Bridget R. Gaudette is the Executive Director of the Humanists of Florida Association and the Marketing & Grants Manager for Foundation Beyond Belief. Bridget was a contributor to the book, BlackNones, a book highlighting black atheist conversion stories and is currently writing a book, Grieving for the Living: Effects of Disownment in Adulthood.
Follow on Twitter
Tierra Hammond is a 23-year-old Californian. She describes her mother as “religious” but not “overly so.” She was a seasonal Christian, attending church on Easter and Christmas, but didn’t mind going there… until she was seven and her mother entered the army leaving Tierra with her very devout aunt. If she deemed a cartoon unacceptable, my younger sister & I were not allowed to watch it. She didn’t let us listen to the radio, unless it was gospel, & had a heart attack at any mention of sex. I went to church 3 times a week until I was 9. Around that time, I began to read the Bible. This was the beginning of my non-belief. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Alix Jules… where do I even begin? First, let me explain the big blocks of quoted text you’re about to read. Summarizing much of what he said would have been a huge disservice to this article. I didn’t want to leave anything out and distort his message. I’ll start with what he’s doing today and work my way back. Alix is the President of the Black Nonbelievers of Dallas. He’s the Coordinator and Chair for the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason as well as the Chair for their Diversity Council. (No, not done yet!) He’s the Executive Director for the Fellowship of Freethought–Dallas. And, just to round all of this out, he sits on the speakers bureau for African Americans for Humanism. Impressive, right? The best part of getting these details is that Alix felt “uncomfortable with titles.” He’s just humbly doing what he can to help. I’m not the only one who is impressed with Alix, either; he was even featured in Ebony magazine: [More…] Read more
Although she’s the founder of Minority Atheists of Michigan Bria Crutchfield said, “I haven’t always been an Atheist, unfortunately. I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness, baptized at 17.” Angry at being forced to be raised in a high control group, she walked away at 18 and was disfellowshipped at 20. For those of you not familiar with Jehovah’s Witnesses and disfellowshipping, it’s an extreme form of shunning where your entire congregation is notified and it is understood that no one is supposed to talk to you thereafter. Having been raised one myself, I know it’s a very difficult thing to go through. Bria said she “later segued to Pentecostalism” in her 30s. She was very active and was “an intercessory prayer warrior, Evangelist & Prophetess.” Read more
Justin Bonaparte, a 39-year-old Charlotte resident told me that he “was raised in a nominally Christian household.” He, along with his older brother, attended a K-8 Catholic school, but he feels that was because private school offered them a better education not because his parents sought to further indoctrinate them. Read more
