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.
by Richard Wade I am gratified by the thoughtful comments to my post Do You Really Support Freedom of Speech? Some of the comments have been so thoughtful that they have attributed all sorts of extra thoughts and meanings to me that are simply not there, so I’ll attempt to clear up some people’s misconceptions and incorrect conclusions about what I meant: My list of five ways to respond, A through E, was not intended to be exhaustive. Of course… Read more
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” (Attributed to, but not actually said by Voltaire) Richard Wade here. With all the recent controversy over billboards, I thought it might be a good time to reflect on our own attitudes toward freedom of speech. This “Fear God” billboard has been up in my home town in Southern California for many months. As far as I can find out, there have… Read more
I was notified by email from Atheists United in Los Angeles of the following incident: On November 20, 2008, the city of Rancho Cucamonga pressured General Outdoor Advertising to remove a controversial billboard with the message “Imagine No Religion” on it because some of its citizens were offended by it. The billboard, paid for by Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national non-profit advocacy group for atheists and agnostics, included only the words “Imagine No Religion” and the contact information of… Read more
by Richard Wade I was the very first person in line when my polling place opened this morning. I couldn’t wait. I wanted to be a part of history. I wanted to read in a history book years from now about the pivotal moment that Americans seized today, and be able to remember that that was me, right up there in front. While waiting for the election officials to open the door, stray lines from the St. Crispian’s Day Speech… Read more
By Richard Wade: … I thought this was important enough to post separately rather than just as a response to my recent comment on Hemant’s post about the latest Senator Dole smear. I have been getting email appeals for contributions from Kay Hagan’s campaign ever since I donated to her campaign. So you can understand the context, re-posted here is what I emailed to them earlier today, followed by a surprisingly prompt and personal reply I received just a few… Read more
