NYT -- RONNELLE ADAMS came out to his mother twice, first about his homosexuality, then about his atheism.
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This was in 2000, and Mr. Adams did not meet another black atheist in
Washington until 2009, when he found the Facebook group called Black
Atheists, which immediately struck a chord. “I felt like, ‘100 black
atheists? Wow!’” he said.
In the two years since, Black Atheists has grown to 879 members from
that initial 100, YouTube confessionals have attracted thousands, blogs
like “Godless and Black”
have gained followings, and hundreds more have joined Facebook groups
like Black Atheist Alliance (524 members) to share their struggles with
“coming out” about their atheism.
Feeling isolated from religious friends and families and excluded from
what it means to be African-American, people turn to these sites to seek
out advice and understanding, with some of them even finding a date.
And having benefited from the momentum online, organizations like African Americans for Humanism and Center for Inquiry-Harlem have well-attended meet-up groups, and others like Black Atheists of America and Black Nonbelievers have been founded.
African-Americans are remarkably religious even for a country known for
its faithfulness, as the United States is. According to the Pew Forum
2008 United States Religious Landscape Survey, 88 percent of
African-Americans believe in God with absolute certainty, compared with
71 percent of the total population, with more than half attending
religious services at least once a week.
MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/fashion/african-american-atheists.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all
See Also...
See Also...
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/08/black-atheist-and-living-in-the-south/comment-page-1/
The Root's series on Black Atheism
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/644168-the-root-s-series-on-black-atheism
