typepad is turning the zero into a lowercase O.

***

TRiG.

Timothy (TRiG)

Also, you might want to be careful about releasing the text of the article. If you don't own the copyright on the images, you can't release them.

(Was my previous post with suggested licensing terms lost in the spam filter?)

TRiG.

Greta Christina

Changes made as of 3/22/11:

added Indra Zuno
added Maharashtra Blind faith Eradication Committee, a.k.a. AntiSuperstition.org
added Maharashta Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samitee (Superstition Eradication Committee)
added Dr. Narendra Dabholkar
added S.T.Joshi
spelling corrected on Maryam Namazie's name; URL added
added Freethought Kampala
added James Onen
added Ariane Sherine
added Kasese United Humanist Association
added Robin Quivers
added Mike Estes

Trig: I'll look at the assorted licensing things and see which one makes most sense for this situation.

And those presenting objections to David Suzuki: I see your point. But he still, as far as I know, identifies as an atheist -- and when in doubt, I am erring on the side of inclusion rather than exclusion.

Tommorris

Hell yeah for Reginald Finley. He's a smart and interesting and very patient guy and when his show was still going a great advocate for atheism and freethought. He doesn't get nearly as much credit as he deserves.

CanadianChick

Anu Garg?

http://wordsmith.org/anu/

Haven't heard him speak yet, but he is speaking this weekend at the Freethought Conference in Portland, OR

Known more for his love of words than his atheist activism, I think, but he does speak on atheist topics

tenacitus

You really should add Reginald Finley (The Infidel Guy) to the list. He has had a radio show since 1999 and conducts interviews, hosts debates and done a lot for the free thought community. It is truly unfortunate that he has not been able to get financial success with all his talents and dedication.

Its through the Infidel Guy that I moved to being a strong atheist his radioshows are at

http://www.infidelguy.com/

tenacitus

This is an excerpt from the Infidel Guy's website "Since 1999, The Infidel Guy show has brought you uninterrupted freethought and science-minded guests such as Michio Kaku, Dan Barker, Ken Miller, Michael Shermer, Asia Carrera, Richard Dawkins, Massimo Pigliucci, James Randi and many others. At our site and on our show we take a truthful and investigative look at religious beliefs, political systems, social issues, economic systems, the paranormal, pseudo-science and scientific claims. We feature freethought news, an arcade, forums, chat room and free freethought downloads as well as paid memberships to all IG"

http://www.infidelguy.com/

Anonymous

Razib Khan from Gene Expression
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/us/19beliefs.html

Russell Blackford

I'm not sure how "prominent" they have to be, but I certainly think Prabir Ghosh and Sumitra Padmanabhan should be on this list. Prabir, in particular, is very publicly prominent in India. Arguably you should also include Peter Adegoke. Tauriq Moosa may also belong there.

At a higher level of fame, I believe Wole Soyinka is an atheist, though sympathetic to his country's traditional Yoruba religion.

Micha

I think this is great post for thinking about diversity: http://neworganizing.com/2011/03/21/diversity-is-inefficient/ Too often groups approach this as a "what can diversity do for us" versus being interested in what people of color actually have to say.

Finally I wonder if you see any connection between atheism's problems with diversity and the fact that atheism seems to place a primacy on a certain type of dispassionate communication style which can be inadequate for talking about lived experiences like race and gender? There is also a ton of writing about the fact that this form of communication is strongly class based as well, though it often presents itself as the "neutral" norm. Off the top of my head I can think of writers like Bonnie Thornton Dill and Iris Chang who've explored this as it relates to deliberative democracy and Dill particularly thinks the testimonial lends itself much more readily to uncovering bias and encouraging inclusion.

llewelly

Freethought radio interviews Sikivu Hutchinson about gender, race, and atheism (2nd half of show).

Account Deleted

Some commenters above have raised questions about Suzuki being appropriate, considering his stated views about "spirituality" etc. I was aware of that, but as far as I'm aware he does not actually believe in God or gods. That makes him technically an atheist. He also has a scientific worldview and has been a science broadcaster for about four decades. I don't think he literally believes in spirits, etc. His views on "spirituality" as I gather are philosophical, and connected to his views on the environment. That said, I know that environmentalism is Suzuki's primary focus, so I would guess that he is not likely to be someone to be called upon to gives talks on atheism.

Bruce Gorton

Zackie Achmat - The guy who started the Treatment Action Campaign is an atheist

SEON

My Name is Seon Lewis, I was glad to see that I have made you list of atheists of colour under the site The Grenadian Freethought Community. This site will not be up any longer, my new site is now http://spiceislandatheist.blogspot.com/
If you could add this site I will be glad. thanks!

Eclectic

How could I forget? Asia Carrera, retired porn star and geek girl.

Anonymous

Mano Singham

http://machineslikeus.com/People/Singham_Mano.html

http://blog.case.edu/singham/

Benjamin Burchall

Probably an oversight...but, to toot my own horn, what about me - Benjamin Burchall - cofounder and Executive Director of Black Nonbelievers of Atlanta WITH Mandisa? I'm also forming a alliance of Metro Atlanta freethought groups to give us all greater visibility. I'm around. ;-)

Mriana

It took me a minute to figure out why you put Dan Barker in that list, but then I realized he is American Indian and then, being 1/8 American Indian myself, I was glad you added him to the list. Thanks for the list. I'm glad to see one.

CanadianChick

I have now heard Anu Garg speak, and he should be on the list. His topic was "300,000 Gods and you still can't choose" and it was funny. Deconversion stories from non-Christian backgrounds are especially relevant to increasing diversity.

thezeke

Thank you for creating this list. A good, meaningful list is a good, meaningful list, regardless of whether it's created by a person of color.

Wes

Stanley Huang
Taiwanese singer, released an album entitled 'Atheist' which contained the title track song 'Atheist Like Me'

English version of the song here:
http://youtu.be/1W_sL7k3VKc

Bio here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Huang

Guitar

Greydon Square!?

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