How to Be an Atheist Activist

Vjack offers a solid list of steps anyone can take to become an atheist activist:

Vote up good atheist-related material on Digg, Reddit, and/or StumbleUpon. This helps others find it.

Take action on relevant action alerts you receive. This is typically as simply as making a phone call, signing an on-line petition, or sending a letter to an elected official.

Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper.

Learn about the Pledge Project and why it is so important to remove “under god” from the pledge and “in god we trust” from U.S. currency.

Learn who your elected officials are, how they vote on issues of importance to atheists, and how to contact them.

Find out if there is a local atheist group in your area, or if you would rather connect with other atheists online, check out Atheist Nexus.

Give blood.

Learn how to work toward ending anti-atheist bigotry.

Look for opportunities to make a difference in your community.

He goes into more details on his actual post.

I would add a few more to the list:

Become a member of (or donate what you can to) an atheist organization you support!
Tell other people you are an atheist (when appropriate). Come out!
Go to at least one atheist convention every couple years. If you can make it to more, even better.

What else would you add?

Bjorn Watland

You could also wear a Secular Values Voter button, that’s a small step, not explicitly atheist, but still promotes reason based laws. I can’t wear one for more then a day without someone asking about it, and giving it away.
Brian E

Steal as many Eucharist crackers as possible, stick rusty nails through them and post the images on the internet.

/Seriously
Christ Davis

I wear a tattoo on my forearm which reads “GOD FREE” in a nice script. I never hesitate to tell anyone that I am atheist. In the city I live in this is usually good for shocked and/or horrified looks, which is probably why I do it so often.
Cathy

You forget that there is a national ban (in the US) that prevents queer men from giving blood (despite the fact that scientific evidence proves this unnessecary and based on inacurate stereotypes). Many of my good friends, some of whom are atheists, are banned from donating blood. While the Red Cross has recently changed its own policy on the ban, they did at one time publish a pamphlet full of hateful stereotypes about gay men. So, as someone who supports queer rights, there is a moral problem whether to donate blood for the sake of the recipients or not donate blood in protest of the fact that the blood donation system discriminates against gay men.
Anne

I actually told a Xian acquaintance I was an atheist a couple of days ago. First time I have said this to someone who was not an atheist themselves. It was…good.
lynn

Son of a bitch! I would absolutely be going to the FFRF Convention in Chicago, being that’s where I’m from, I have a place to stay (in the burbs, at my dad’s) and I only live 3 hours away….Except this is the year my fiance and I managed to get tickets for BlizzCon, which is on the 11th and 12th.

DAMN!
Sabayon

Cathy, I completely agree that it is extremely wrong and discriminatory of the Red Cross to not accept blood from sexually active gay men, but I think not donating blood hurts trauma victims more than the red cross, so I would still do it. You could however, write a letter to the Red Cross afterwards saying that while you donate blood to help people you will never donate money to them as long as their discriminatory policy stands.
Phillip

One more important thing: get on the SCA’s mailing list. When I asked her, Lori Lippman Brown said this was one of the best things I can do, because she uses the number of people on their mailing list as a persuasive tool when she goes to Capitol Hill lobbying.
Ngeli

You focus rather much on the USA. Do you have any recommendations for a European (German) Atheist and Secularist?
Blue Nine

Ngeli: Could you explain the state of atheism/religion in Germany today? I was under the impression that Europe is more secular than the USA.

Perhaps you could write something up and Hemant could have a guest post.
vjack

Great additions! I had the one in about joining an atheist organization but it somehow didn’t make it into the version that I posted. Of course, these good ideas mean that I will get to update the list at some point.