Richard Wade is a retired licensed Marriage and Family Therapist living in southern California. At Hemant’s suggestion, in 2009 he began writing an advice column called “Ask Richard.” He publishes his responses to email letters from people of all viewpoints, not just atheists. These usually deal with challenges or conflicts stemming from believers and nonbelievers living or working together. He tries to reduce unnecessary conflict and suffering on all sides.
He has spoken as a “guest atheist” at several churches to dispel the misconceptions and false stereotypes about atheism and atheists. His goal is to prevent the same unnecessary strife and hardship in families and friendships that he has dealt with in hundreds of “Ask Richard” letters. With accurate information, loving and respectful relationships do not have to be ruined by this difference in beliefs.
He is the President of the Santa Clarita Atheists and Freethinkers, who provide a safe haven and support for non-believers in the area as well as participate in several community outreach activities, charity work, interfaith events, and political activism.
Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. Richard, I am 16 years old and an atheist. I was raised Catholic, my father is a Catholic, my mother a Lutheran, and I went to Sunday School, all of that, for quite some time. My great-uncle is even a Catholic priest. For a time, I was happy being Catholic. My brother always enjoyed it, and it’s just the religion most of the people in our small town practice. But,… Read more
As you probably know, all this week atheist bloggers are contributing a great deal of effort to support the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) in many different ways. Several are participating in non-stop blogathons, and my friend Dan Fincke, author of the remarkably intelligent and prolific blog Camels With Hammers, will be doing 24 blog posts in 24 hours! It’s already in progress right now, having started at 8:00 AM Eastern time. He’s going to be engaging in fascinating conversations online… Read more
I receive hundreds of letters, far more than I could ever answer even privately, and that is a constant frustration for me. So sometimes I try to answer those letters which come close to representing an issue common to many, hoping that the people whose letters I could not answer might gain something from my response to a similar letter. The largest category of presented problems is young people who are worried about the prospect of coming out as atheists… Read more
On Tuesday, June 5th, the planet Venus appeared to move as a black dot across the face of the Sun from our vantage point on the Earth in what is called a “transit.” This is a very rare astronomical event, happening in pairs 8 years apart with long waits of 121 years or 105 years in between. It won’t occur again until 2117. The 1761 and 1769 transits of Venus were observed from distant places on the Earth, and using… Read more
Several times in the last few years, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has attempted to put up a poster in government buildings across the country where a religious holiday display such as a nativity scene has been allowed. This has had mixed results, from the poster being outright refused, to being stolen, to being begrudgingly allowed, and now most recently, disallowed by a federal court because it was deemed to be too directly a rebuttal of the nativity scene. Here’s… Read more
