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.
Recently a remark by a Christian visiting here reminded me of something peculiar I have encountered from time to time that I had never known about before I started reading and discussing things on line, the notion of the “not real Christian.” I have heard several people who identify themselves as Christians say that because other people who identify themselves as Christians do not believe in such and such, or don’t agree with so and so, or haven’t done whatever,… Read more
We have had many postings and long discussions about religions, religious beliefs and the political or social effects of religions or religious people. Many commenters have expressed why they disagree with or are skeptical about all those things. But atheists, skeptics, humanists, freethinkers, whatever we non-god-believers call ourselves have more to our lives than constant controversy with religion. We have opinions, points of view and even beliefs about many other things, and people in general can be inconsistent in the… Read more
Some things just beg to be made fun of. Some things need to be made fun of. So when I looked at the Creation Museum Pics that Hemant posted and I saw this one, an exhibit about two kids visiting the museum, (what the heck is that for?) the talk bubbles that are actually there over the two figures gave me an evil idea. Mwohoohoohahaha! So I put talk and thought bubbles over some of the characters in these other… Read more
From the sublime to the ridiculous, let’s go from haiku to poetry’s highest form, limericks! Create an atheist limerick. Jared must be psychic or at least our logic flows in the same perverse way because on Contest # 9 he proposed a limerick contest the night after I started working on this. Go Jared! As you probably know limericks follow a very set pattern, usually iambic with five lines in a rhyming pattern of a,a,b,b,a. I’ll give you an example,… Read more
Just when you thought baby eating was the worst thing you could be accused of, Dinesh D’Souza has attributed the Islamic terror attacks around the world and the war in Iraq in part to atheists.The other day he gave a speech complete with protestors outside at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, saying that the conflicts are a result of a “culture war” in America between religion and atheism and the world’s perception of America as an atheistic, immoral society as… Read more
